“So, hey,” he whispered. “Do you want to have a sleepover?”
I grinned. “I was hoping you'd ask. Yes, I do.”
“I should warn you, though. We have company.”
“Killian?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’ll have to keep my naked strolls under control.”
“I guess that means no naked breakfast.” I pouted.
“Unfortunately, yes, it does.”
“All right. We can rain check on that.”
He smirked. It was good to see that amusement reaching his eyes. “Definitely.”
The sound of heavy footfalls coming from the stairs stopped me and had me glancing over at Killian, who stood there, sleep-rumpled and wearing a confused expression.
“Did somebody say naked breakfast?”
I laughed. “Busted.”
I wrapped my arms around Maverick and nuzzled into his chest, happiness warming me from the inside out. Maverick looked at his brother, a sour expression on his face.
“Go put a goddamn shirt on. There's a lady in this house.”
Killian’s eyes widened, but a grin rapidly replaced his shock. “So she didn't give you the boot after all,” he said. “Lucky bastard.”
Maverick let out a low chuckle. “Don't I know it.”
Killian offered me a cocky wink before sauntering back upstairs.
“Come on, darlin’. It's almost three in the morning. Let's get you to bed.”
“You're coming with me, though, right?”
“Always. If I can help it, I’m never spending another night away from you again.”
“I’m not complaining. There's something to be said for having the cowboy of my dreams all to myself whenever I want him.”
“God, I hope you want him all the fucking time.”
“I can confidently say I will. In fact, I really want him right now.”
He growled low in his throat, and the sound sent tingles all through my body. Then he scooped me up into his arms, pulling a little squeal of surprise from me before cradling me and carrying me up the stairs. When we entered the bedroom that we would soon be sharing together, he whispered, “Let's go for a ride, cowgirl.”
“I’m ready.”
22
Maverick
I stared at the bag I had packed and ready to go. The old leather was cracked and worn in places, but it had been the one thing my granddad had left for me before he died. Remington Wilde may have been a celebrity, a Hollywood cowboy with something to prove, but he loved his ranch and his family. Even after the world chewed him up and spit him out.
He’d stayed loyal to his family.
Clara was my family. She and this baby. But also, I realized after Sutton picked me up from the county jail that we needed each other, all of us. They needed me too. So I had planned to leave, to tie up loose ends, and be there for my family whenever they called. But I’d do it from a distance. I’d live in Texas while I figured out how to be the kind of man Clara deserved. Even if I had to lose her in the process, because I’d thought I was doing what was right for her.
“Hey, what’s on your mind there, cowboy? You’re looking awful broody.”
Clara’s sweet voice in the dark room pulled my focus from the future I’d planned on running to and turned me back to the future right in front of me.
“Just thinking about what family means. How important you are to me.”
She was bathed in moonlight, her blonde hair glowing like a halo. God, she was perfect. The soft swell of her belly as she strode across the room toward me in nothing but her bra and panties was noticeable now. A real bump, she said.
Her eyes widened, and she stopped in her tracks. “Oh. Come here.”
Panic clutched at me, making my heart hammer in fear. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”
She smiled, then reached out and took my hand, pressing my palm to the side of her belly.
“Wait. Just . . . hold it there.”
Her skin was warm and soft, smooth like . . . holy fuck, what the hell was that?
“Did she just kick me?” I couldn’t keep the elation from my voice even if I wanted to.
“Yeah. I’ve been feeling her for a long time, but these last few weeks she’s gotten strong enough to be felt from the outside.”
That little thump came again, and I laughed, eyes tearing up as I stared at this woman I never wanted to lose.
“I love you so much, Clara. I hope you know that. I only want the best for you two.”
She cupped my unshaven jaw and met my gaze with pure and open understanding. “I know. But Mav, it’s you that’s best for us. I have no doubts.”
Dipping my head, I kissed her, my tongue begging entrance to her mouth as my palm slid off her belly and around to the small of her back, where I pulled her closer. Her soft little moan of pleasure was all the encouragement I needed to deepen our kiss and set our tongues dancing together.
“I want you, darlin’.”
“You have me. I’m in your house, in your room, knocked up with your baby. I don’t know how much more you could possibly want.”
“I wanna give you my name. Make sure everyone who knows us knows you’re mine and I’m yours.”
She giggled as her fingers toyed with the waistband of my sweats.
“We could do what Sutton and Sera did, tattoos on our ring fingers.”
I shook my head and slipped my fingers under the back of her bra, unclasping it slowly before sliding the fabric off her body and dropping it to the floor.
“Or I could just give you a real ring.”
“Are you serious?”
“As a tornado in a trailer park. I want forever with you, and I know you like to plan, so I’m letting you know my intentions. Being mine means knowing that one day soon, I’m gonna ask you to marry me. If you have a problem with it, we should talk now.”
She moaned when my palms cupped her heavy, swollen breasts.
“I don’t have a problem with it if the man asking is you.”
“Good. Because if there’s one thing I’ve realized, it’s that you and me, we aren’t the same people our parents were. We can’t be them. It’ll break us.”
“No more living in their shadows.”
I nodded. “Exactly.”
“And when we fight, we make sure to sit down and talk it through.”
“We’re definitely going to fight. You don’t put up with my shit.”
She grinned and looked up at me. “I don’t. But the make-up sex should be really good.”
“You know,” I started. “We kind of fought earlier. We probably need to make up.”
“Do we?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Licking her lower lip, she blinked at me before dropping to her knees in front of me.
“Fuck, baby, you look so hot like that.”
She gripped my sweatpants and tugged them down until they sat around my ankles, and my hard cock was jutting toward her.
I nearly came when she wrapped one palm around the base of my shaft and used her tongue to taste the drop of pre-cum on the tip. Her mouth was a gift from God himself.
“Jesus, fuck, Clara.” The words were long, drawn-out moans, and I wondered if she could even understand them. But then I was lost to the waves of sensation cresting and backing away over and over as she began sucking me between those perfect lips. I’d fantasized about her mouth and what it would look like wrapped around my cock. Apparently, my imagination was garbage because this was . . . fuck, I didn’t have words to describe it.