Raintree: Haunted (Raintree 2)

If what he said about her becoming Raintree was true—and she had no reason to think it wasn’t—she was definitely going to need a new plan.

He didn’t move away but stayed close. Too close. That hand at the back of her neck was warm and strong and comforting, but she couldn’t help but remember that just a few hours ago he’d been horrified at the idea of the life he was now presenting as a done deal. “If I actually said yes, you’d probably have a panic attack.”

“If you say yes, I’m going to make love to you right here and now.”

“In the car.”

“Yep.”

“With bucket seats.”

He murmured in the affirmative.

Hope wrapped her arms around Gideon’s neck and barely touched her lips to his. “This I gotta see.”

“I think I broke something,” Gideon said as he nuzzled Hope’s neck. She laughed at him. He loved it when she laughed at him.

“Sex among the bucket seats was your idea, not mine.”

“This is better.” This was his bed, his woman and no clothes. It was softness and passion, boldness and demure exploration. It was a quiver and a gasp. It was the way Hope swayed and moaned when he touched her. It was the way she touched him, the way she wanted him.

He spread Hope’s thighs and filled her gently. But not too gently.

“Nothing seems to be broken,” she said dreamily, eyes closed and back arched.

Since he was convinced Hope was already pregnant, they hadn’t bothered with a condom. Not in the car, not now. They were bare, heart and soul and body, and they were connected in a way he had never expected. Hope wanted to be his partner, and she was. In more ways than one. In all ways. In ways he had never dreamed to know.

Emma had said she was always his, in every lifetime. Maybe the same could be said of Hope. Was that why he’d felt such an undeniable and immediate pull toward her? Was that why she did not feel at all new or unknown to him?

They came together, and Hope pulled him deeper. The contractions of her body pumped him, squeezed him, and as everything slowed, she continued to sway her hips against his and hold him close.

“I love you,” she said, her voice displaying exhaustion and confusion, as well as the affection she had not expected.

The words were on his lips, but he held back. He could love her this way; he could protect her as best he could and give her babies and make sure she never wanted for anything. Yes, she was undeniably his, but that didn’t mean he was ready to lay it all on the line. He wasn’t even sure he knew what love was anymore, but he did know that this was right. That was enough. For now.

While he was still searching for something semi-appropriate to say, he heard a trill of childish ethereal laughter. A girlish giggle, followed by a sigh and a very soft, “Told you so, Daddy.” If Hope heard it, she didn’t react.

He should be outraged, or at the very least surprised. But he wasn’t.

“I think we’ve been tricked by our daughter,” he said, raking a strand of black hair out of Hope’s face.

Her eyes drifted open. “Tricked how?”

“You didn’t get pregnant last night,” he said, feeling oddly forgiving of Emma at the moment. Maybe because he was still inside Hope, satisfied and grateful and happy.

“I didn’t?”

“No. You got pregnant now. Right now. Well, soon. Conception doesn’t happen right away….”

Hope threaded her fingers through his hair and pulled him down for a deep, long kiss. Apparently she was feeling forgiving at the moment, too. “I know how it works, Raintree.”

“Still wanna marry me?”

Without hesitation, she answered, “Yeah, I do.”

Still love me? He didn’t ask that question aloud. He should probably tell her that he loved her, too, or at least toss out a casual “ditto.” But he didn’t. The time would come when the words felt right.

Hope stroked his hair and wrapped one long leg around his, twining their limbs much as they had been earlier. She ran her foot up and down his leg.