She pushed up, then remembered my leg and stilled. I gripped her about the waist and held her in place. “Don’t go.”
“I… I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It will hurt if you get up.” I lifted my hips so she could feel me, hard and thick against her belly.
She rolled her eyes, and I couldn’t have been happier. “Even now?”
“Always.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about what Doctor Bruin said?” she asked.
“Because I didn’t want to scare you.” When she opened her mouth to say something, I cut her off. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted you?” I stroked her hair, pet her like the kitten she was.
“Since Mr. Grimsby’s house the other day, when we met out on the sidewalk.”
I shook my head. “Two years.”
Her pretty eyes widened in shock. “Two—”
“Since the day I took Abigail to school. I saw you then, and I was done for.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
I nodded. “You had on a pale blue dress, the same color as your eyes. Your hair was tied back with a velvet ribbon. You were outside and the wind picked up. The ribbon came loose and it blew away.”
“I… I remember that.”
“Jonah, go over to the desk, open the top left drawer.” I reached out, pointed across the room.
He did as I asked and returned.
“My ribbon!” She reached out and took it from him, ran her thumb over the softness just as I had hundreds of times.
“I’ve thought of you as mine since then.”
“He has, Kitten,” Jonah verified. “He’s spent many a winter night telling me all about you. I didn’t know about the ribbon, but I’d say you were claimed.”
“Why didn’t you introduce yourself? Say something?” she asked, her voice full of wonder.
I tapped her nose. “Because you were too young. You weren’t ready for marriage.”
“I was ready for you. I saw you, too,” she admitted, a pretty flush brightening her cheeks. “I was just a school girl, your sister’s friend. I… I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
I squeezed her again, felt every soft inch of her lying atop of me, then slid my hand down to cup her bottom.
“Does it feel like I’m not interested?”
“If we hadn’t kept it a secret though,” she said.
“There are quite a bit of secrets,” Jonah added.
I looked his way.
“Tell him, Kitten.” Jonah’s voice deepened, but remained gentle.
She looked to him. “Yes, Sir.”
And so she told me about her day. All of it. She began with arriving at the ranch, meeting Abel and how he’d barely offered her a hello. Jonah shared the disastrous conversation he had with his son.