Page 77 of Wylder Ranch
“Well done, Al,” yells up Miles, hands cupped around his mouth. “Fucking PhD-level star topping, right there.”
Alex rolls his eyes, and Victoria tuts under her breath at his swearing, but they’re all so happy at the prospect of Alex being here for this that everyone’s grinning maniacally by the time he reaches the ground again.
And finally, the tree is done.
“Okay, are we ready?” Hendricks asks, holding an extension cord in one hand and a plug in the other. “Count down from five. . . four . . . three. . .”
Max counts down the loudest, shouting so loudly his little voice is echoing off the walls, and when we reach one, he hits the switch and the tree lights up.
Clemmie and Miles whoop. Max runs around the base, inspecting every angle, and Alex lets out a sob.
With a sniff, he squeezes my hand before pulling me into his side, with Everly between us. His lips rest against my temple. “Thank you for being here.”
“Thank you for having me here.”
Thank you feels too simple, too small, but today has been so much more than decorating a tree and getting ready for Christmas. It’s been about family and love. Celebrating the good times. All the things my parents instilled in me about this holiday.
It’s what Everly will always have in her future.
But it’s been long and emotional, so when Miles announces it’s time to leave for the lighting of Valentine Nook, Alex and I opt out to take Everly home instead.
The three of us—our little family unit.
While Alex is bathing our daughter, I decide it’s time to take matters into my own hands. After we put her down, I excuse myself for a quick shower. I have zero sexy clothes, but I find something even better. A T-shirt of Alex’s that got mixed in with my laundry.
When I walk into the kitchen, and Alex’s eyes rove up my bare legs, I know I’ve made the right decision.
“Show me how much you missed me.”
“What?” His eyes flick to the door, then the kitchen clock. “You were only gone five minutes.”
I simply wait until he figures it out.
The look he gets in his eyes when he does almost has me running back upstairs.
Almost.
CHAPTER 18
Alexander
Haven’s standing in front of me, bare legs stretching way north of the T-shirt barely covering her arse.
My fucking T-shirt. And it’s never looked sexier.
Neither has she. There’s something about the way her face is fresh and clean, free of the makeup she was wearing today, her hair scraped back into a ponytail, chin jutted in determination that really fires me up.
She’s so different from when she first arrived. It takes me back to Aspen, and the day we met at the jukebox, where she was all sass and zero fucks.
I wanted to fuck her then, and I want to fuck her now.
But we also have a baby. And I haven’t wanted to rush her. Scare her. Wait until she’s ready. I wanted to reconnect in a way that didn’t involve sex because what we had in Aspen was incredible, but I want so much more.
It seems I read it all wrong. She’s ready.
“Haven—”
“Yes, Alex?”
