Come Back for Me (Arrowood Brothers #1)(57)

And he demands that the cook doesn’t clean. So, I get to sit there after the meal and . . . do nothing.

When I get closer to the house, I see his tall frame with the sun at his back.

God, he’s gorgeous.

His ball cap is backward, hiding the hair I love to run my fingers through, and his white shirt is straining against his muscles as he lifts the bale of hay.

Apparently, farming is really freaking sexy.

I stand a few feet away, chewing on my thumb as I drink him in.

He tosses the bale with little effort, and I let out a soft sigh.

Our eyes meet, and he flashes me one of his effortless smiles. “Hi there.”

“Hi, yourself.”

“Like what you see?”

Do I ever. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of my response, I shrug. “It’s all right, I guess . . .”

His voice dances with amusement. “You guess?”

“Well, I mean, you’re okay and all.”

And then he lunges for me. I squeal and run, but I don’t have a chance in hell of him not catching me. Connor grabs me and pulls me up into his arms. My legs kick, and then Hadley rushes outside.

“Connor!” she yells, and he takes off with me in his arms.

“You can’t catch us!”

My arms are wrapped around his neck as he circles and Hadley follows. “You got my mom!”

“I do, and if you want her back, you have to catch us!”

I laugh as he ducks and dodges her. She laughs hysterically as she chases him and, in this moment, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.

There’s nothing weighing me down.

In his arms, running around this field, with our daughter chasing us—I smile, and it feels like the world is smiling with us.





“The petition for divorce has officially been filed. The judge will review the case and, regardless of whether Kevin signs it or not, he’ll render a decision because Kevin’s in jail awaiting trial.”

I don’t even know what to say. It’s been months of waiting for the stupid time restriction to run out, and Sydney has been vigilant as she counted down the time until she could strike.

“And the paternity?”

She pulls out the copy of it. “He was served it at the same time as he received his version of the results. Do you want to see?”

I nod. I know that Hadley isn’t his, but it’ll be nice to see it for myself. “Did you look?”

“No, I didn’t think it was my place.”

I smile. Sydney has become a trusted friend, which is something I never had before. Hadley loves her, and she loves giving Connor shit. It’s been fun spending time with her. “Thank you, Syd.”

“Don’t mention it, but please open the damn thing so I can stop the internal suspense.”

I do as she asks, grinning as I read the results.

“I take it that he’s not her father?”

“No,” I say with tears of joy. “No, he’s not, but we knew that already, this sort of . . . confirms it all again.”

“So . . . Connor?”

“Yeah, he’s her father.”

Sydney leans back in her chair, the look of surprise is evident on her face. “I thought so, I mean, Hadley has the Arrowood eyes, but I wasn’t sure how it could be possible.”

“I always hoped.”

She smiles. “I once did too. Listen,” Sydney says before pausing. “I want to warn you, as a friend, the Arrowood brothers have a lot of . . . baggage. I dated Declan for what feels like my whole life. He kissed me when I was eight years old, told me we were going to get married, and that was that. I loved him with my whole heart, and I really believed he was my forever, but he changed. Day by day, the boy I knew disappeared at the hands of his father. It was impossible to watch, but we had a plan. And then he took off and never came back. Loving those boys is easy, but losing them, well, it’s not something we ever really get over.”

My first instinct is to defend Connor, which is an urge I tamper down. Sydney isn’t telling me this to hurt me, she’s being a friend. I also hear the pain in her voice. It’s clear that she’s never gotten over the loss of Declan.

“I know they had a rough childhood.”

She snorts. “Ellie, whatever he’s told you . . . double it. Those boys went through hell and it was horrible to watch. Connor bore more of it than we probably know because he was the last one living at home. Declan was the first to leave, and well, while I was in college, so was he. We were fine, it was great, even. We went to schools close to each other, but then once Connor left for boot camp, Declan was done with me. I was depressed and shut myself off when he left.”

“I’m sorry he hurt you.”

“Me too. The sad part is that I would’ve run with him. I would’ve followed that man to the ends of the earth, but he told me to stay and that he didn’t want me anymore. He wanted to start over and that meant we were through.”

Sydney may be doing the best she can to mask the hurt in her voice, but I hear it in each syllable. I also hear the love she still has for him. But Connor isn’t Declan, and I’m not her. We’ve talked about things, and I have to believe that after everything I’ve been through, Connor isn’t keeping some deep dark thing from me that’s going to make him run again.