Page 128 of Love for a Lifetime

“Hanging out in the sunroom with the hens. She’s not a fan of the cold weather.”

Dawson pulled up another video and showed Olivia. “I still think we should use this one.”

He played the alternate video they’d made last week of him bench pressing her. Olivia rolled her eyes. “You just want to show off your muscles.”

“My queen,” he corrected. “I want to show off my queen.”

Olivia’s cheeks heated, despite the early October chill in the air. Dawson hadn’t been quiet about their relationship, proudly telling everyone that Olivia had finally given him a chance.

As if she hadn’t been as giddy as a schoolgirl about their new relationship too. She’d been getting congratulated by everyone in town for weeks, and it wasn’t getting old.

Olivia stood and set Genella on her feet. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to make it this public? What if something happens?”

Dawson rose and pocketed his phone. “Nothing is going to happen. There’s no way in this world I’d let anything mess this up.”

Tracing the lines of her cheek and jaw, Dawson’s gaze roamed over her face. Years of love and commitment washed over her. He was right. Nothing could take this happiness from them.

Their love could slip through time. One minute, she was ten and running behind him and her brother on the farm. The next, she was twenty-eight and crashing into his waiting arms where his love swallowed her whole.

Dawson tilted her chin up and lightly brushed his lips against hers, taking his time as he adored her. Seconds later, his kiss turned urgent and eager.

She knew that hunger. The promise of a lifetime of happiness sat waiting before them while the present consumed her, reminding her to bask in every second of his love.

He pulled back and breathed in a contented sigh. “I love you, my queen.”

“I love you too, future husband.”

The blue in Dawson’s eyes darkened. “I know I promised I wouldn’t get ahead of myself, but does that mean–”

Olivia pressed a fingertip to his lips. “It means we probably don’t need to get engaged when we’ve only been together a month, but you have me, heart and soul.”

Dawson groaned and kissed her again, crushing her body to his as he sealed their futures together.

BONUS EPILOGUE

GAGE

Gage rested his back against the counter in the break room and crossed his arms over his chest. A dozen people dressed in suits and dresses crowded into the small area, and excited whispers filled the air. Most everyone had just come from a wedding.

Everyone except Gage.

He was here to fix what was broken and get a paycheck, not schmooze and chit-chat, and being pulled away from a transmission overhaul for this pow-wow was tanking his mood.

The job at Blackwater Automotive hadn’t come with enough warnings.

Tapping the heel of his boot on the floor, he eyed the door. He could slip out and no one would notice.

“Don’t even think about it,” a feminine voice said beside him.

Gage turned to find Lyric wearing an orange dress and looking up at him with one eyebrow raised and a manicured finger pointed at him.

“I’m not thinking about anything.”

Expectations were the key to acing life. If everyone assumed he was worthless, no one could claim to be disappointed when he screwed up.

Lyric narrowed her eyes at him, and the look reminded him of one his sister used to give him. Thea was a couple years younger, but she had always been the responsible one.

Until he shipped her off to who knows where. The old memory tugged at parts of his past he didn’t want to revisit.

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