Jaxson (8 page)

He huffs out in disapproval, but I won’t let him come in between us. I need Lynd more than he even knows.
 

We spend the rest of the time at the diner eating pretty much in silence and every few minutes I catch a glimpse of Lyndley as she takes orders, smiles, and refills drinks. She’s beautiful in every way, I can’t wait to get her out for a night on the town. If anyone deserves it, she does.
 

I pay our bill when we are done and we make our way out the door and towards our trucks. I tell Tate that I’ll see him at the ranch and he just nods. Starting my truck, I pull out of the diner’s parking lot and make my way towards the house. I have a lot of shit I need to get done today.

As soon as I pull into my drive, Max starts barking and running towards the truck. Putting it in park, I hop out and he jumps up on me for some lovin’. Scratching behind his ears, I force him down and make my way towards the barn. Yesterday one of my ranch hands flooded the place and now I get to clean the shit up.
 

I hear Tate’s truck and when I turn around, he’s getting out and Max is running towards him. He gives him a pat on his head before making his way towards me. “What the fuck happened in here?” he asks as he looks around at all the destroyed cardboard and hay that is now soaked through.
 

“One of the guys left the water on in here.”
 
I pull the garbage can over to me and start to shovel up the pieces of soaked cardboard and dumping it in. Tate and I spend the rest of the day cleaning up the mess. When we finally get everything cleaned and done, I make my way back to the house and pull out my phone.
 

I try to call Lyndley, but it goes straight to her voicemail. I send her a text instead as I grab a water bottle out of the fridge. I hear Tate come in after me and I toss him one too.
 

“Thanks.” He says as he unscrews the cap, taking a huge swig before setting it on the counter. Looking at my phone, I hit Lyndley’s contact and it goes straight to voicemail again.
 

“You’re already pussy whipped and you’re not even getting any.” He shakes his head and pulls out his own phone.
 

When I don’t say anything, he starts to laugh. “Wait, you already did get some. The ice queen let you fuck her even with all the drama you two have?”

I toss my empty water bottle at him and it hits him in the side of the head. “Fuck you.” He starts to laugh harder and I just walk out of the kitchen towards my bedroom to shower.
 

Once I’m done, I get dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Tate's long gone so I decide on heading over to see my girl and iron out our date plans. Making my way to my truck, I look back at the front door and I think about when Lyndley told me about the type of house she wanted.

“Jaxson!” She calls from the other room. We were sitting on my bed in my room, but my mom wanted me to take out the trash for her so I ran back through the house and up the stairs to where I left her sitting on my bed.
 

“Yeah baby?” I take a seat next to her and she holds up a drawing.
 

“This is where I want to live.” She grins widely and I look down at her drawing. It’s beautiful. It’s modern and rustic, all at the same time. She blows me away with how talented she is at drawing.
 

“I’ll build you whatever you want baby. You draw the pictures and I’ll make them a reality.” She pulls me in for a kiss and I end up rolling her over onto her back. Pressing my body against hers, I let her know what she does to me and she wraps her legs around my waist.
 

“I love you Jaxson. Always have, always will.”
 

Getting in my truck, I make my way towards Lyndley’s house. When I pull into their drive, I see that the lights are still on. Putting the truck in park, I make my way towards the door and knock. It takes a few minutes before the door opens and I see her mother standing there smiling at me.
 

“Hello ma’am. Is Lynnie here? She isn’t answering and we had plans.” She drags me inside, causing me to grin. Her momma and daddy are some of the most caring people around. They've continued to treat me like family even when I didn't deserve it.

“Yeah she is, but I haven’t seen her in a few hours. Maybe she’s taking a nap.” I nod my head.
 

“Thank you ma’am.” I start to make my way towards her room, but her mom stops me.
 

“Jaxson Harper, you know better than to call me ma’am.” Looking over my shoulder at her, I see the smile on her face.
 

“I’ll try and remember that Terrie.” She walks over to me and smacks my arm before walking into the kitchen.
 

Going to Lyndley’s door, I gently open it and the room is dark. Closing the door behind me, I walk over to where she’s laying and I brush the hair out of her face. She starts to stir and I just watch her. She looks up at me, blinking her eyes like she thinks she’s seeing things and it’s quite comical.

“Babe, I see your eyes. I know you’re awake,” my voice is quiet and I don’t want to frighten her. Before she says anything, she reaches up and pinches me. “Ow!” I yelp, falling on top of her. I didn’t expect that shit. Instead of letting her know she startled me, I play it off like she wanted to get me in her bed. “You know, if you really wanted to get me in bed, all you had to do was ask, darlin’. I would have been glad to hop in with you.”
 

“What are you doing here?” she asks yawning. I can barely see the outline of her face at this angle.
 

“You weren’t answering your phone, so I wanted to make sure everything’s okay and you didn’t back out on our date.”
 

She gives me a small smile before she answers me. “Sorry. I turned my phone off after I got a call from someone I didn’t expect to talk to ever again.”
 

“Is that person the reason you came home?” I ask, pulling her body into mine. I have a feeling that I’m going to hate her answer, but I need to know the truth. Starting this relationship on lies is the last thing I want to do. I want us to last and for that to happen, I need to know about the last guy in her life and if he’s a threat to us or to her.

“You can tell me, Lynnie. I get you were with someone else. I get you could have even been in love with another man. Hell, all I care about is that it’s over between the two of you. I don’t want part of you. I want all of you. I won’t share you with anyone else.”
 

“It’s over between us,” she says quickly. “Tyler is the reason I came home.” I tighten my grip around her, preparing myself for her to tell me about the dickhead. “He’s a stockbroker who decided money was more important than being smart. He started insider trading and funneling money out of his boss’ accounts. He got caught and as they were taking him away, he told me it was my fault. That I was the reason he had to do it because I needed to have designer things just to be happy.”
 

“He sounds like a fucking moron,” I mutter, rubbing my hand up and down her back. She doesn’t want to talk much about him, I can tell that much. He sounds like a real tool and I’m glad he got caught. He doesn’t deserve her anyway.
 

“I can’t believe my parents let you in my room,” she giggles, and I know that she is trying to change the subject. She doesn’t like to talk to me about her time in New York and part of me is glad about that. I hate knowing that she was in someone else’s bed besides mine. We were always supposed to be together until I ruined it and stayed behind for my pops.

“Well, baby, we are married. Anyway, I’m pretty sure your momma is in the other room just praying that I knock you up so they can have a grandbaby.” I see her flinch at the mention of a grandbaby and I feel like shit for saying anything. “I’m sorry.”
 

She's quiet at first, but then she finally speaks. “No, it’s okay. I’m glad I finally have someone to talk to about her.” She puts her face in my chest and she cuddles into my body. I start to silently laugh as she all but buries herself into me.

“You know you can’t bury yourself in my chest, right?”
 

“Yeah, but I feel safe here.”

“Good, because I like you right where you are.” I tighten my arms around her and I feel her body relax. Her breathing evens out against my chest and I close my eyes too.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, waking me up. Looking down at Lyndley, I see that she is still cuddled into my body with her face resting on my chest. Checking my phone, I see a text from Tate telling me that he isn’t going to be able to come by tomorrow morning.
 

Sliding out from under Lyndley, I put a pillow where I was and lay her down on it. Using my phone for light, I find a piece of paper and leave her a note.
 

Lyndley,

Sorry I left without waking you, but you looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to ruin it. I turned your phone on so I can call you in the morning. As much as I wanted to stay with you all night, I know it’s not part of starting over and I really want this to work.

Xoxo Jaxson

Placing a kiss on her forehead, I take one last look at her before I leave the room and walk out of the house. If I don’t leave now, I probably will stay here all night with her wrapped in my arms.
 

Getting in my truck, I start it and make my way home. Looking at the clock when I put it in park, I see that it’s a little after midnight. Cracking my neck, I run my hands down my face. What if Tate is right? What if everything that I’m doing is being wasted on something that will never last?
 

Do I want things to last between us? Hell fucking yeah. I want her as my wife like she was always meant to be. I know she’s still holding back information from me. She didn’t give me everything earlier and it’s starting to eat away at me. I need to know what we are going to be up against.
 

She was pretty shaken up by that phone call that she received before I decided on coming over. There is no way that she would have retreated into herself if it was nothing.

Getting out of my truck, I make my way to the door and see Max come running towards me. Opening the door, I let him in and make my way inside. Dropping my wallet and keys on the counter, Max and I make our way into the bedroom. He goes to his bed and I strip out of my jeans and t-shirt before sliding in under the covers.
 

Closing my eyes, I feel like I’m missing something. I need her in my arms. Rolling over to my side, I try not to think about her or the way it felt to have her wrapped up in my arms again.