Page 30 of Beau
Reaching up, I stroked her hair back. Stared at her in awe, taking in her perfect features. This,her,the family we may have already started, was everything to me.
So I reached in my jeans pocket and pulled out the ring I’d been carrying around. The one I picked up at a local jeweler the morning after the dinner at her parents’ house the night we first met. When I first saw her across the table and knew she’d be mine.
Took her left hand.
She gasped and was finally fucking speechless.
I stilled, lifted my gaze from her long fingers to her blue eyes. Eyes that were filled with wonder.
“Marry me?”
“Is that a question?” she whispered.
I huffed, then smiled. “It shouldn’t be. You know you’re mine. I’ve said it. I’ve showed it. I’ve proved it. You trusted me with your body. Now trust me with your heart.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“Marry me, Lainey Wilder.” This time, I slid the ring onto her finger.
“I’m not leaving this ranch for Bozeman or wherever you live.”
“Good, because that place is just an apartment with a bed, TV, and recliner. I want a home with you.”
“You’re a bull rider,” she reminded. “I know how much you’re on the road from Trig.”
“Come with me. Compete by my side.”
Her eyes flared at the possibility. “What if–”
“Life’s full of what ifs,” I said, cutting her off. She was thinking of all the reasons we shouldn’t be together instead of all the possible ways we could. “We’ll work through them all together. If you think I can’t take care of you, you’re wrong. Trig might have been the champ, but I’ve won a shit ton of money, too. This house, we’ll add on for all the kids we’re gonna make.”
She licked her lips, trying to keep up with the fact that I had answers to all of her worries.
“I take care of what’s mine,” I repeated.
She’d never go without being with me. Not for anything. Food, clothing, shelter, love, devotion, children. I’d give her the world but our home would be here on her family’s ranch.
“I’m not going to be docile and meek,” she promised.
I tipped my head back and laughed. It seemed this was more of a concern than money or jobs or where we lived. “Wouldn’t want you that way, love. But youaregonna be smart.” I tapped the soft skin right between her breasts, then my chest in the same spot. “I won’t stifle you and you won’t scare the shit out of me.”
She grinned, nodded. “Deal.”
“Is that a yes?” I asked, cocking my head.
“That’s a yes. And an ‘I love you, too,’ cowboy.”
16
LAINEY
“Thank fuck,”he groaned, then cupped my face and kissed me.
I’d never seen him so vulnerable waiting to hear my answer to marrying him.
Marry!
His tongue tangled with mine and he took the kiss deeper and deeper until I was moaning and my hands clenched into his biceps. I’d been so turned on earlier, the way he’d tortured me with pleasure and it hadn’t diminished.
