"She reminds me of her mother. Fiery as all get out. Good luck with that," he says, finally shaking my hand.
"Thanks. I think I’ve got it. Who’s Lester McHale?" I finally ask.
"A buddy of mine. He’s got a boatload of kids. His wife just passed away. I told Marla that she was going to marry him. Of course, that wasn’t really gonna happen. You see, Marla put her life on hold for these boys and me. I just lit a fire under her ass."
"Well, thank you for that, sir," I say, chuckling.
"James, please. You’re my new son in law after all," he says.
I follow him into the house and meet the boy’s nanny. We sit down to a big lunch then I help her pack her clothes. We had already decided to live at my house.
"Ready to go?" I ask. She looks at me with unshed tears in her eyes.
"Yes. It’s just hard, knowing I won’t be here for the boys anymore." At that moment, I make the split decision to stay here until I can build us a place on the property. I stop packing. "What are you doing?" she asks.
"Let’s stay here," I say.
"What about your place?"
"We’ll figure something out," I say.
"I love you, Buck," she says, throwing her arms around my neck.
"I love you too, babe," I say, kissing her. "We are going to have to get you a bigger bed, though." Eyeing her twin bed, there’s no damn way I will fit on that tiny ass thing. She laughs.
"I agree, husband," she says, kissing me. "But we should at least try it out first."
"I like where your head's at," I say, sitting on the bed. She jumps into my lap, and damn if the frame doesn’t crash to the floor. She laughs hysterically until she can't catch her breath. Her skin is glowing, and her freckles stick out more when she is blissfully happy.
Right here and right now, I vow to count every single freckle on her body before I die.
I'll remember this moment, the way she's looking at me, right down to the way she's laughing for the rest of my life.
Epilogue
Marla
One Year Later
A few months after we were married, I found out that I was pregnant. Now I have given birth to our first child, a girl named Mika. I loved him that first day, and I always will. Not a day goes by when I don’t love him a little bit more than the day before. He had a house built for us on my dad’s ranch so that I could be near the boys. He was prepared to sell the Dresden Mansion, but I convinced him to start a bed and breakfast there. With just over twenty bedrooms, it’s perfect. We fixed it up, and the grand opening is this weekend. We are booked solid for the next six months. I knew my dreams always leaned toward starting a family but being the proprietor of a bed and breakfast wasn’t even on the radar, but it’s so fulfilling.
"Babe, where are you," Buck calls from the hallway.
"In the bathroom," I call out. "I’m fixing my hair. I’m almost ready to go. Mrs. Tincheley has Mika."
"Aww, I missed her. I am going to take a quick shower. Daisy had some trouble bringing her calf into the world." He comes into the bathroom, covered in God knows what.
"Is she okay?" I ask.
"She is now. It took damn near all day."
"Good." I watch as he strips down and climbs into the shower.
"What time are our reservations?"
"Eight. Why?"
"Why don’t we just skip it."
"Oh?"
"We can stay in, have some leftovers."
"You’d rather have leftovers, or is that some kind of code?"
"Code," he answers, winking at me.
"Oh!" I exclaim. "We can stay in."
"Good. We can work on baby number two," he says, going back to his shower.
I set my hair straightener down and bounce out of the room. He comes out of the bathroom with a towel slung low over his hips. He stalks toward me, grinning. I am lying on our bed, naked, waiting for him. "You are so fucking beautiful."
"Thank you," I breathe. Every single time he takes me feels better than the last.
We make love all night. I will always love this man more than I can ever say.
Staying in is so much better than going out.
Epilogue
Buck
Fifteen Years Later
"Fuck, Marla. Just like that," I groan as she takes as much of my dick into her mouth as she can.
"Mmm-hmmm," she moans, looking up at me. Her green eyes are so expressive; I think that I could come just looking at her. She is ungodly good at this, and I don’t think I can take much more. I pull her to her feet. "I wasn’t done," she pouts, making me chuckle.
"I need you, babe."
"I need you too," she says as I lift her into my arms and carry her the few feet to the bed. On her back, she spreads her legs wide for me. She screams the second I slide into her.
"Be quiet; you'll wake the kids. You don’t want me to stop, do you?" She shakes her head like a good girl. I thrust in and out of her, over and over, until she can't keep quiet anymore. I feel her pussy tighten around my dick. Reaching between us, I rub her clit to prolong her orgasm as I pound into her. Her legs tighten around my waist, and her pale fingers dig into my much darker shoulders, spurring me to fuck into her harder and harder until I can't hold back anymore. I growl her name and fill her with my seed. Fuck, how'd I get so lucky? I think as I pull out of her and lay down beside her.
I watch as she sits up and pulls the covers over us. We've led an extraordinary life. Once we got the hang of married life and her brothers were used to the idea of Marla not living there anymore, we moved over to a house I had built on the ranch. The mansion, now the Dresden House B & B, is still thriving after all these years.
Six months in her cramped little bedroom at her dad's house-made this place seem like the moon. She could be as loud as she wanted then, but with six kids, the oldest fourteen and the youngest just two, that is a thing of the past.
"I'm sleepy," she says, yawning.
"You sleep. I'll go check on the kids," I tell her getting out of bed.
"Hurry back, I could do that again," she says, snuggling into the blankets.
"Alright, babe. I'll be right back." If I know my wife, and I think that I do, she'll be sound asleep, snoring before I get back.
We may have been quick to fall in love, but it's a love that will never fail. I will always love, protect, and cherish her until the day I die.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my husband, Daryl. You are so supportive of my dreams and I love you so fucking much for like ever.
Thank you, Mama, for all of your support! I love you.
Karlee, thank you for being a friend. #GoldenGirls reference. But seriously, thank you!!!! Love you .6 times!!!
Elisa, thank you for all of your support! I am so glad to have met you!!
ChaShiree, thank you for being my friend and supporting me, no matter what I write.