From This Moment

There isn’t any way I’m going to get a sly snowball made so instead I suggest, “You know, with all this snow, I think we should go tubing.”

“Tubing.” Jake looks at me from the corner of his eye. “I thought you loved skiing.”

“I do, but I’d rather do something that we can do together. With tubing, you can sit behind me, and hold me between your legs.” I grin.

He smirks. “I’d rather be between your legs.”

“That can be arranged.” His eyes heat up with lust. “So what do you want to show me in here?” I ask, changing the subject as we walk into the heated barn.

I’m still wondering whether he plans on seducing me in here, or not. I wouldn’t complain.

“It’s over here.”

Jake leads me over to a middle stall and as I lean my arms against the top of the gate, he wraps his arms around my stomach from behind.

“What do you think?”

In the enclosure is a newborn foal with its mom. The foal is a light brown with a white stripe on its forehead between its eyes.

“He’s beautiful.”

“She’s beautiful,” Jake corrects.

“She’s a beautiful filly. Have you named her?” I can’t take my eyes from the newborn.

I think her mom realizes this since she shoves her nose in my face for a rub down. “Jealous,” I laugh.

Jake passes me some apple, which I feed to her as she’s refusing to budge from in front of me.

“You’ve done good,” I tell her rubbing her neck. “You have a beautiful filly.”

The horse snorts and moves back to her filly, which she nudges with her nose.

“She doesn’t have a name yet, but she needs one.” Jake nuzzles against my neck. “As they belong to me, I want my fiancée to name the newest member of our family as she’s going to be hers.”

I freeze, and then turn and look at Jake’s smiling face. “You’re serious?”

“I am. She’s yours. You know me, Elise. So you know how much I love my horses. I hope I’m showing you how much I love you, and want to spend the rest of my life with you by giving you such a precious gift.”

At least this time, my tears are tears of joy. “Thank you.” I can’t think of anything else to say right now as Jake takes me into his arms and holds me close to his chest.

After a few minutes of blubbering all over Jake, he murmurs, “So, she needs a name.” He kisses me on the top of my head and passes me a tissue.

Wiping my eyes, I turn back to her and try to come up with a name that doesn’t sound stupid. I’ve always been hopeless at naming horses, which Jake should remember from our previous time together.

“You can do it this time, Elise.” I hear the smile behind his words.

Oh, he remembers.

“Autumn Spirit,” I blurt out.

“Autumn Spirit? Hmm. I like that.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.” I step out of his hold and try not to laugh. Actually, I’m surprised myself that the name came so easily, especially after how difficult it was in the past.

Chuckling, Jake replies, “Sorry babe, but you don’t have such a good track record at naming my four legged friends.”

Jake grabs me around the waist again as I pretend to elbow him in the stomach. He slams his lips down onto mine and kisses the life out of me.