“I saw the boots and figured you wanted to ride her,” Kade was saying from somewhere behind her as Kaitlyn walked to her horse and stroked her muzzle.
“Hiya, Snowflake,” she said as the horse nuzzled her hand. Kaitlyn wished she had carrots or sugar cubes to feed her.
“He's over on the west end of the property.”
Kaitlyn glanced over her shoulder at her brother with a nod before she placed a foot in the stirrup and climbed up onto the saddle with ease. She grabbed the reins as Snowflake shifted a bit back and forth. Once Kaitlyn felt comfortable, she squeezed the flanks with her thighs and steered the horse in a semicircle before she guided it to a gallop away from the barn and toward the outer ends of the property, which totaled hundreds of acres.
As she rode the horse down the trail, Kaitlyn was taken back to a childhood spent exploring the woods with her brothers. Sometimes she had to force them to let her tag along, but they always did. They always let her have her way.
That thought made her smile.
Since before she could remember, her brothers had always been her protectors; and having four of them sometimes meant she had to get crafty to keep them from injuring a suitor she was interested in. She had to be slick and stay creative. Her true freedom didn't come until she left home for a brief stint at the College of Charleston. And that's where she had met Anola and Tandy.
Kaitlyn missed her friends, setting them aside because she was afraid of them judging her. It really was simple. If they had judged her new living circumstances, then they weren't friends to hold on to, anyway. But she should have given them the opportunity to show her what they were made of.
Kaitlyn pulled up on the reins as she spotted her father sitting on his horse at the edge of the small pond and looking off into the distance. As she edged Snowflake forward, she let her eyes absorb the regal silver-haired man who had sired her. One of the horse's hoofs snapped a branch.
Kael turned.
Kaitlyn gripped the reins more tightly as his eyes opened in surprise before he turned his horse and galloped toward her. She covered her mouth with her hand as her emotions flooded her. Her mother, she cherished. Her brothers, she adored. But her fatherâher father was her everything.
“Kat,” Kade said. He bent over to squeeze her hand when he reached her.
“Hi, Daddy,” she said, leaning over in the saddle to press a kiss to his cheek and to be surrounded by the scent of his Old Spice cologne and the outdoors. Familiar. Warm. Missed.
“You over it now?” he asked, patting her back.
“Yes, sir,” she answered, using the side of her hand to wipe her eyes as she sniffled.
“Good.”
Kaitlyn straightened up in the saddle.
“I want to finish checking the fences,” he said, turning his horse and heading back to the trail, knowing that his daughter was going to follow.
And she did.
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Quint looked up as Kaitlyn knocked on his office door briefly before she stepped into his office. His spirits were instantly lifted at the sight of her. He rose to his feet to come around the desk and pulled her close against his body.
Instantly her hands came up to hold him back tightly. “What's wrong?” she asked. “I'm sorry I took longer than I said. I was at my parents'.”
Quint stepped back from her and braced against his desk as he held on to her hand. “Good. They were happy to see you?” he asked.
Kaitlyn nodded hesitantly. “Yeah . . . but we can talk about that later. What's wrong?”
“Vita, my ex-wife, is back.”
Kaitlyn's mouth shaped into an O.
Quint pulled her forward, and Kaitlyn held him close as she pressed kisses to his brow. In that moment it was everything, and enough.
C
HAPTER
14
One month later
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“How do I look?”
Kaitlyn smiled as she turned to smooth her hands over Quint's chest in his cashmere sweater, which he wore with denims.
“You look good enough to be late for dinner,” she said, playfully wiggling her eyebrows at him before she stroked his face.
“Nah, nah. Much as I love itâand I do love itâI am not letting you make us roll up late to your parents',” he said, stepping back from her as he picked up his cell phone and keys from his dresser.
“Your loss,” Kaitlyn teased him.
Quint's cell phone vibrated in his hand as they left his bedroom. He looked down at it. “It's Lei,” he said, stopping in the hall as he answered the call.
“Tell her I said hello,” Kaitlyn whispered as she eased past him to walk to the door of the apartment.
“Happy Turkey Day, Daddy.”
Quint smiled broadly as he leaned in the open doorway of her bedroom. “Same to you. Y'all up cooking?” he asked. A literal pain hit him in his gut, knowing that he was spending the holiday apart from her. Their first apart in years.
Vita had settled into a townhome in Charleston and had taken to getting Lei nearly every weekend since her return. And when Lei asked if she could spend Thanksgiving with her mother, since he had Kaitlyn and her mom was alone, he agreed. He couldn't deny his little girl much, anyway.
“We're going over to someone's house that Mama knows,” Lei said. “And that's fine, because I want some
good
food.”
He laughed at that. “Kaitlyn said to tell you hello.”
“Tell her I'll be home Sunday night, and ask her to bring me a plate from her mother's and to tell Kadina to call me.”
Quint smiled. “I will.”
“Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too.”
Quint gave Lei's room one last look before he turned and left the apartment. He wanted his child with him, but he knew he couldn't be selfish and keep her away from her mother, because he would never want his ex-wife to do the same to him. Still, he was human and could admit his faults; and he just couldn't deny that life was much easier when Vita had her behind in Hawaii.
He locked the apartment and then crossed the parking lot to join Kaitlyn in his truck. She was already in the passenger seat. “Ready?” he asked as he started the engine.
“Yes. You?” she asked, looking pretty in an orange turtleneck sweater dress with a cropped leather jacket, which was the color of caramel.
He leaned over and tasted her lips before steering the vehicle out of the parking spot. As he drove, Kaitlyn settled back in the passenger seat as he reached over to rest his hand comfortably on her thigh. He squeezed it gently.
The last month with Kaitlyn had been good. Really good.
After work they would have dinner at his apartment or at hers, with Lei always there to complete the circle and regale them with stories of her school day. At night they enjoyed a movie or just watched the news as they lounged together. They had settled into a comfortable relationship, which was still heavy with their desire for each other.
Most times they couldn't wait for Lei to go to bed before they snuck away for an hour in Kaitlyn's apartment and got lost in one another.
But it was the weekends when their relationship really flourished. If they didn't have other plans, they were together. Sometimes just lounging around the house together. Other times they explored Charleston, Savannah, and Beaufort together. But always, the nights were there. And those nights he spent holding her and sleeping with her cuddled against his body were the best.
Quint looked over at her as she mouthed the words to some song playing on the radio and his heart swelled. She looked at him and reached over to smooth her hand over his bald head before she rubbed his neck and went back to gazing out the window.
I love her.
And that thoughtâthat realizationâshook him. His grip on her thigh tightened as his heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest.
I love her.
She glanced at him again, and the words almost tumbled from his lips. He swallowed them back.
“I wish Lei could've gone with us. She and Kadina haven't seen each other much since Vita moved back,” Kaitlyn said, pouting her mouth.
“Yeah, me too,” he said, swallowing a lump in his throat as he looked out the windshield at the road ahead.
“Too bad Kadina is a little older and at the high school this year, or they could see each other at school.”
Quint eyed the deserted trash dump site ahead. With one more glance at Kaitlyn, he steered the truck off the road and put it in park. He saw Kaitlyn eye him curiously. He climbed out of the vehicle and came around to snatch open the passenger door.
“The hell?” Kaitlyn shrieked, eyeing him like he was crazy.
Quint pulled her out of the truck and pressed her body against the Ford. He lowered his bald head to taste her lips a dozen different times and ways before deepening the kiss with every bit of emotion he felt for her.
He felt Kaitlyn's body weaken as she kissed him back with matched intensity. As his tongue flickered against hers, he felt her body shiver, and her moans echoed inside his mouth. His dick stirred between them and he reluctantly kissed her lips one last time before he stepped back from their heat.
Kaitlyn was panting. Her peach gloss was smeared over her mouth, and her hands were splayed against the side of the truck as she eyed him in desire and surprise.
“Damn,” she gasped.
Quint cleaned the sticky gloss from his mouth with his thumb as he eyed her. The urge to kiss her and to somehow express his love for her had overwhelmed him. He smiled at her and shook his head, completely shaken by the fact that this woman whom he once considered a beautiful mess had eased her way into his heart.
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“Everyone take your seats,” Kade Strong announced, his eyes and his smile bright as he called his family into the spacious dining room.
Kaitlyn smiled as she watched Quint pick up KJ as they all made their way into the dining room. Her nephew had instantly taken to Quint, who tossed the little boy like a football into the air as he laughed with childish glee.
“I think I want a son,” Quint whispered to her after he settled KJ into his seat at the kids' table before sliding into his own seat beside her at the long and wide table.
“Today?” she asked playfully, reaching over to place her hand on his thigh.
Quint just chuckled.
Kaitlyn smiled at him and raised her finger to ease it into one of his dimples.
“Awwww!”
The women around the table all sighed.
Kaitlyn snatched her hand away and blushed. She had completely forgotten there were people around. She had been lost in the Kaitlyn-and-Quint bubble.
He massaged her back comfortingly and she felt the slight tension ease from her body, just like
that.
It felt good to be there with him, and around her boisterous family too. And he seemed to fit just fine. That was asking a lot from her overprotective brothers, inquisitive father, curious mother, and nosy sisters-in-law. But he took it all in stride.
Her life and the way she viewed it were so different; and although she was proud of herself, her job, and the fact that she had taken on paying her own rent and car note, she knew her change in outlook had a lot to do with him. A whole lot.
“Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn?”
“Huh?” She drifted from her thoughts and found everyone at the table staring at her.
“What are you thankful for, Kat?” her father asked.
“Uhm, I'm thankful for my family, my new life, and my new man,” she admitted.
“Thank you, baby.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
Her brothers rolled their eyes teasingly. Her sisters-in-law and her niecesâincluding Kaleb's stepdaughter twinsâall sighed.
Quint reached for her hand on the top of the table and stroked the back of it with his thumb, even as he talked to her brothers about football.
Kaitlyn looked up and found her father's eyes on them. She gave him a reassuring smile and was glad when he nodded in approval.
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Quint looked around at the vast acres stretched out before them as he walked alongside Kaitlyn. It was nice to get away from the crowd and have her back to himself for a few minutes before they returned to the main house.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked.
Kaitlyn bumped her shoulder against his before she turned and walked backward. “Are you afraid, city boy?” she teased.
Quint eyed her. “I'm from the city. That's true. But I left being a boy behind a long time ago. But then you know that, right?” he shot back, with a meaningful stare down below his belt.
Kaitlyn just arched an eyebrow before she turned and dashed off to run inside the barn. She paused at the door and looked back over her shoulder at him briefly before she disappeared inside.
Quint followed behind at a slower pace as he marveled that Kaitlyn was so comfortable traipsing through grass and dirt in her heels. Yet another facet to her. As he entered the stable, he was thankful that the scent of the housed horses was not strong. It was clear that the horses, like the rest of the impressive ranch, were well taken care of on a continual basis.
His eyes widened in surprise to see Kaitlyn nuzzling her face against the nose of a white horse. Even though Kaitlyn had told him about her horse, he still didn't expect to find her so close to it, reaching her head and hands over the door to its stall. He walked up and reached out to lightly pat the horse's strong neck.
“So this is Snowflake?” Quint asked.
Kaitlyn nodded with pride. “Isn't she beautiful?” she asked, reaching into the pocket of her leather jacket to pull out slices of a carrot. She placed one in the middle of her palm and spread her hand out flat, with her fingers angled down toward the ground.
Quint watched as she held her hand a few feet away and the horse reached its head out to take the carrot slice into its mouth.
“Good girl,” Kaitlyn said, stroking the flat area between its eyes.
It surprised him again when Kaitlyn didn't turn up her nose in distaste or run to wash her hands. Instead, she set another carrot slice in her hand and repeated the process.
Kaitlyn laughed when she looked over and saw the odd expression on his face. “I did grow up on a ranch, you know,” she reminded him.
Quint eased his hands into the pockets of his denims as he leaned against the wall of the stall and studied her. “So which one is really you? The glamour gal, with her high heels and a job in fashion, or the country girl, who loves feeding horses and eating chitlin'.”
Kaitlyn pointed her finger at him. “Don't sleep on my mama's hog mog and
chitterlings,
” she said. “You shoulda tried 'em before you knocked them.”
Quint shook his head. “There was too much fried turkey and ham available for me to need
chitterlings
on my plate.”
Kaitlyn just laughed.
“So which one?” he asked.
“Both,” she answered without hesitation, as if the question had remained on her mind as it did for him.
Quint fell silent and just watched her patiently feed the horse the carrots, one by one. It was a comfortable silence. They had shared many of them in the past month, and he knew they would share many more in the monthsâand, hopefully, yearsâto come.
“Did I ever tell you that when I watch you carving or building something from wood that I think it is the sexiest thing I have seen in my life?” she asked suddenly as she walked over to the deep sink at the end of the stable to wash her hands.
Quint's eyes dropped down to watch the movement of her buttocks in her dress as she did so.
“No, I don't believe you have ever told me that,” he said, his voice deep.
She nodded. “Why don't you start a business doing it, you know?”
Quint raised his thick eyebrows. “I don't need an actual business for you to get hot watching me work my wood.”
He jerked his head up and she whipped her head to look over her shoulder at him with mischief in her eyes.
“Pause,” they said in unison.
“But seriously,” Kaitlyn said, wiping her hand with paper towels that she had yanked from the metal dispenser on the wall. “You're really, really good, and I think you should consider doing it more. Maybe not full-time, but take on more. I can help, if you like. I'm pretty good with wood.”