One to Take (One to Hold 8)

I don’t really care. I prefer the fresh lemonade Winona makes anyway. We only had a little firewood left from last winter, so the Indian blanket idea was moved indoors and we cuddled on the couch instead. Stuart insisted I didn’t need to be on the hard ground anyway, to which I couldn’t resist an eye-roll.

At least we’re going to our hot spring in the morning. I packed my leopard-print bikini and a new sheer cover-up to replace the one he ripped off me last time we visited. That blazing-hot memory gives me a little shiver. I plan to leave my top in the suitcase just like last time.

Turning in the bed, I face him, studying his straight nose and long dark lashes against his cheek. So handsome. Smiling, I close my eyes and drift to sleep imagining what our pretty little girl will look like and picturing her running through the tall grasses into her daddy’s arms…

Walking through the tall grasses on the way to the spring, Stuart is ahead of me breaking the trail and watching for snakes—a danger he’s never mentioned before. I’m not complaining as it gives me a nice view of his tight ass in front of me. That thought makes me giggle.

“What’s funny?” He looks back over his shoulder.

“I was thinking about your tight ass,” I say loudly, literally and figuratively.

He frowns and returns to pushing back the grasses. It’s my own fault, I suppose. I fell in love with this bossy, dominating, stubborn, and oh so sexy man.

“I was expecting a bonus this morning,” I call after him.

“You need your sleep now.”

That makes me frown, but I don’t have time to argue. We’ve arrived at our mineral spring. It’s still and pale beige and smells faintly of sulfur, which is one of the minerals still active. I’m reminded of getting to know each other, sharing our memories as our naked bodies entwined in the effervescent water.

Smooth, round stones line the far edge of the pool and the bottom, and a layer of pea gravel leads the way into its depths. Stuart loosens his shorts and wades into the water. I wait on the bank trailing my eyes down the lines of his back to the muscles in his butt. Two palm-sized indentions are on each side, and I think back to the first time I touched it. I was giving him a massage, and I almost couldn’t breathe for how sexy he was. Nothing has changed.

When he reaches the center he does a shallow dive to the other side, going under and getting his hair wet. I turn and unfasten the bandeau top of my bikini. I toss the sheer cover-up on the grass along with it and walk out into the warm pool. It’s as relaxing as a hot tub, and the tiny bubbles rising in the water make me buoyant. When Stuart’s head resurfaces, I push off the bottom and glide straight into his arms.

“Feels good,” he says, pressing his lips to my ear as I hug my brea

sts against his bare chest.

“It does,” I say softly, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Aren’t you glad we spent the night now?”

Warm hands slide under my bikini bottoms, over my ass. He kisses my neck again. “I would’ve driven you here if you’d asked.”

I’m heating up in the warm water, but I lean back to find his eyes. “Then we wouldn’t have had our picnic or sex on the couch.”

He grins and kisses my lips, trying to push them open. I kiss him briefly and look up at the bright blue sky overhead.

“Do you want a boy or a girl?”

He only growls against my neck, and I unhook my legs, swimming out a bit from him. “Tell me!” Moving to the side, I circle him in the water. “I bet I know. You want a boy to start. A big brother for all the other kids.”

“How many are we having?”

“I was thinking a half dozen?” That gets me a laugh, but I keep going. “Or an even dozen? How many do we need to work a farm?”

“We’re having a farm now, too?”

“Or the ranch, I should say.”

He cuts through the water to catch me, pulling my back against his chest and kissing the side of my head.

“We’re going back to Princeton in a few weeks. We don’t have to change our plans because of this.”

“I didn’t know we’d made definite plans. We’ve only talked about what we can do.”

His fingers thread in mine at my waist, holding me against his torso. “You’ve already enrolled at Princeton, and we have the condo and Walter…”

“I do like Walter.” Leaning my head back, I search for a cloud in the largely clear sky. “I thought you liked it here, though. This is where your heart is.”

“My heart is with you.”