CHAPTER 453

“But these last few months when I’ve gotten to know you? How I feel about you has nothin’ to do with Hayden. Besides the fact he’s such a great kid because he’s got such a great mom.”

Tears flooded her eyes. “Kane—”

“Let me finish. Yesterday, as soon as we finished calving, I stopped by Stacy Lynnwood’s office and resigned as a mentor in the Big Buddies/Little Buddies program. I didn’t give her a specific reason.” His eyes narrowed. “I assume Stacy told you about what’d happened with Brandi?”

“Not in detail, just the general gist.”

“Then you understand why I didn’t want our relationship to be dissected by the organization or anyone else?”

She nodded.

“So I resigned. That wasn’t something I was gonna tell you over the phone. I don’t want to be in your life only as Hayden’s mentor. I want to be in your life as your lover and your partner. I want us to be a family.”

“Kane—”

“Don’t interrupt.” He dropped to his knees and gathered both her hands in his. “I’d hoped to do this differently, b