Page 130 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

For weeks, I tried to convince myself she was only here for the money, that there was nothing between us but that stupid contract we both signed.

But I was so wrong.

No matter what Uncle Marty tried to insinuate, Lyla doesn’t care about the money. She will never ask me for anything again, except maybe a better gate for the goat pen or some extra jars of pasta sauce to make a delicious dinner.

“Marry me for real, Lyla, and everything that’s mine will be yours. No prenup, no bullshit. Just you and me, just us here on the mountain.”

“That’s really what you want?”

The true uncertainty in her question stabs at my heart. I pushed her away and cut her off for so long that even now, she still doesn’t fully believe this is the real deal.

I kiss her again, trying to convey my answer the only way I know how because words always seem to fail me. Her arms wrap around my neck, keeping me in place, returning the emotion and the need I have for her.

Forcing myself to pull back, I take her face in my hands, ensuring she can see deep into my soul when I say this. “And when Joey gets out, because I am fucking confident he will, he can come up here with us, if that’s what he wants. I’ll build him a fucking cabin of his own, and I’ll teach him how to live out here like this…and how to not let Billy escape.”

Lyla grins, but she doesn’t respond to my offer.

“So, what do you say?”

She stares at me for so long I start to think she might actually say no, before a tear trickles down her temple and she nods. “Yes. I’ll marry you for real. I’ll be the billionaire lumberjack’s bride…”

I crush my lips to hers again, stealing her breath and anything else she might have said.

The first kiss with this woman sealed our fates as much as it did that contract, and the next time we do it, it will be with our hearts and souls truly belonging to each other, with vows we really mean.

Lyla Sinclair saved my life, and I am going to spend every waking moment I have left showing her how much I love her for it.

Dragging my head back, I grind my hips against hers, letting my cock rock between her legs, where I plan on burying my face in about five seconds before I fuck her senseless. “You might not be able to wear white after what I plan on doing to you.”

A coy smile spreads across her face, and she lifts herself up until she can feather her lips over mine. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Mr. Bolton.”

“Oh, Mrs. Bolton, you are playing with fire…”

That spark I felt when my lips first met hers has ignited a raging inferno I don’t ever want to flame out. Lyla is the oxygen it needs to survive, thatIneed to survive. Without it, withouther, all I would be is a pile of ashes ready to blow away in the spring breeze that barrels through the mountain this time of year.

She giggles, rolling her hips against mine, the same heat blazing through her loving gaze. “I’m ready to get burned.”

Epilogue

LYLA

The woman in the mirror isn’t the same as the one who looked back at me four months ago in the courthouse bathroom.Thatone was terrified, lost, looking for something or someone to cling to.Thisone is stronger, happier, content, for maybe the first time in my life.

Exactly how a brideshouldlook on her wedding day.

Ursula steps up behind me and places her wrinkled, frail hands on my shoulders, squeezing them gently. “You look beautiful, child.”

I meet her gaze in the reflection.

The old woman who has become like a mother to me—and retaken that role for Silas as well, since he reconnected with her—adjusts the veil on my head, ensuring that it trails down my back in exactly the right position. “You’re ready.”

“I am this time.”

She chuckles and shakes her head, making a littletskingsound. “I still don’t know what you two were thinking, mail-order bride…”

I smile at her as I rise to my feet. The heels I’m not used to wearing anymore pinch my feet, but they match my dress perfectly, and I refuse to give up on them until after the ceremony. Then they’ll become obsolete on the mountain and I can return to my comfortable work boots and sneakers.

“We’re making things right now, Ursula.”

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