"Son of a Nutcracker!" I groaned, once again I had forgotten about the cast on my foot and dropped my foot to the ground from the coffee table.
"Okay, you've watched Elf one too many times, Sweetheart." John Ross laughed, switching the TV over to football. I had never seen Elf before and once I had finally watched it at John Ross' demand, I've watched it five times since. He sat down next to me on the couch, getting as close to me as possible before setting his arm across my shoulders. "I love you, Anastasia." He whispered, his facial hair tickling my ear.
I turned toward him slightly, running my finger along his jaw line. "So does this get to stay or is your dad making you shave?"
He just shrugged, "My dad will probably bitch but then my mom will compromise and ask me to just trim it up a little. "
I smiled, "They should just be happy you don't look like a lumberjack." He'd be a very sexy lumberjack, but I kept that to myself. He laughed, kissing my temple but quickly scowled when the team playing the Giants intercepted the ball. "Has there been any news from the vet yet?" I asked nervously, praying that my worst nightmare wasn't going to become reality.
He shook his head, "Nothing yet, but calm down. You won't have to put her down. She'll be fine, maybe not race worthy anymore but you could still breed her or something."
I did relax a little bit and subconsciously brought my hand to my neck, running it along the chain of my necklace. After everything I've been through, I like to think that my parents have been with me along the way. "The key!" I suddenly yelled, and undid the necklace. I held it out and looked at it, then glanced at John Ross.
He seemed confused, so I explained to him, "This has to be the key to that safety deposit box. Of my dad's stuff, this is the only key I've found. He gave it to me when I was about six and always stressed the importance of never losing it."
He massaged my shoulder gently, pulling me back into the couch slowly. "That's cool, when you're healed up more we'll make the trip. I think we need to destress and recuperate for a while. You've gone this long without your inheritance, plus with your $100,000 another week or so won't hurt."
"I just want Pete to get what's coming to him. Taking advantage of a dead man and his orphan, he's the scum of the earth." I growled, still pretty riled up but his rubbing was getting its desired effect as I calmed slightly.
He pulled his eyes from the TV, lightly trailing his nose against my ear. "I know but right now we need to focus on you" I giggled lightly when he seductively sucked my earlobe into his mouth for a second before continuing, "getting healthy so I can have my stunningly beautiful and sexy cowgirl back to full operating order."
I smirked at him, my eyebrows raised. "To do what exactly, City Boy?"
He chuckled at me, leaning out of my space. "Well for starters, I'd like you to come back to New York with me. I have class on Monday and I'm missing practice as we speak. But mostly, I want you to be able to be you again. Take care of the horses, wrangle up cattle, and kick ass at anything you set your mind to."
The mention of New York got my heart racing in a not so good way. "What would I do in New York, John Ross?" My fears coming back ten fold, our dreams and realities trying to lead us in separate directions.
He ran his thumb between my eyes, smoothing my worry lines out before swiping some loose hairs out of my eyes. "Relax. I only need to finish this year and next, then I'll be free of New York commitments. If you honestly want to stay here with Grandpa, then so be it but I have no choice unfortunately." It hurt but I understood. Though a long distance relationship was the last thing I wanted. "Or," He continued, "you could look into a two year program and go to school with me?"
I frowned, never having considered college as an option for me since I had dropped out. Jerald was going to make me get my GED anyways, maybe looking into degree programs wouldn't be such a bad idea. If Trigger is most likely retiring from riding, I could look into getting into starting my own breeding and training business. "I'll think about it, okay? Like you said, I need to focus on getting better and Jerald wants me to get my GED."
He smiled lovingly, "Finally something me and the old man can agree on."
"Hell must have froze over." Jerald's deep voice, startled us both.
I quickly collected myself and looked at him expectantly. "What's the verdict?"
His solemn face told me it wasn't good news. But I didn't see sympathy so it kept me hopeful we wouldn't have to put her down. "Doc says it's a torn medial collateral ligament." He shrugged. "So anti-inflammatories for 6 weeks and stall rest until further notice. At this point her lameness is already improved from Vegas but if it gets any worse, we may have to look into putting her down. But Doc seems hopeful so he said not to fret over it."
The air rushed from my lungs at the news. It was worse than I had hoped but better than reality expected. "Well, not good news but at least my nervous break down can subside."
He cracked a small smile. "There you go kid. Now, Justin and myself will be seeing to her so don't go fussing over that. You need to heal too."
John Ross spoke up this time. "Think she'll be okay to fly to New York with me next weekend? I'd really like to be able to take care of her myself while still going to classes."
Jerald shrugged, "I don't see why not. Justin is going to take care of all the animals anyways and people travel with injuries often enough. I say go for it, that's if you want to Anastasia?"
I looked at John Ross hesitantly but he just smiled gently, running a finger along my jaw. Resting my head into his hand, I agreed to go with him, knowing I wouldn't be happy without him.
~ One Month Later~
"You ready, Sweetheart?" John Ross asked.
"I think so." Then I paused, "What if it's not in there?"
"Well where else would it be, if not here?" I just shrugged, looking down at the small metal box. Another minute passed of me just looking at it. "Want me to open it for you?" He whispered, now behind me, kissing my shoulder lightly.
His lips making me forget he asked a question, I mentally relived the feeling of his lips on my whole body. My thoughts started to drift to other parts of his body I had gotten to experience, when his chuckling brought me back. "Sorry, what did you say Baby?" I asked, blushing lightly.
He raised an eye brow at me, "What were you thinking about?"
I smiled cheekily, "Wouldn't you like to know?"
"I get the feeling I was there for it." He teased, grabbing my hair gently and pulling me into a quick kiss. "I love you, Anastasia but open the damn box so we can go home and I can really love you."
I scowled, flipping the lid open, only to stare at the small packet of papers and a large wad of cash. "Well at least there's some money." I mumbled, picking it up and handing it off to John Ross. "Alright, let's see what you say." Looking it over, there was no doubt this was my parents will. My grin taking over my face as I read, I looked over to the money he had counted out. "How much is there?"
He held the stack out to me, "$15,000 just for you. What does the paper say?"
Tucking the money into my satchel, I handed him the few pages. "Last will and testament of Whitney and Stephen Kitt. They left me everything. Which I know isn't much material wise but I believe there is a lot of money. We can have Jerald's lawyers look it over and take care of all the assets and funds."
John Ross stepped up to me, kissing my forehead and down my neck. "Well now that we have this mystery solved, how about we go home and celebrate?" He growled in my ear, pressing himself flush against me.
I laughed, kissing him teasingly on the lips. "So your Grandpa can hear me again? No thank you."
He busted out laughing, letting me go so he could cover his mouth. Little bitch. I glared at him, closing the box up before calling for the bank teller. "All set?" She smiled, briefly checking out John Ross again.
I ignored it this time, putting the will in my satchel with the money. "Yep, thank you very much. I appreciate your help," I glanced at her name tag, "Becca."
"Glad I could assist you. If you'd follow me, I can escort you back."
I kept myself between her and him, which got him chuckling again. "You're in an awful good mood today." I whispered, eyeing him suspiciously.
I watched the grin grow on his face again, "Well that's what happens when I've finally gotten to make love to my beautiful girlfriend."
I pursed my lips to keep from smiling myself, "If I remember correctly, I was willing to put out when we were in New York the first time but you refused."
"Have a great day!" Becca interrupted our pointless argument.
"You too." We said simultaneously, shoving each other jokingly through the bank doors.
Getting in his car, John Ross didn't started it right away. Instead he turned towards me and intertwined our hands. "You know I love you, right? Only you. Other women that check me out or flirt, don't compare to your inner and outer beauty. I was meant to find you, to love you. You made a huge impression on me from the first time I met you and I just knew you were a strong, independent, gorgeous woman. It may have taken me a while to pull my head out of my ass and see that you felt the same about me the whole time too. But jealousy sucks and ruins everything. I'm sorry."
I wiped a tear from eye, squeezing his hand. "I'm sorry too. I could see you were jealous. But I saw it as being unnecessary and it made me mad too, I responded immaturely by dating Ridge." I pulled his face to mine with my free hand and kissed him gently. "I love you so much and I'm ecstatic that we got to have a second chance, to put our stupidity behind us and just love each other like we're supposed to. Love shouldn't have to be drama filled, I want our love to be simple. To support each other always and trust that we're all we need. Nobody comes between us ever again."
He nuzzled his nose with mine, "Never again. No drama, no jealousy. Only love, support, and family."
I smiled, touching the facial hair that luckily had remained. "Family? You're finally done pushing your family away?"
Leaning into my hand, he closed his eyes for a moment. "Yeah, watching everything you've gone through to get a family, plus watching how they interact with you, I want them to be a bigger part of our lives. Grandpa has his quirks but he brought me to you. Dad and I are making the plans to open a new restaurant in Dallas, so contact with him and mom is crucial. Then Clay, he needs me. My older brothers are already out of the house, married, starting families of their own. All Clayton has is mom and dad and they aren't much honestly. They're too involved in business and social status to pay him much mind."
I nodded, thinking for a second. "I know it is kind of fast but," I hesitated, thinking over what I was about to ask. "what do you think about getting a house together? I can't live with Jerald forever and you complain every time you stay at your parents. Then this way we can have Clayton come live with us! Get him out from under your parents' thumbs."
He gazed at me, how much he liked my suggestion very obvious on his face. "You'd want to live with me full time?"
"Well yeah. I know it hasn't been that long really but there's couples out there that wait years before making this kind of commitment and end up separating. But on the other hand, there's people who get married after 3 months and are still together, living their happily ever after. Time doesn't dictate the success of the relationship. If living together is what we want and is beneficial, why not?"
He nodded his agreement, looking down at our conjoined hands. "Would you consider moving up to New York?" Seeing the panic on my face, he quickly continued. "I mean, I have that land my grandparents left me. I don't think I explained that to you much, but I have about 6 acres of mostly cleared land, away from the city and closer to Parker and Emily. I have contractor connections, I'd love it if you'd consider putting up a modest house? There's enough space for a small barn and pasture to retire Trigger to. Let her raise some babies. There's not a lot of western barns around that area but I'm sure you could find a boarding facility who would be willing to hire you to give lessons, widen their customer base."
I didn't respond at first, not sure how I felt about moving away from Texas. "Let me think about it? It's a huge change and I'm not sure how I feel about it."
He kissed me repeatedly on my lips, then all over, making me giggle. "I love your laugh. But that's perfectly alright." He stated, bringing my hand to his lips to be kissed too.
I shoved his face, "Get driving lover boy. It's seriously hot in here and I just want to go home and snuggle."
"Naked?" He asked hopefully.
"No. That's just asking for trouble." I snorted, "When we buy, or build, a house, then we can be naked to your hearts content."
Driving back to Breckenridge, he thought about it. "No offense Sweetheart, but that sounds like a very bad plan."
I cocked an eyebrow, "Oh? And why is that?"
"Well then you'd just be pregnant and naked all the time! Mind you, a big family doesn't scare me at all but I'm afraid you'd get sick of me touching you all the time."
Pregnant. Now it wasn't a bad thought, especially having John Ross' babies, but that wasn't something I wanted to do for another five years or more. "Well that's what birth control is for dear and I could never get sick of your touch." I winked at him, laying back to relax into the luxury seats of the Beamer. The smooth rumble of the sedan, plus the heat of the day easily put me into a light slumber, dreaming of the life I never knew I wanted but now needed.
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Alright guys!!! Final chapter right here! I'm sooooooooooooooo sorry it took FOREVER to update but good news is..... I'm still planning on doing a second book about Cindy Lou and of course your favorite couple will be visiting here or there! So no epilogue for this story, you'll just have to read the next book to see where their life goes 🤷🏼♀️