The next morning’s short drive across the ranch property to the main barns felt longer than it should have while my stomach twisted with every mile.

I’d left my babies at Marisol’s just fifteen minutes away—close enough to reach if disaster struck, far enough that I prayed to God these men would never stumble upon them.

Just a few days, I’d promised them. Mama will fix everything.

Kameron was at the barn when I arrived, leaning against the old John Deere like he’d been waiting for me. No clipboard, no pretense of working.

Just him in worn jeans that hung low on his hips and a black henley that clung to every muscle I remembered too well. The morning sun caught the gold in his hair under the cowboy hat, making him look like temptation personified.

“Morning, firecracker.” His voice was rough, gravelly, sending unwanted shivers down my spine. “Sleep well? Or were you up all night thinking about me?”

I walked past him like he was furniture looking for my other, more controlled boss.

“Where’s Colt?”

“North pasture, checking fence lines.” He pushed off the tractor with fluid grace, each movement deliberate and predatory. “Be back soon. But for now it’s just you and me.”

My pulse jumped at the last words.

Being alone with Kameron felt dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with my secrets. I need to get out of here. “Then I’ll come back later—”

He stepped into my path, and suddenly all I could smell was him—leather and something uniquely male that made my knees weak. He didn’t touch me, but he didn’t need to.

His presence alone made my skin prickle with awareness.

“I have work to do.”

“So do I.” His gaze dragged down my body, and my worn jeans and work shirt suddenly felt too thin, too revealing. “Interesting thing—Hank mentioned you haven’t lived at the main house in years. Five years, to be exact.”

My mouth went dry from how close he was. I could see the flecks of silver in his blue eyes, could count his eyelashes if I wanted to. “So?”

“So…” He moved closer, and my body betrayed me by responding.

He backed me against the tractor without ever laying a hand on me, caging me with just his presence. The metal was cool against my back, a sharp contrast to the heat radiating from him.

“Makes me curious. Where does Ivory Hill go at night? Where do you disappear to when the sun goes down?”

My spine stiffened. “My living situation isn’t your concern.”

“Everything on this ranch is my concern now.” His eyes tracked over my face like he was reading secrets written in my skin. “Makes me wonder what you’re hiding, Ivory. What’s so important that you need to keep it away?”

Heat pooled treacherously low in my belly, but I forced my voice to stay steady.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Just curious about our head veterinarian’s mysterious life. Small town like this… Not many places to disappear to. Unless you’ve got something—or someone—worth hiding.”

The way he said ‘someone’ made my stomach drop.

Like he already knew. Like he was toying with me.

“You’re delusional.”

“I’m observant.” His gaze dropped to my mouth, and I felt it like a touch. “You see, I’ve been thinking about that night. The way you kissed me like you’d been dying to do it for years.”

My cheeks burned. I remembered that kiss—the desperation in it, years of want finally unleashed. “Kam…”

“The way you tasted.” He leaned in, and I inhaled sharply as his breath ghosted across my ear, warm and intimate. Every nerve ending sparked to life. “Whiskey and something sweet. The sounds you made. Those little gasps when—”

“Stop it.” But my voice came out breathless, unconvincing.

“Why?” He pulled back just enough to study my face, and I saw my own desire reflected in his darkened eyes. “Am I bringing back memories? Making you remember how good we were together? How perfectly you fit between us?”

My face flamed hotter and my thighs clenched involuntarily at the memory.

“You’re crossing a line.”

“Am I?” His smile was pure sin, the kind that had gotten him into countless beds and broken just as many hearts. “I haven’t touched you. Haven’t done anything but remind you of what you’re pretending didn’t matter. But your body remembers, doesn’t it?”

“It’s the only thing that matters.” He finally stepped back completely, and the loss of his heat made me feel oddly bereft. “I’m not going anywhere this time, Ivory. I’ve got all the time in the world to remind you how good we are together. How good we could be again.”

While you were busy raising your secret children.

“Ryan. Ivory.” Our father’s voice cut across the yard.

He stood on the cottage porch, drawn outside by our raised voices. He shuffled toward us with that unsteady gait that had become more pronounced over the past year.

“Stop blaming your brother.” Dad’s voice was firm despite the tremor in his body. “This was my failure. I lost this ranch because I was too proud to ask for help when I needed it. I convinced myself I could fix everything if I just worked a little harder.”

“Dad…”

“No. You need to hear this, sweetheart.”

He reached us and stood there, small and fragile in ways that broke my heart.

“Ryan did what I couldn’t. He saved what was left to save.” His watery eyes found mine. “Sometimes love looks like betrayal, sweetheart. Sometimes the best choice is just the least terrible one.”

I looked at my father’s shaking hands. My brother’s guilty eyes. The weight of secrets I could never share pressed down on my chest until I could barely breathe.

Three children with no father. A night and complicated feeling for two men I could never take back.

A truth that could destroy everything if it ever came to light.

Then I noticed Kameron.

He had wandered away from the barn during my confrontation with Ryan and now stood beside my parked truck. His dark head bent as he peered through the driver’s side window at something inside.

My heart stopped completely. I had cleaned out most of the obvious signs of motherhood before driving here this morning.

But had I gotten everything?

Any small trace of the three children I was hiding could be visible through that glass.

Kameron’s head lifted slowly. His ice-blue eyes found mine across the distance, and something shifted in his expression.

Something that looked almost like a question.