My Billionaire Cowboy: A BWWM Western Romance (10 page)

She started to feel choked up. Tears were threatening to fall, but
she did not want him to see her cry.

“I am so happy for you that you landed your client. I know your
career comes first. I am okay with that and I don’t want to get
in the way of what you really want right now. With that said, I will
back away. You are right that this all got too intense too fast. I’m
ready to handle my feelings. Call me when you are.”

Bruce stood up, kissed her on the cheek, and in an instant, he walked
away.

*****

Kate sat there on the bench for a moment, listening to the children
play in the park playground. She could not wrap her mind around what
had just happened. Had Bruce really just walked away?

After that whole speech about going for what you want and doing what
you love, he had confessed that he wanted her but still walked away.

She dialed her phone. “Linda, can you meet me at the park? I
need to talk.”

Linda made it over to the park within fifteen minutes.

“You sound like hell. What happened?”

Kate wiped a tear away. “I don’t know what happened. I
told him how I felt and he walked away.”

“Wait, Mr. Nice Guy just walked off?”

Kate nodded.

“Honey, tell me what happened.”

Kate recounted the details.

“He’s right.”

“Oh no, not you too.”

“I’m afraid so friend. Bruce is right. If you want him,
go for it. What is the problem?”

“Linda, it’s not that easy.”

“But it is that easy. You are the one making it difficult. You
and only you.”

Kate sighed. “I think I get it.”

“Oh, but I don’t think you do. Maybe you should give
yourself time to think about it, Kate. You have to make a good
decision for yourself. Now I hate to leave you, but I have a date
tonight, so I have to go. Are you going to be okay?”

“I will. And thanks for the listening ear.”

The two women hugged and Linda left Kate on the bench, trying to
collect herself and her thoughts.

*****

Going home, all she could do was think of what had happened at the
park. It had not seemed fair, especially since she expected things to
go another way. Bruce was supposed to be happy that she wanted to be
with him and that she was not worried about the fact that he was a
millionaire. She just wanted to be with him.

She spent the night trying to fight the tears and fight the urge to
call Bruce. It just did not seem like he wanted to speak with her and
definitely not until she got things together in her mind. Kate
decided she would give it a few days and wait until he called her.
Maybe if she put the ball in his court, he would help guide them to
being together.

Instead, she spent the better part of the week waiting on him to
call. When he did not call, she knew the gravity of the situation.
She knew he did not want to deal with her immediately.

Kate began to think about what was going on. She knew she had found
the person she wanted to be with. She had to want it bad enough.
Bruce wanted to be with her bad enough that he showed her daily. He
told her daily. And what had she done? She had not reciprocated. She
needed to do the same for him and show him the same affection.

What she had in mind to do just that had to work.

Kate went out, picked up a few things for dinner and called a
delivery service to send a small surprise to Bruce and she sat back
and hoped that he would call when he received his invitation to
dinner.

She went about making dinner; risotto, baked salmon, and twice baked
sweet potatoes. She opened the wine, lit the candles, and waited to
hear from Bruce. The invitation asked him to arrive at six o’clock.
It was five minutes to.

The music was playing softly and Kate tried to busy herself waiting
for him to show up. At six o’clock, there was no knock at the
door. She was just about to lose hope when there was a knock at the
door.

Her heart skipped a heat. He was here.

She practically skipped to the door.

Kate took a deep breath as she opened the door.

“Hello.”

Bruce tried to look serious, but he smiled when he saw Kate standing
there.

“Hi. How are you?”

He kissed her, handing her one white rose.

“Thank you. I am fine. Much better now that you are here. I was
nervous that you would not come.”

“I would never get your invitation and not show up.”

She invited him inside.

They sat down to dinner with each other and had a comfortable
conversation. Kate was happy they were able to return to a relaxed
banter.

“Dinner was lovely. The company was even better.”

“I agree,” Kate replied. Sitting there by candlelight,
they were more intimate than they had been in a while and for Kate,
it felt good just to have conversation if nothing else.

“I missed you,” she confessed.

“Kate, I must admit that I missed you too.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “That is so good to hear.”

Bruce poured them both another glass of wine.

“This is perfect. Why don’t you come with me?”

“Alright,” he picked up her glass and handed it to her
and took his own as he followed her. They went to the balcony and
outside where the weather was warm for a spring night.

“It’s beautiful out here.”

Bruce sipped his wine. “Beautiful weather and beautiful
company. What could be better?”

“Are we going to just be friendly all night?” Kate was
almost impatient when she asked him that question. “Because I
don’t want to be friendly all night.”

“What do you propose we do then?” His question was almost
taunting.

“True story. I was at work and in walks this guy. He can’t
dress, complete fashion victim.” She laughed as Bruce made a
funny face.

“So anyway, he walks into the boutique. There is something kind
of endearing about him. I take him on as a client, go to his house
for a fitting, and out of the blue, he asks me to go grab something
to eat with him. I do, and find out that he’s actually pretty
good company. So we have good conversation, another date, and figure
out we are pretty compatible. Have a lot in common, more than I
thought we ever could.

“Here’s where it gets good. This guy is intriguing,
supportive, and an all around great guy. The kind of guy a girl would
be a fool not to be with. But here I am, not expecting to fall for
anyone. Not expecting that anyone would come my way when I was simply
trying to build my career,” she sighed. “He came along
when I was trying to build my career and protect my heart.”

She suddenly became nervous. She would have to divulge a vulnerable
part of herself. “I had no clue I would ever want to give
myself to anyone like I want with him. He makes me want more out of
life. He is that spontaneous spark I have always wanted to have, but
he is also that calming spirit that could slow me down when I work
too hard. And to boot, he’s a freaking cowboy. I don’t
know how I’m going to make this happen, you know, me and him.
But I can’t see it any other way.”

Bruce laughed. “A freaking cowboy, huh?’

“Yes, a freaking cowboy. I don’t know how a stylish,
fashionista like me attracted a rugged cowboy like you.”

“It may have something to do with those big brown eyes, that
smooth skin, and those gorgeous curves.”

“Oh, wow. Okay. I can deal with that.”

“I hope you can.” He took her in his arms.

His touch was so familiar, so wanted. She had craved his touch for
the past few weeks since he had been gone. Kate closed her eyes and
lived in the moment. It felt good to be there with him and she did
not hesitate to let Bruce know it.

“I’m so glad you came back, Bruce. I missed you
terribly.”

He cupped her face in his hands, tilting her chin up to his. “I
missed you terribly. You just don’t know how much.”

His kiss was exactly what she craved in that moment. His lips on
hers, tongues dancing, arms wrapped around each other. When his hands
slid down to her hips, she anticipated what was next. Wanting to feel
more, needing to feel every inch of him. But this time, there was no
urgency. It felt different. She knew she would be able to be with him
whenever she wanted, because he was hers.

“So is it okay for me to admit now that I want to be with you,
Bruce.”

“It has always been okay for you to admit that. What I needed
you to do was believe it.”

Kate licked her lips. “That is the difference now. I’m
glad you made me take the time to figure it out.”

He held her close, their bodies swaying with one another, skin warm
to the touch because of the balmy Springtime night air and the fact
that their bodies were in sync with one another’s needs.

“You know that you left an important part out of your story.”

“I did? What part was that?”

“The part where you mention that the cowboy was a rich man. He
was able to take care of you and make sure you didn’t have a
worry in the world. He was able to make all of your dreams come
true.”

“Oh,” she snapped her fingers. “Yes. You’re
right. So let me go back to where I left off. The cowboy tells me
that he’s falling for me and I feel like I have to decide
between my feelings for him and my career and independence. Because
he throws this curve ball. He’s a freaking millionaire. Can you
believe that?”

Bruce shakes his head. “Unbelievable.”

“I know.”

Bruce grinned. “So how do you handle it? Sounds like he laid
some heavy info on you.”

Kate released herself from his embrace. She sipped the rest of her
wine. “It was touch and go there for a second. I did not
understand what it was that he was trying to tell me. He was trying
to spread some of that spontaneous spirit on me. Trying to get me to
go with the flow. I did not get that at the time. I thought it was
too much too soon. But a good friend talked to me about it, helped me
to come to grips with my feelings. And it all started to make sense.
I knew what I had to do.

“You ready for how the story ends?” Now it was her turn
to tease Bruce.

“Tell me.”

“I send him an invitation to come over for a candlelight
dinner. I also send him a coupon that entitles him to take me on a
trip to France at any time he feels like it. And I wait. He shows up
at my home, we have dinner, hash out our feelings, I tell him that
his money doesn’t make a difference to me because I care for
him and he cares for me. We make mad passionate love, and all’s
well that ends well.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“What else could there be? Let’s see. Boy meets girl. Boy
falls for girl. Girl falls for boy. Girl admits her feelings and says
yes. Boy gets the girl. They live happily ever after. Isn’t
that the way it goes?”

“Something like that. Let me show you what I was thinking.”

He took her glass of wine, set it on the table, and twirled her
around until she was safely in his arms.

“The story goes something like this.”

“I’m listening,” Kate replied.

“Cowboy meets girl, cowboy falls head over heels for girl. Girl
falls for the sexy, strapping, rugged cowboy. Girl says yes. Cowboy
then makes mad, passionate love to his woman after they agree to be
together and they ride off in to the sunset. And instead of it being
an ending, it’s more like a beginning.”

A kiss sealed the deal.

“A beginning? Now that’s more like it. I like that
story.”

Kate had finally found her beau. And she now knew that love could
come at the most unexpected time and that was okay with her.

She found her cowboy and life was all she wanted it to be.

And she rode off with her cowboy into the sunset.

The end... but there's more:

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Esther
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