Gotta Have You, Cowboy (Ford Brothers Book 2)

Chapter One: Nathan

  Present day....

I was the class clown in school, at home I was the goofball. Today I am still both of those but with additional names such as, prankster and troublemaker just to name a few. I love being those things and making people laugh. I love having a good laugh myself, but I am so much more than that. Nobody sees past the immature goofball, the one who does not take life seriously. The joke of the family, as some will say.

I do not want to be known only for those things. There is more to me than meets the eye, I want people to see the rest of me too. The person who loves his family, the one that would do anything to protect them and keep them safe. A person that would give the shirt off his own back to someone in need. I do not know if my loved ones see me that way or not, I hope they do though.

I am tired of hiding behind this mask. It is time for a change and starting right here right now I will be a better man. Better for my family, for myself, and for Charley. She strolled into my life with no warning at all. When I first laid eyes on the beautiful woman taken over Maddie's job at The Store, I was breathless. Frozen in my spot from the sight of her.

Charlotte Livingston... The stunning goddess, with chestnut brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, and long tanned legs. She is defiantly a sight that left me breathless. I never felt electric sparks with anyone before. I am falling hard for a girl, who I hardly know.

She seems like a down-home country girl. She does not talk much but then again; I was tongue tied every time that she was around. I need to know every little detail about this stranger.

Her past, her dreams, her family, whatever she wants to tell me, I would listen. I am tired of guessing, I want, no I need to know. That girl has stolen my heart and she does not even know it.

I want her to be mine. I need her to be, the feelings she stirs up in me. She has gotten me wanting to settle down, get married and start a family of my own. The one I dream of marrying is her, every night I have dreams about that brown eyed goddess. Man, I have got it bad.

*SMACK*

"What was that for?" I asked, my hand covering the side of my head where Ryan hit me.

"You were galaxies away from here. We have been parked for five minutes now and you are over there staring out the window. You look like a lovesick puppy. What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong with me." I huffed as I threw open the truck door and jumped out. Slamming the door shut and making my way over the gravel on to the sidewalk leading to mom and Gramps' house.

"It's not nothing." he called out behind me.

"Don't worry about it, Ryan. I am fine. Just dandy in fact." I huffed out, stomping my boots against the ground.

"I am going to worry about it. You are not acting like yourself, something is off. You know you can talk to me about anything." he pointed out jogging up beside me.

"I know I can. When I am ready to talk, I will find you." I told him, opening the door and heading for the dining room. The whole family was already sitting around the table.

"Right on time, take a seat so we can eat." mom said taking her spot on one end of the table.

"What took y'all so long?" Lucas asked, sitting next to his wife, Maddie.

"Nate was lost in his own little world. It took a while to bring him back." Ryan chuckled from my right side.

"Where did you go, Uncle Nate?" Lucas' youngest daughter, Sofia asked.

"Nowhere, Uncle Ryan likes to tell stories."

"Like momma does?"

"No, nothing like your momma's stories." I told my sweet niece who is my partner in crime.