Tainted Gold (Providence Gold 3)

Pulling his head out of Chewy’s neck, he looked over his head at me. “Did you just take a picture?”

“Yeup!” I nodded, saving it to my wallpaper and the lock screen on my phone, and grinning at the image of him holding one dog while the other sat at his feet looking up at him.

“But… why?”

“Because I wanted to,” I told him, dropping my phone as Ozzy jumped up beside me. She wasn’t overweight, but she was a big girl, so it shook the whole thing making me laugh when my boobs jiggled.

When he didn’t say anything else, I turned and saw him watching the jiggling area with a gleam in his eyes.

“Oh, hell no! Not again. And don’t look at me like that when the babies are in the room, it’s indecent.”

There was no mistaking that look, I’d seen it way too many times in the last day. It was fair to say that blue would never be a problem again for either of us. Red maybe, but blue never.

“I can always call Levi to come and take them,” he muttered, his eyes searching for his phone already. When he didn’t see it, he walked over to mine and picked it up, pausing when the screen turned on and he saw the photo I’d just saved on it.

Moving so that I was on my knees, I tried to balance to take the phone back so he couldn’t call his brother – who would totally realize why he was being passed the baby-sitting duties. But Tate was a tall bastard and just held it over his head, not looking away from the screen. He suddenly turned and walked away from me, pointing out of the room, then closed the door behind the dogs who took the hint, and walked back to me without saying a word.

“Give it back,” I hissed, making another grab once he was back beside me, regardless of the fact that I fell short from even getting close to it by about three feet. “Tate, seriously. He’ll never let us forget it. And you don’t want the dogs starting to prefer spending time at Uncle Levi’s house.”

Instead of replying, he reached the hand not holding the phone toward me, and pulled me into his side so that I was face to face with the signatures of his family on his ribs. I loved that tattoo and wanted to get something like it done once I had the baby too. “What does this mean?” he rasped, looking up at the screen and then back down at me.

That’s when I realized that the photo and its place on my phone meant something to him – something huge. It meant something to me too, but I wasn’t sure if now was the right time to say it.

Then again, with the look on his face and the way his eyes were shining, maybe it was?

“That I love the photo?” When he just shook his head, I tried again. “That I love the way you are with them?” Another shake. “That I wanted to be able to see you and the dogs whenever I looked at my phone?” It was really hitting close to the truth, and he knew it.

Gently, he lowered me onto my back on the mattress and leaned over me. “Why?” he breathed against my lips.

The world faded away to this one moment between us, and I braced as I answered his question. “Because I love you.”

I’d expected him to jump back and run, maybe even say thank you. Instead, he pushed again. “Why do you love me?” he asked as he ran the tip of his nose down the side of my neck slowly. His question stung slightly, and I was trying to figure out how to answer it without letting on how hurt I was when he brought his mouth up next to my ear and whispered, “I know why I love you, but I don’t know how you could love me back.”

There was so much in that one sentence that I didn’t even know where to start. My initial reaction was shock that he loved me, which quickly morphed into happiness and relief. Then the final part hit me, and I felt confused. How could he not understand how someone could love him? Yet, there he was looking somewhat vulnerable as he looked down at me.

“Tate, you’re the most loveable man I’ve ever met in my life,” I whispered back to him, watching the thumb that I was now moving down the side of his face and onto his beard. “You love with your whole heart, and people see that and love you back. You’re loyal, generous, supportive, you treat me like I’m your whole world…”

“Because you are,” he rasped, leaning into me and giving me a light kiss on the lips.