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Nash’s text had coan finally arrived at Kinky Spurs to start her workday She onlyit quits Her head wasn’t in the game Her emotions felt raw She was in no real state to talk to people, so she called another bartender to fill her place and drove out to theher emotions under control No one at Kinky Spurs needed to see her be such a mess

All she kept thinking about was all the things she couldn’t change, no matter how much she wanted to Yeah, she knew her dad was ruthless and wrong most of the time when it came to business That’s why she wasn’t his business partner, she was his daughter And she loved hi, and her childhood was full of happy memories She wanted her child to know that man The man who loved his family

So, there it was The realization that she couldn’t have that big happy family She was finally okay with that too, because she wasn’t blind to the s he did Hell,the line she had separated the man and the businessman to still be able to love him

Truth was, her love wasn’t conditional When someone had her love, they had it forever But she also knew that continuing to try and force Nash and her dad together was going to hurt her and the baby, and that here she drew a line

A line that, once they crossed it, they couldn’t uncross She’d still love them both—that’s just how her heart worked—but she’d protect herself, and as history had shown her, she was very good at that It took Nash years to get close And it took soive that extra push

This was her new reality Nash wouldn’t coan would randfather And that’s the way they’d move forward now

All of that was okay Because it had to be

Feeling strong in her choices, after she left the mountains, she drove across town to Emma and Shep’s place As she slowly drove up the driveway, she was sure her eyes were betraying her She quickly parked her car next to Nash’s truck and was out a second later Staring at the sand ring straight ahead, she carefullychair on the porch “Aht?” she asked

“Unbelievable, right?” Shep mused

“Yeah, no kidding,” Megan breathed

E hi The once-labeled devil horse—who admittedly had almost killed E a perfect gentlean couldn’t hear what he was telling Emma

“Wow” Megan cli chair next to Shep “Never thought I’d see the day”

“You anda sip of his beer, the condensation dripping along the bottle

Megan licked her lips

Shep burst out laughing “Thirsty?”