Page 70 of The Locksmith's Promise

Baxter holding my hand, weaving his fingers through mine, studying their intersection like it was art.

“I love how we look together, how neatly your hand fits into mine,” he murmured.

He lay back beside me on our rock, the sun glinting off the gold streaks in his hair, with our joined hands held up for his perusal.

Bringing them to his mouth, he kissed the back of mine and shifted up to his elbow.

“I’m going to give you a key, Maggie,” he promised.

I hummed. “Tell me more about this key. Does it come with a house and a door?” I teased.

He smiled. “Sunshine yellow. Do you want a flowerbed?”

“Tulips and wild roses,” I murmured.

He nodded. “Consider it done. We’ll have two kids, and a dog named Jeff.”

I barked out a laugh. “What if it’s a girl dog?”

He grinned. “Doesn’t matter. We’re naming her Jeff.”

“Have you named our kids as well?”

He looked up to the sky for a moment before throwing out two names. “Xavier and Xavierina.”

“We might have to work on the girl’s name,” I murmured, laughing up at him.

“We’ll leave the kids with your parents and go to the Loose Moose every Friday night.”

His smile softened. “It’ll be you and me, Mags. You and me against the world.”

And now he was here, God help me, he was here.

The sound came first, a low warning like the creaking of a bridge bearing too much weight.

“No,” I moaned, digging my fingers into the back of his neck with one hand and fisting his shirt with the other.

Baxter stiffened beneath me. “Maggie?”

“I’m okay,” I blurted.

Was I?

I gulped down air and blew it back out, frantic to stem the tide of a love I had buried for far too long.

Skin so warm, breath so sweet, his strong arms locked tight around me.

What if he walks away again?

My panic rose.

“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie,” he soothed, wrapping me up tighter and rocking us gently.

I missed his scent, his strength, the smile in his eyes, and the laughter that used to rumble up from his chest with the force of a rockslide.

Not once had I heard him laugh like that since we’d been back.

And I desperately, desperately wanted to.

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