Page 10 of Loyal to the Mountain Man

Relief flooded her face, softening her beautiful features. “Maybe we’ll wait a little while to start a family. That will give us some alone time as a couple first.”

“You’ve got a deal,” I said. “Now, what do you say we blow this popsicle stand?”

That was a term I’d never used but had heard all my life. It fit perfectly in this case, though.

She laughed. “Sounds like a plan. But first…”

She punctuated that by closing the remaining distance between us and lifting her face to mine for a kiss. In that moment, it didn’t matter that we were in the middle of a hallway in the meeting area of the Rosewood Ridge Retreat Center. All that mattered was the two of us, sealing the promise we were making to stay together for the rest of our lives.

It was a promise I couldn’t wait to keep.

EPILOGUE

KELSEY

Not everything in life could be planned. That was especially true when it came to getting pregnant.

As I walked, hand in hand, with my new husband, I couldn’t help but smile, glancing over at him. “Remember when we said we’d wait a while to start a family?”

“Yes, but I’ve changed my mind,” Zachary said. “How about you?”

I looked down at my noticeably larger belly. I was four months along and happier than I’d ever been.

We’d had a smallish wedding at the retreat center, and now we were heading toward one of the big suites on the second floor. It wasn’t quite a honeymoon suite, but it had a gigantic bed and a jetted garden tub. I couldn’t think of a better place to spend my wedding weekend.

“Are you kidding?” My free hand automatically went to my belly. I was doing that a lot these days. “I couldn’t be more excited.”

“But you’ll be a mom at twenty-five.”

“And probably again at twenty-seven or twenty-eight,” I said. “That means when they hit college, we’ll still have plenty of life ahead of us. Lots of time to travel the world and do whatever else we want.”

“We can travel the world now if you want. This is us.”

He stopped in front of a room at the very end of the building. Room two-thirty. I waited as he retrieved a keycard and waved it in front of the pad on the door. A click signaled it was unlocked and ready for us to enter.

“Wait!” he said as I reached for the door handle.

I froze, looking over at him. I had no idea what was happening, but Zachary was full of surprises. That much I’d learned from the ten months we’d been together.

“I’m supposed to carry you over the threshold,” he said.

I smiled. “Such a romantic.”

“It’s good luck.”

“How can I argue with that?”

And that was how I ended up being carried into the hotel room and set on the bed on my wedding night. I was no lightweight—even when I wasn’t carrying a baby—but my man was stronger than anyone I’d ever met. He lifted me like I weighed no more than a sack of potatoes.

“Maybe I should’ve taken off this dress before.”

Zachary was already unbuttoning his dress shirt, which he’d worn with khakis. My dress was a calf-length, lacy, off-white number—casual but fun. The A-line skirt meant he wouldn’t have to necessarily take it off to make love to me. I knew he would, though. He liked to have me completely naked.

I could remove my dress on my own, but I was too busy watching him undress. Every single inch of him was stunning, especially the inches that made up his erection, which sprang forward as he tugged down his briefs.

Then he was approaching the bed, fully naked. I thought he’d come around to my side to undress me, but not just yet. Instead, he went to his side and climbed in, pulling me toward him for a heart-stopping kiss. Things were still fiery as ever between us, and I knew they always would be.

A couple of minutes into the kiss, I felt my skirt sliding up and realize he was tugging at it. My body was already heating up, and he hadn’t touched me yet.

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