“What if I want now?”
Wes chuckled lightly. “And have your Uncle Jobob hunt me down? I’d rather not…”
“Fine, one year.” My eyes narrowed in a silent challenge.
“One year from this day…” Wes whispered.
I nodded.
“And you’ll be saying I do.”
“And we’ll keep our own time.” I closed my eyes and memorized the feel of his face in my hands. “And we’ll have three kids.”
“Four,” he argued. “Always go for an even number.”
“And we’ll live—”
“Wherever the hell we want.”
“But I will need to finish school.” I sighed and kissed him on the cheek. “Even though you’re loaded, I have to finish school — I chose a major.”
“You did?” Wes sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was a surprise.” I grinned through my tears. “Want to know what it is?”
“Teacher?” he guessed.
“Nope.”
“Exotic Dancer?”
I laughed. “Is that a major?”
“It should be.”
“Nursing,” I whispered. “I want to be a nurse. I want to help in the cancer units. I want — I want to help people like you helped me. I want to help them push away the nightmares, the darkness. I want to rescue them, like you rescued me.” I felt more tears stream down my face. “You rescued me and I found my ruin.” I bit down on my lip. “I’m ruined for you — and I won’t ever be the same. It’s the greatest gift anyone’s ever given me.”
He wiped away my tears. “Ruin?”
“Yeah, a ruin, because in helping me knock down all those demons, you built me back up again. And for that, I’ll never be able to repay you.”
“Which is why we’re having four kids, not three,” he whispered.
I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I love you.”
“I love you too… being with you has been the greatest gift anyone could ever give me, and to think it was all because you assaulted me on your first day of class.”
“I did not—”
“Shh, Lamb.” Wes’s lips touched mine. His tongue tasted like champagne. I kissed him back with everything I had inside of me. The kiss wasn’t the end. It was the beginning, the beginning of our life together.
We kissed until my mouth was swollen from his lips. He tasted every part of me, yet refused to take what I wanted to give him most — myself. He said he wanted something to look forward to when he woke up. Leave it to Wes to use sex as a reason not to die. I had to laugh at his explanation. Then the laughter faded to soft gasps and quiet sighs as his hands roamed all over my body, kissing my chest, my arms, my fingers, he even ran his hands up my calves, kissing the back of my knees as if knees were so special they deserved attention too.
I moaned when his mouth returned to mine and twisted my hands in his dark blond hair. Our tongues danced, our mouths pushed, lips pressed, bodies as close as our clothes would actually allow us. I fell asleep with my mouth on his. He fell asl
eep with his hands bracing my hips. When I woke up, I was starting the countdown until I married that man. A year from that day. A year from December fifth, and I was going to be Mrs. Kiersten Michels.
Chapter Forty-Five