Winter had stopped struggling as soon as I spoke, and her mouth had slowly formed a cute little O.
When she said nothing for a full minute, my cheeks flushed a little. Had I said too much?
“You really do only talk to me, don’t you?” she asked suddenly.
I laughed and hugged her close. “Like I said…”
Winter chuckled, but something in her expression wasn’t sitting right with me. “Are you unhappy with what I’ve said?”
She blinked a few times, her eyes filling with confusion. “What? Why would any of the sweet things you’ve said upset me?”
I shrugged. What the fuck did I know about women?
A sigh slipped from her lips, and she rested her head on my chest, her ear directly over my heart. “I’m just wondering if you’ll wake up tomorrow and regret tying yourself to someone you don’t love.”
Well, shit. I really was a bumbling idiot.
With one finger, I raised Winter’s chin so that our eyes met. “Sugar, when I said I knew you were mine, I meant...what I should have said was, from the very first moment, I knew I loved you.”
Winter gasped, and I kissed her softly as I held her head to my chest. “It beats for you, Winter. It races at the feel of your touch, it pounds with excitement when you’re near, and it is currently frozen in fear.”
Her eyes had become glassy, and she sniffed, then frowned when she absorbed the last of my words. “Fear? What do you have to be afraid of?”
Inhaling slow and deep, I opened myself up to Winter completely, praying that she wouldn’t stomp on my heart. “I’m afraid you don’t feel the same way.”
Wide blue eyes stared at me in shock, then she threw her arms around me and planted her lips on top of mine. The kiss was unexpected, and I stumbled back a few steps before twisting so I fell against the brick wall. Before I could take it further, she pulled back and smiled so brightly that she made the sun look dim. “I love you, too!”
“Thank fuck,” I muttered before taking her mouth in another ravishing kiss, one that had me seconds away from tearing off both our clothes and sealing our love with my come in her pussy. There was just enough blood left in my brain to register we were out in the open, and no one got to see my wife naked but me.
Growling with impatience, I tore my mouth away and hoisted Winter up to throw her over my shoulder. Then I stomped through the back door on a mission.
Winter laughed and tugged on the back of my shirt. “Where are we going, crazy man?”
“Somewhere I can take advantage of my wife’s sexy body and make sure I’ve got a bun growing in her oven.”
I passed the bar as I explained this to Winter, and Joe’s bushy eyebrows got lost in his hairline. Then he started laughing and shook his head. “You boys are just like your dad.”
He had a point. Once I found the right woman, I’d made her mine before she knew what was happening. Of course, my parents hadn’t met because of a crazy scheme. Then again...my mom’s crazy plan turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.
Epilogue
Winter
“We’re going to see our baby today.” I bounced on the passenger seat of the truck as Christopher pulled into the parking lot of my obstetrician’s office, earning myself a disapproving frown from my husband. He’d taken his protectiveness to a whole new level ever since the pregnancy test I took two weeks ago turned up positive. Patting my still-flat belly, I grumbled, “My seat belt is on and you’re going the speed limit. Nothing is going to happen to us.”
“It damn well better not.” He stretched his arm out to give my thigh a squeeze after he parked the truck. “You and our little peanut are the center of my world, sugar.”
“You’re everything to me, too.” My eyes welled with tears, and I sniffled. I was only six weeks pregnant, but the hormones were already making me more emotional than usual.
Christopher unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to swipe my cheeks with his thumbs before brushing his lips over mine. “You know it kills me when you cry.”
I flashed him a watery smile. “You don’t need to worry. These are happy tears. Between my excitement over the ultrasound and you being so darn sweet, my hormones didn’t stand a chance.”
I’d been looking forward to this appointment for the past month, ever since the doctor had said it was too early to do an ultrasound when Christopher had dragged me in the day after we saw those two pink lines. At only four weeks pregnant, the only thing Dr. Jones could really do was confirm the pregnancy, check my overall health, and tell us the due date. But today was going to be much more exciting.