“When are you moving in? I figured we should get started on our dreams right away.”
Her heart began a rapid beat inside her chest at the idea. “Didn’t I just pack and unpack?”
“And didn’t I help you? So, when can we do it again?”
Did she really need to play games? To worry? To wait? When it was right, it was right. “How about we get back to work this week and start packing again this weekend?”
He shook his head. “How about we take the week off—since you’d already planned for that—and move you in right away?”
She met his gaze. The eagerness she saw there matched her own. “Okay,” she said softly.
“Good. I love you, Sierra,” he said, pressing a kiss against her lips.
“And I love you.”
“So when can we go pick out our dog?”
She threw her head back and laughed. This man would not only keep her on her toes but he would make sure he satisfied every dream she’d ever had. And even those she wasn’t aware of having.
Epilogue
Two years later
“Jilly, you can’t ride the dog!” Sierra called out to her daughter from where she stood in the kitchen baking cookies for the family gathering they were hosting later today. Her brothers, Ryder’s brother, and some of their friends were coming.
Named after Ryder’s mom, Jillian, their daughter was an adorable mini-me to her mom and a headstrong child, to boot. And right now, she was attempting to climb onto the back of their St. Bernard, Wiley.
The dog was good-natured and only four years old. They’d found him at the shelter when he was approximately two. The original couple who’d had him hadn’t anticipated the amount of work and food a dog of his size entailed. And since it would only get worse, Wiley had found his way to the shelter. And into their home.
Sierra had moved in that same week they’d gotten together and started up her home social media company, Knight Time Social, soon after. She’d then gone off birth control and he’d knocked her up immediately, he thought with a grin. She had an assistant she’d hired and the business was growing. He was so damned proud of her.
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Hey.” She turned in his arms. “Are you here to steal cookie dough?”
“Nope. I’m here to steal a kiss,” he said and brushed his mouth over hers, once, twice, before diving in for a real one. He slid his tongue past her lips and devoured her mouth, tasting a hint of chocolate, making him realize she’d been sneaking cookie dough herself.
“How are you?” she asked after he’d broken the kiss, only to come up for air.
“Good. You?” Because their family would be here soon.
“Good. Pregnant.”
“Good. I’ll make sure we have extra chairs in the family room for— Wait, what?” he asked, her unexpected words sinking in.
“I’m pregnant. Again,” she said, her eyes lit up with happiness. “Your sperm are potent, Ryder Hammond. This time you bypassed my birth control.”
He was stunned. Yeah, they wanted more kids, but no, they hadn’t planned for another one so soon. Not that he was complaining, he thought.
With a whoop, he picked her up and spun her around, placing her down at the same time he felt a tug on his pants.
“Daddy, up!”
Grinning at Sierra, he bent down to pick up their daughter into his arms, then spun her the same way he’d done to her mother.
She giggled, the sound going straight to his heart. “Hey, baby. You’re going to be a big sister!”
“Yay!” She clapped her hands happily.
He had no idea if she even understood what he meant. Snaking out an arm, he pulled Sierra in with them, causing Wiley to give a woof, obviously annoyed at being left out.
“Are we telling the family?” he asked.
“I say we keep it to ourselves for another month or two. Unless little mouth here slips up.” She kissed Jilly on the nose and she swiped at the spot with her hand.
Ryder’s heart swelled with happiness. There was a time he hadn’t thought he’d have this—the family, the kids, the dog, the wife, and the bigger house.
“We’re going to have to talk about expanding.” He’d had plans drawn up for the future, but apparently that time was now.
“Okay.”
“Okay.” He kissed her and put his wriggling daughter down so she could run after Wiley.
He looked around, his heart full. He woke up every day grateful and glad he’d stood up and objected at Sierra’s wedding, taking off with the bride.
Nobody said he wasn’t determined when he went about achieving his dreams.