Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
But here on this land, with this incredible woman, I was beginning to imagine a life I’d hadn’t thought was possible for me. The idea of a future with Clara, living on the farm and working alongside her, offered a peace that I thought I’d never find. A place and people who would shine a light bright enough to chase away the shadows.
With my MC family and the one I was going to build with Clara, I’d found the place I belonged.
8
CLARA
Saturday morning dawned crisp and cool, perfect weather to kick off the fall festival. By ten, the parking lot was already filled with cars, families spilling out in search of cider donuts from the store before the festival started.
I’d been running around since sunrise, restocking and pitching in where needed. By late afternoon, my feet ached, and my ponytail was a frizzy mess, but I couldn’t stop smiling. The place looked perfect. And Ronan had been here since eleven, helping wherever I pointed without complaint. He’d even taken an hour-long shift driving the tractor for the hay rides, much to my father’s delight.
Mom found me near the photo-op cutouts next to the entrance of the corn maze.
“You’re done for the day, sweetheart.” She pressed a cold bottle of water into my hand. “Go enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it.”
“But the—”
“Everything’s covered. Your dad’s got the hay rides, Harper and the twins are in the store, and I can handle the rest with Shawn’s help. He’s eleven, so he can take tickets here as well as you can.” She made a shooing motion with her hands. “That handsome man of yours has put in a full day’s work, so we’re more organized and less frazzled than usual. Take him around and have some fun.”
I glanced over to where Ronan stood talking to Dad near the tractor. He looked up, caught my eye, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile that made my knees go weak.
“Okay.” I grinned. “But if anything goes wrong—”
“It won’t. Go.”
I jogged over to Ronan, grabbed his hand without thinking, and tugged. “Come on. You’re off duty.”
He raised a brow but let me pull him along. “Bossy today.”
“I figured I’d take a page from your book so we can take full advantage of the last hour of the festival.”
He wasn’t as excited as I was, but I appreciated that he didn’t resist as I led him to the pumpkin painting area. There were long tables set up under the big oak, where kids were elbow-deep in orange and green paint.
I handed him a small pumpkin and a brush. “Show me what you got.”
He quirked a brow. “I don’t paint.”
“Everyone paints,” I insisted, not in the least put off by his skeptical look. “It’s a festival rule.”
He sighed and shook his head as he dipped the brush into black paint and made slow, deliberate strokes against the pumpkin. When he turned it around, he’d painted a simple skull with crossed bones. Rough, but kind of perfect.
I laughed. “Very biker.”
He shrugged. “I painted.”
“Fair point,” I conceded, tucking his mini pumpkin in the pocket on the front of my hoodie before leading him over to the bean bag toss. I handed him three pumpkin-shaped bags. “Bet you can’t get all of these in the hole.”
He smirked. “Watch me.”
Quickly proving me wrong, he didn’t miss once.
I narrowed my eyes and taunted. “Luck. Let’s see if you can do it again?”
He snagged the bags, and my jaw dropped with each bag that fell through one of the holes. After a baker’s dozen, I sighed. “Okay, you proved your point.”
He winked and tossed the last two pumpkins. When the final bag sailed in, a couple of teenage boys nearby whooped. One of them yelled, “Dude, you’re a beast!”
Ronan just shrugged and walked over to retrieve the bags. Handing them to me, he murmured, “Your turn.”
I held the record for the bag toss in my family, but with Ronan’s gray eyes on me, I only managed to sink two of the three bags.
“Nice job.”
I waved off his compliment, sorely tempted to try again and show him exactly how good I was, but I decided to take him over to the corn maze instead. We slipped in just as a big group was coming out, so the paths were mostly empty.
I started toward the first turn, but Ronan caught my wrist. “Blindfolded.”
I laughed. “What?”
“You know this place like the back of your hand. Gotta make it fair.” Before I could argue, he stepped behind me, covered my eyes with one big hand, and wrapped the other arm around my waist to guide me forward. “Walk.”
I could feel his chest against my back, his breath stirring my hair. Every step felt intimate, his body steering mine around corners I couldn’t see as he paused at each one to ask me which direction to go.