Heart laughed and he gazed back at her, her eyes still glistening with tears as she inspected the ring as if it were made of diamonds.
“You once said you liked butterflies, because they always remind you you’re where you belong. I’m here to say that whether we’re out east or out west doesn’t matter, because where you belong is with me.”
He lifted her chin with the pad of his farm-worn finger. Watched her swallow hard. Bite her lips. He chewed his cheek, his voice so gruff he cleared it.
“I’m saying that my boys want you to be their momma and that Seth wants to show you that cache of fossils you knew was on my escarpment and that the dress you got for Trav’s ceremony would make a hell of a wedding dress and that all three of us want a life with you if you’ll only take what’s right here in front of you and stop running. Put down roots with me, babe. I’ll never stop you from flying—”
She dragged his mouth back down to hers. Pressed her lips hard against his. Slid her palms around his healed shoulders and nodded.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Maybe I never found the right man to be tethered to until now—”
He scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around, holding a thumbs-up. His boys began whooping cheers and tumbled out of the truck, running up the steps as he let her slide down his body that was running hot for her after this dry spell. His kids swarmed her. She wrapped her arms around them, and he wrapped his arms around their cluster. His family. His Texas Heart.
To hell with rule number three.
The End