I pressed up onto my toes and crushed my mouth to his. Reveling in the way he pulled me closer and the rush that warmed my body. The way his kiss felt like coming home. The way I finally felt whole in his arms.
“Madison, you should’ve told me,” he whispered against the kiss.
I looked up to find Hunter’s face etched like he was in pain. When his eyes opened, regret and sadness swirled there.
“I wouldn’t have lost almost half of my life with you if you would’ve just told me.”
“Do you really believe that?” I asked, voice nothing more than a trembling breath as my fingers traced along his tensed jaw.
He brushed his lips against mine as he spoke. “Can’t breathe without you.” His forehead pressed to mine and his hands gripped me tighter. “It might’ve taken longer to get past it then. But part of what hurts so damn bad is the lengths y’all went to to keep it from us.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, the words wrenching from my soul. “I’m so sorry for everything.”
He nodded, his nose brushing against mine with the slight movement. “Can I take you home now?”
A smile stretched across my face. “Yeah.”
“Can I still be friends with Avalee?”
My chest shook with a muted laugh, my head bobbing in something that might’ve resembled a nod. “Yes, she’d be sad if you weren’t her friend anymore.”
“Can I marry you?”
I sucked in a sharp breath, my stare finding and holding his. “You still wanna marry me after everything?”
“Mads, I’ve wanted to marry you my entire life.”
I struggled to speak past the knot of emotion in my throat, my eyes burning with the threat of tears. “Yes. Yes, you can marry me.”
One of his hands lifted to cradle my neck, his thumb brushing along my bottom lip as he studied me. “You say when.”
“When.”
“I love this place,” Madison whispered late that night, as if talking any louder might shatter the calm surrounding us. “I’ve always felt so at home here.”
I fitted my shoulders deeper into the corner of the truck’s bed and curled my arms tighter around her, pulling her back against my chest. “Know what you mean.”
Amber. The ranch and the orchard. Madison . . .
My home.
We’d arrived in Dallas earlier that evening and gotten back to Amber in time for Madison to put Avalee to bed. After a long, open conversation with Madison’s parents about what had gone down and where we were—what we wanted for the future—we’d stolen away for much-needed time together.
I’d brought her straight to our spot, knowing there was nowhere else I’d rather be with her.
Not after what we’d gone through. Not when that spot had always been the place we’d gone to plan out our future. To share new experiences. To fall more and more in love.
She reached up as if she could touch one of the peach trees’ branches, the way she’d always done, the blanket covering her slipping down and baring her breasts. A moan falling from her lips when I trailed my hand up her body to cover them. Hold them. Tease them.
She pressed every soft part of her against every hard part of me, her head falling back against my shoulder as she spoke, hushed and breathy and all kinds of distracted. “What do you want for the that?”
A smile curled at my lips. “The orchard—the business?” I guessed, a laugh building in my chest when she just nodded. “I dunno. I don’t know anything more than these trees. But Cayson seems really passionate about expanding, and I don’t doubt he’ll make it into something huge. Guy’s smart and driven. He’ll succeed at anything he sets his mind to.”
Her responding hum vibrated against my hand. “But is that what you want?”
I hesitated for a second before confessing, “I want my fucking family back together.”
Madison turned in my arms so she could look up at me, her eyebrows drawn close and sorrow lining her face in the bright moonlight. “Savannah—” She choked over the name, her expression creasing before she tried again. “Savannah told me a little bit. Do you wanna talk about it?”
“It just . . .” I shrugged. “God, Mads, we imploded after my dad died. Sawyer still came around, but we fought all the time—worse after he found out the truth about our dad. Cayson was gone. Beau and I didn’t see each other or speak for ten years.” I gave her a sad smile. “Makes more sense now.”
“Hunter—”
“It’s okay,” I said quickly, quietly.
“Is it?” she challenged. “Look what’s happened.”
“That’s him, not you.”
“It’s what we did.”
I lifted my hand to cradle her neck, my thumb slowly sweeping across her cheek. “What happened was a mistake—I know that. The rest was fallout from y’all trying to bury it. You made the decision to leave, but you’re back, and we’re moving on from it. Beau pushed me and fought with me until I wanted nothing to do with him anymore, and we never recovered from that. I dunno if we will—that’s gonna be up to him.” When she gave a reluctant nod, I said, “To answer your question, yes, I want Cayson to expand Dixon.”
“You just want them all here,” she whispered, voice knowing.
“Always have.”
“But you aren’t gonna let Sawyer in, are you?” Her face scrunched up apologetically. “Savannah told me.”
I drew in a slow breath and held it for a while before releasing it, staring into her understanding eyes as I did. “Fucked up, yeah?”
“No,” she said softly, curiously. “I mean, something could’ve changed after I left, but he never really cared about the ranch before. He always tried to get someone else to do his chores and always seemed to disappear when we were out here.”
I grunted in agreement. “He says he wants it, and I think he believes that,” I said, head bobbing a little. “At first, I was just protecting him from finding out about our dad. Now? Ever since Leighton died, Sawyer’s had this deep-rooted need to help everyone. That’s the real reason he wants in—to help. Not because he wants this. And I think it would slowly kill him because he would hate it.”
“Tell him.”
Amusement moved through me. “Have you met Saw?”
Her eyes rolled, a soft smile tugging at her mouth. “You mean any of you Dixon boys? Stubborn as hell.” Her laughter burst into the night air when I dug my fingers into her sides, tickling her as she moved away from me, trying to escape the attack.
I grabbed her ankle to stop her, pulling her back until she was laid out on the blankets covering the bed of my truck, the way I’d already had her so many times that night.
Her eyes dancing when she looked up at me, reaching for me and pulling me close. “Tell him,” she repeated. “He’ll understand—maybe not right away—and that way he can be happy for you and Cayson and the future of Dixon.”
A rumble of assent sounded in my chest as I leaned down to press a slow kiss to her lips. “And what about you? What do you want for the future of Dixon?”