Bachelor Swap, Lacey Black [best short novels txt] 📗

our road may lead, but I know we’re at least traveling along the same course. We’re together, growing and building. It’ll take time, but as long as we’re both willing to put in the work, we should be able to make a fulfilling and lasting life together.

Who would have thought I’d fall in love with my boyfriend’s twin brother?

Not me, that’s for sure.

But that swap was the best thing to ever happen to me.

It brought me Mason.

My cowboy.

Epilogue

Mason

1 year later

I hear the back door slam and smile.

I’ve been out working for the last hour and just waiting for Kyla to make her appearance. My girl’s definitely not a morning person, but she’s trying. I’m up before the sun and ready to hit the barn, but I hang around long enough to wake her up and share a cup of coffee and some breakfast. Then, when she goes upstairs to get ready, I head out and get to work.

Once she’s dressed for the day—usually in a pair of sexy Levi’s and some cowboy boots—she, Hattie, and Edward, our lab puppy, come out to start their chores. She’s in charge of the chickens, of feeding, water, and collecting their eggs. She even convinced me to get a few more roosters and incubating our own eggs. She’ll have another batch hatching any day now.

I pretend to keep myself busy in the barn, but my eyes are on her the entire time. I watch the way she moves, and how she talks to each chicken as she takes care of them. We still keep Edward out of the chicken run, only because he’s still so young and thinks he needs to play with the birds, but Hattie goes inside and keeps watch.

After she fills their watering buckets with fresh water, she exits the run and leaves the gate open. Slowly the chickens start to come out, pecking at the ground and searching for bugs to eat, and Kyla and the dogs head for the barn.

I grab her saddle and make my way to the first horse stall. Kyla’s extremely predicable, and I already know she’s going to want to go for a ride after she completes her morning chores.

“Hey,” she says, approaching the stall. The moment she sees her horse, she grins. “Morning, Dolly.” Kyla reaches in and pets her horse’s nose.

Shortly after moving here, Kyla was talking to Edith about the shelter and learned Dolly was still there. The shelter manager was stressed, worrying about not being able to find a new home for the mare as quickly as she thought they would. After their phone call, Kyla was full of melancholy and worried about the future of the horse.

That’s when I had the idea.

We have a huge barn here, one that I was slowly getting back into tip-top shape and had plenty of room. It didn’t take much convincing on either part to decide to purchase the gorgeous mare in Boston and have her shipped to Montana. Believe it or not, it was actually Matthew who helped put me in contact with a gentleman out east who was willing to make the trip. A week later, Dolly arrived at our ranch and has been here ever since.

Usually, Kyla would prefer to saddle up the horse on her own, but I’ve noticed lately she’s been a little more fatigued than normal. So instead of giving me a hard time for prepping the mare for a ride, she gives all her attention to the animal itself. When I have everything secure, I turn to the woman I love and get ready to help her mount.

“Thank you,” she says, settling into the saddle. “You coming?”

My cock twitches in my pants at the unintentional innuendo. “Yep. Give me a few minutes to get Samson ready,” I reply, referring to my horse. We got him about three months after Dolly in an estate sale from a nearby ranch.

I was able to use the money I was paid from Matthew and pay off all the debt I owed on the ranch. What was left was used on the grounds and to slowly start to bring in more animals. The beef market turned around, with prices skyrocketing when many smaller ranches started to flounder. When cattle numbers started to drop, demand began to rise, along with the prices. I knew it would happen and was grateful I was able to stick it out until it did.

While Kyla walks Dolly around the paddock, I saddle up Samson, a fresh wave of nerves starting to set in. The dogs are out with Ky, leaving me alone in the barn with my horse and the ring burning a hole in my pocket. I’ve been planning this day for what feels like forever. In reality, it’s been a little more than a month since I picked up the custom engagement ring made by a local jeweler in Casper.

Glancing around, I realize this is it. The moment that could potentially change the rest of life. It would tie Kyla and me together forever, until death us do part. Equal parts excitement and edginess, I mount my horse and head out to find my love.

“Come on, let’s head over to the western pasture and check the fences,” I tell her when I approach.

“Sounds good,” she replies, turning Dolly to head off to the trail.

I follow behind, enjoying the view of her sitting atop the horse and also trying to figure out what in the hell I’m going to say. Everything I’ve been planning for weeks seems to just evaporate from my mind, as if I haven’t been stressing and obsessing about these words. By the time we get to our favorite pasture, my heart is threatening to jump right out of my chest. Once we reach the small cluster of trees that gathers near the pond. I quickly dismount, leading Samson over to a smaller tree and tying him up. Once he’s secure, I move to Kyla, anxious to help her down. Not