Page 40 of The Rancher's Second-Choice Wife

“You know you’re doing a bad job at hiding your smile, right?”

“O-Oh.”

Valerian couldn’t remember seeing anything lovelier as he watched a helpless smile form over her lips.

“Can we start over with a clean slate? You did say I was shit—twice.”

A bubble of laughter escaped her as she said the last word and the sound was just too damn adorable.

And hot.

Valerian felt like he was losing his mind.

Adorable and hot did not go together, dumbass.

Or at least that hadn’t been the case...until now.

Until her.

Poppy.

She was still looking up at him like she considered it the best dream ever that he had said ‘shit’ upon seeing her.

And it was still the hottest and most adorable thing he had ever seen.

I give up.

And then he was hauling her close and doing what he had wanted to do from the very first moment he saw her.

Poppy didn’t even have the time to gasp as Valerian pulled her into his arms and covered her mouth with his.

And this kiss was just like the other times he had kissed her, with the way her brain shut down as his tongue thrust past her lips.

She could only clutch his shirt between her fingers as the kiss deepened. Could only whimper against his lips as she grew dizzier with every stroke of his tongue. She would gladly give up breathing for this kiss to never end—

But of course, it did end, and Poppy didn’t even realize how she was looking at him until Valerian’s gaze gleamed down at her in amusement.

“You look like you’re ready to cry out of frustration.”

Poppy hurriedly shook her head even though a part of her was convinced it was so mortifyingly true. “N-No, I’m not.”

“It’s alright,” he soothed. “I promise I’ll do more than kiss you later on—”

Poppy let out a gasp. “T-That’s not—”

“But for now, I’ll need you to do one thing for me.”

Her heart threatened to stop beating when she saw him reach for something in his pocket.

Was he going to—

“Will you...”

He couldn’t possibly—

“Sign something for me?”

Poppy stared dumbly at the gold-plated pen he had placed in her hand.

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