The Birthday Gift Read Free Page A

Congratulations.”
    “Thanks. I
tried not to get my hopes up too much, but I really wanted this sale. That
monstrosity of a house has been on the market for three years.”
    “And you love
that huge commission.”
    Amanda
grinned. “And I love that huge commission.”
    “Do you know
what they plan to do with the place?”
    “They want to
turn it into a bed and breakfast-slash-resort, complete with fishing, swimming,
tennis, a golf course…the works. That’s going to take a lot of time and a lot
of money, but they apparently have plenty of both. And we could use something
like that in our area. It’ll bring in more tourists, which will lead to more
people settling here, which will lead to—”
    “More commissions
for you,” Jake said with a grin.
    She smiled.
“Yeah. Do I sound money hungry?”
    “Not a bit.
You sound like a successful businesswoman and I’m very proud of you.”
    His words
warmed her heart. Jake’s approval was so important to her. As long as she had him,
nothing else mattered.
    Wanting to be
closer to him, she touched his chest. She let her palms glide over the soft
cotton of his T-shirt, liking the contrast of the smooth material over his
solid muscles. Working with horses had definitely given him a killer body. “I
was about to fix me a glass of iced tea. Want one?”
    “In a
minute.” He tightened his arms around her waist. “You aren’t the only one
around here with good news today. George Mayo bought Texas Thunder.”
    With a squeal
of delight, Amanda threw her arms around Jake’s neck and hugged him tightly.
“That’s wonderful!”
    “Yeah, I
think so too.”
    The feel of
Jake’s firm chest against her breasts brought back all her desire from a few
moments ago. Trying to be a good girl and listen to what her husband had to say
instead of jerking his clothes off, Amanda pulled back and looked at Jake’s
face. “Did he agree to your price?”
    “He didn’t
even bat an eyelash when I told him what I wanted, which tells me my price was
probably too low. But that’s okay. I’m happy to finally bring some money into
the house.”
    Amanda had
suspected Jake wasn’t happy about not selling any horses, but this was the
first time he’d actually said anything to her. “We’ve done fine, Jake.”
    “No thanks to
me.”
    “It takes
time to build up a clientele for the horses. You expected that.”
    “Yeah, but I
didn’t think it’d take this long. I’ve practically wiped out our
savings.”
    “ You’ve done no such thing. We’re a partnership, remember?”
    “Yeah, but—”
    Amanda
touched his lips to stop his argument before he could start it. She refused to
let him feel guilty about his business getting a slow start. “No ‘buts’
allowed. Whatever we do, we do together.”
    Jake moved
her hand and held it tightly in his own. “You’ve brought in a steady income,
Amanda. I haven’t.”
    “Do you think
I love you any less for it?”
    “No, of
course not.”
    “Then what’s
the problem? We both knew it would take time to build your business. Things
have been tight sometimes, but we’ve done fine.” She raised his hand to her
mouth and kissed his palm. “I wouldn’t change one thing about our time
together, Jake. Not one . It’s been more wonderful than I ever imagined.”
    Jake softly
caressed her lips with his thumb. “I’m so lucky to have you.” Leaning back
against the counter, he pulled Amanda between his spread legs. His groin
nestled snugly between her hips. “How did a plain, ordinary guy like me get you
to fall in love with me?”
    “Oh, I don’t
know,” Amanda said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I guess you were
just blessed.”
    “That must be
it.” He slid his hands from her underarms to her hips and back again. “So, do
you have any ideas how I could keep on being blessed?”
    A devilish
gleam lit his eyes. Amanda knew from that gleam and the feel of his cock
hardening against her exactly how “blessed” he wanted to