Tears shimmered in Madison’s big green eyes—eyes he loved to stare into, to watch light up with pleasure at his touch, to watch shimmer when she orgasmed. “Levi, what are you doing? You know you don’t have to do this.”
“Not the answer I was looking for,” he prompted, but couldn’t quite keep the smile from his face, couldn’t quite keep from thinking he was the luckiest man in the world to have this woman’s love.
“Let me try again.” He cleared his throat dramatically, causing Karen and Mrs. Cline to let loose with another sigh. “Without you, Madison Swanson…” Okay, so maybe he was laying the sappy romance on a little thick, but he wanted to give Madison sappy romance, wanted her to bask in the glow of his feelings for her, and with the number that nut job Simon had done on her, she needed to be wrapped in the security of his love, needed to have her friends acknowledge how crazy he was about her, needed Madison to know how much he really did need her in his life, to balance out the quirks from his own past. Simply, he needed her. “I’m lost, wandering vacantly through life without real meaning or purpose. Marry me, Madison.”
Happiness glowed on her face, her eyes glazed over with emotional tears. “Oh, yes, Dr. Fielding. I’ll marry you.”
“Good, because this is non-refundable,” he teased
as he pulled the diamond ring from its box and slid it onto her finger.
A perfect fit for his perfect bride-to-be.
“You’re crazy,” she whispered, admiring how her ring caught the light, sparkling brilliantly as she moved her hand back and forth.
“Crazy about you.”
And he was. More crazy than he’d have dreamed possible.
So crazy that he was willing to risk loving and losing because a single moment in time spent with Madison was worth anything life threw at them, was worth taking any chance.
Because Madison made him a better man. Made him a man he liked when he looked in the mirror in the mornings. Made him a man who knew what true happiness was.
To love and be loved.
EPILOGUE
MADISON stretched lazily in the king-sized bed overlooking the Grand Canyon. Not a place most probably wanted to visit on their honeymoon, but she couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be than lying here watching the sun set with her husband. Her husband.
She smiled, running her fingers through his thick dark hair, letting her gaze travel over his muscled shoulders. He lay close beside her, using her breasts as his personal pillows, tracing his fingers over her belly.
How she loved him!
How she trusted him!
He raised his head, propping his chin against her sternum. “Hmm?”
Touching the strong planes of his face, she just smiled.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, returning her smile.
“How happy I am. How much I love you.”
“The feeling is mutual, Mrs. Fielding.” He propped himself up on his elbow and began tracing a delicate pattern on her belly. “You think you are?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
Certainly, with them spending every spare moment together over the past two months, pregnancy was a possibility. A very realistic possibility since Levi seemed bound and determined to make love to her as often as possible.
After the pregnancy that they’d both admitted they’d hoped was real, they’d decided they wanted to start a family immediately, wanted a baby that was a blend of the two of them.
He leaned down, kissed her lower abdomen just below her belly button. “I hope you are, Madison.” He rubbed his cheek against her belly. “I want a little girl with big green eyes and blonde curls.”
Her heart swelled with love for the man lying on her.
“Hmm,” she mused, wiggling beneath him. “I was hoping for a boy with hot fudge sundae eyes and his father’s mischievous grin.”
Levi’s lips lowered to her belly again, but this time, rather than the reverent kiss from before, his kiss was hot, seductive, meant to light fires only he could put out. “Guess we’ll just have to keep trying till we both get what we want.”