Page 138 of Dream Weaver

Abby patted my chest and shot me a sly wink. “Adorable.”

“Exactly the look I was going for,” I sighed.

Then Claire called out. “Come on, Mommy! I’ll show you how it works!”

I let Abby go with another kiss and watched them play, grinning so hard, my cheeks hurt.

My mom wore a similar expression, as she so often did. It had always confused me, because standing around watching kids play hadn’t seemed super special to me. But now, I got it.

Boy, did I get it.

“Come on, Cooper! You too!” Claire called.

“Yeah, come on, Coop. Let’s see you try that tunnel,” Ingo joked.

I joined Claire, but not in the narrow tunnel or on the rope bridge, which Pippa raced toward.

“The ultimate test,” Ingo laughed as I headed for the monkey bars.

Oh, they were plenty sturdy. I knew, because I’d personally reinforced them.

That was the special bonus in all this. All summer, I fought fires — preventing destruction but not actually creatinganything. Now, I got to make things and watch others enjoy the outcome. Especially Claire. And, hey. If Abby and I ever had more kids, they could play here too.

My bear was all over that one.Cubs! Soon!

Well, we would have to see about that. But I hoped so.

The blueprints for Claire’s playground had come from the business my sister ran with her husband and our cousin. I’d laughed off jokes about me opening a new branch of the company in Sedona, but now that I was done with Claire’s set… Well, maybe that wasn’t so crazy after all.

All in all, breaking in the playground was a highlight of my first month on the ranch full time. The next highlight came a little later, when, after months of waiting…

Claire was at another weekend sleepover at her friend Tana’s. Pippa and Ingo were out dancing, while Erin and Nash were already in bed due to theirearly-to-bed, early-to-riseballooning schedule. So, the ranch was quiet, and Abby and I had the house to ourselves.

“So, I was thinking…” Abby said as we watched the stars from the porch.

My mind had been wandering, so I assumed she was going to follow with something like,I was thinking it’s time for dessert.

Not exactly what she’d meant, as it turned out.

“…now that you’re home for a while…” Her hand dropped to my leg.

Foolish bear that I was, I remained focused on the stars.

Now that you’re home for a while, we can start renovating the spare room, was what I absently expected to come next.

She stroked up and down a little, and boy, was that nice.

“…it would be a good time to… You know, to…”

She trailed off, blushing. I wasn’t looking, but I could sense her cheeks heat. We were that tuned in to each other.

Or maybe not as tuned in as I thought, because her hand slid toward my groin next.

Which was when it finally dawned on me that renovations were not what she had in mind.

Less than a minute later, we were panting, naked, and in bed.

Well, almost naked.

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