“I want you to give me something,” I whisper.
He steps forward, lacing his hand around my throat as I look up at him.
“Tell me what it is, firefly?”
“I want you to put a baby in me while I’m in this wedding dress, Hunter.”
He lets out a ragged breath, his fingers tightening around my neck. “Whatever my wife wants, my wife gets. But, I’ve been trying to do that this whole time, baby.”
He grins, leaning in, brushing his lips against my jaw. “Well, can we start trying properly? I’ll stop taking my pill.”
“You mean, multiple times a day, making sure you come every single time?”
I nod. “Yes, please.”
He kisses along my throat, and I tip my head back to give him better access.
“Can you be quiet, firefly?”
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR
HUNTER
I take her hand,and we run.
Across the field, past the fence line, through the dark with the music fading behind us and the stars opening up overhead. Her wedding dress billows behind her. Her cowboy boots kick up dust. She’s laughing, and the sound of it is the only music I need.
The barn sits at the edge of the east pasture. My ranch hands have been working on it for a week. I spent yesterday here alone, getting every detail right.
I pull open the wooden door and flick the light. Then I step back and watch her walk in.
“Hunter,” she whispers, her hands covering her mouth.
It’s no longer just a barn. It’s our escape.
String lights wrap around every wooden pole, casting the space in warm amber. There’s a living area. A deep leather couch, a television, a thick rug. Behind that, set right beneath the skylight in the roof, is the biggest bed I could find. Four posts. White sheets. Rose petals scattered across every inch.
On the bedside table, champagne for Lola, whiskey for me, two glasses. And in the far corner, a cupboard. Inside it, things I think she’ll want to discover.
She turns in a slow circle. The lights dance in her eyes. “You did this?”
“For us.”
I lift her over my shoulder, and she squeals, fists drumming my back. I carry her to the bed and set her down in the middle of the petals, which scatter around her like confetti.
I settle between her legs. Look down at her. Red hair on white sheets. Cherry necklace at her throat. My ring on her finger. The stars above us.
And everything aligns. This was what I’ve spent my entire life searching for. This woman right here.
“I made this place for us,” I tell her.
“A sex room?”
I chuckle and work off her boots. “A baby-making room, let’s call it.”
“What are you going to do to me in here, sir?”
I unbutton my shirt. Watching her watch me. Then rip it off and toss it.