I never touched base with my clients.
I need to stop by the office.
The urge to return to the work-obsessed woman she had always been was strong.
“I’ve wondered what the inside of your home would look like.”
She closed her eyes again, willing away those work-related urges. This time, in his arms, it was a little easier. Like when she’d been ensconced in cooking with Adelina and Serafina after he’d left. She wasn’t a successful businesswoman because she gave up easily. She could succeed at enjoying their time together and keeping work thoughts at bay. All she had to do was try.
He lifted her chin with his finger and kissed her softly. “It’s very Emily.”
Thoughts of work drifted away. She centered her mind around the cozy and efficient cedar home she’d designed and built using reclaimed wood and massive beams from a horse farm in Allure, Colorado. The exposed beams and the accent walls made from wide-planked barn wood were touches that made her small, comfortable home feel elegant and unique.
“I’m glad you like it. It is very me. Some people wouldn’t enjoy having such an open floor plan, but simplicity of design and close quarters have always appealed to me.”
Wasted space seemed to go along with wasted energy, and using her passive-house expertise, she’d been able to create the perfect setting for tranquility—only it never really felt tranquil. She always seemed to be too hyped up from work to enjoy it. She slid her arms around his neck.
“Having you here appeals to me even more.”
“Your body says you want me, but something in your voice tells me you’re anxious. Was it the flight? Or is it me?” He slid his hand down her back and squeezed her butt.
Her heart did a little dance in her chest. “It’s work. Never you.” She felt his heartbeat kick up a notch.
“It’s the weekend. There is no work for you today.” He slid his hand lower, his fingers grazing the curve where her thigh met her ass, then slid dangerously close to her center as he sealed his lips over hers.
With a pleasure-filled moan, her greedy mouth took over, pushing away all thoughts other than her desire to be closer to Dae. She pressed against him, savoring the sweet taste of him until her body was so full of need she could barely contain it. He gripped her ass with both hands, grabbing, sliding lower, between her legs, coaxing her into dampness. The urgency of her sexual appetite was more than she’d ever experienced. How would she survive it? She tugged at his shirt, needing him naked. Now. One hand left her ass, and she groaned with displeasure. Then suddenly his shirt was off and his hand returned between her thighs, this time from the front, rubbing her through her jeans until she was sure they were soaked right through. She needed him inside her. She fumbled with the button of his jeans, kissing harder, probing deeper. He met her greediness with his own urgency, tearing at her clothes until she was bare chested and her jeans were pushed down to her knees.
“Shoes,” she panted out.
But he was already crouched beside her, holding her up with one powerful arm as he tugged her boots from her feet, then rid her of her jeans before stripping himself bare. All those rippled muscles were hers to devour. He scooped her up into his arms, and she crashed her lips to his. In a few determined steps they were in her bedroom, clawing, gasping, kissing, filling her bedroom with sounds of passion. He lowered her to the bed and she refused to let go. They tumbled down together in a tangle of nakedness. Her legs locked around his waist, and his arms slid beneath her and lifted her hips.
“No condom. Please.” She needed to feel every inch of him. She didn’t want anything between them. This momentarily slowed him. His lips stilled on hers, his eyes opened, and in one heartbeat her feelings were confirmed.
“You’re one hundred percent sure? Because I’m sure, Emily. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, and I’ll love you well past the day we both kiss this life goodbye. But I want you to be sure. You have a career, a life, and there’s one percent chance—”
“I’ve loved you since the moment I set eyes on you. I wasn’t searching for love all these months. I was searching for you, Dae. I’m one hundred percent sure of my love for you. You’re the only man I want to have a future and a family with. So yes, I’m sure of us.”
His lips met hers in a deep, loving kiss that curled her toes. He pushed into her, filling her so completely she never wanted him to leave. Their bodies moved in a familiar rhythm of need and want and a rush of new sensations. An explosion of prickly needles built in her lower belly and shot heat through her limbs, stealing her ability to think. His hips moved powerfully against her, thrusting and grinding with sexual skill that made her whole body quiver. He deepened their kiss, and she had no outlet for the throbbing sensations claiming every inch of her. Her legs fell from his waist to the mattress, the muscles in her thighs flexing. She pried her lips from his, feeling the grip of an orgasm clawing at the periphery of her senses. She gasped breath after breath to keep from dying in his arms from sheer pleasure. He tangled one hand in her hair and tugged. Oh, how she adored that sensation as he angled her and slanted his lips over hers. The feel of being in his control sent her soaring over the edge, and when he buried his tongue in her mouth and lifted her hips with his other hand, she thought she’d split apart from the avalanche erupting deep in her core. He breathed air into her lungs as they rode the waves of their lovemaking. She couldn’t think. She was completely and totally under his spell.
BREATHING FOR EMILY, feeling her soft, feminine curves writhing beneath him as her velvety wetness tightened and pulsed, was going to be his undoing. Dae was dizzy with desire and drunk on her love. He’d never felt like he wanted to consume a person before. He wasn’t that possessive of a lover, but every time he was with Emily he wanted more. Every muscle in his massive arms ached with need. His thighs were flexed so tight he wasn’t sure how long he’d last, but he wanted to pleasure her even more than he wanted to find his own release. She was so beautiful when she came apart, and knowing it was all for him made it that much sweeter.
Her body shuddered through the last of its release. She panted, eyes still closed, and found steadier breathing. He pressed soft kisses to the corners of her mouth, her cheeks, the closed lids of her eyes.
“Promise me forever.” He hadn’t planned on asking her to marry him. He knew he wanted to create a life with her, but he hadn’t thought through the when and how of it. But being with Emily again, he knew exactly what he wanted.
He wanted Emily.
Forever.
Her eyes fluttered open, heavy lidded. They widened in surprise, but she didn’t say a word. Her tongue snaked from her mouth and licked her swollen lips. At the same time, she bent her knee, sliding her thigh against his hips. That was all it took for him to lose any sense of control he thought he’d found as his carnal desires surged forward. He plunged in deep, and she matched his efforts, lifting her hips and clawing at his back, sending lightning right to his groin. The room shrank around them, filled with the husky sounds of jagged bursts of air with each powerful thrust. He was drowning in sensual pleasure. Drowning in Emily. She was tight and wet. Her hands claimed his back, his ass, his shoulders, and those glorious legs of hers wrapped around his waist once again. The feel of her destroyed him. Completely, utterly stole his mental abilities until he was powerless to slow his pace, unable to quell the mounting need for release, to fill her completely with him. To claim their love. She gasped tiny gulps of air as she climbed to her own release. He gave in to the landslide of emotions that sucked him under and followed her over the edge as an intense orgasm tore through him, stealing every last ounce of his energy, leaving him spent and so deeply in love he could barely move.
They lay together, limbs tangled, as he slowly regained his senses. Dae rolled onto his back, pulling her in close. Her eyes were still closed, and he realized he hadn’t heard her answer.
The air left his lungs.
He felt as if he’d been kicked in the gut. Had he been
so lost in her that he hadn’t given her a chance to answer? Holy fuck. He was an asshole. He let his own desires take over without regard to what she might have wanted. It wasn’t a very romantic proposal either. Maybe it didn’t sound like a proposal to her at all.
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, unable to process his thoughts clearly. She had met his frenzied kisses and thrusts. She had to have been in the same headspace as he was. He couldn’t have misread everything.
“Love you.” Emily’s breath whispered over his skin. Her index finger moved lightly across his chest. She slid her thigh over his hip and pressed her body to his.
Maybe she hadn’t heard his proposal. “Em?”
“Yeah?”
“Um…Did you hear what I said when we were making love?”
“Mm-hm.”
He drew his brows together. You did? Well, hell, where’s my answer?
“Okay. Just checking.”
She smiled against his chest. “Dae?”
“Yeah?” He didn’t mean to sound so gruff, but his ego was taking a kick at the moment.
“Sometimes the beauty of things, even answers, are in the things others don’t see.”
She was throwing his own words back at him, and her damned finger was driving him crazy, moving over and over on the same spots on his chest.
He exhaled loudly, then stilled her fingers with his hand. What are you trying to tell me?
“Am I supposed to read your answer in the way you love me?”
“No. It was much clearer than even that.”
He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled. She was fucking with him, and as much as it frustrated him, he loved it. He loved her for having the strength to fuck with him about something so momentous when any other woman would have gushed and probably leaped from the bed to tell the world.
Her finger slid over his skin again. He closed his eyes against the feel of it. The same repetitive pattern over and over. He followed its path with his mind, and—holy hell. Y. E. S. She was writing yes!
He gathered her in his arms and rolled her beneath him. “You’re a sneaky little devil.”
“I’m learning from the best.”
He pressed a kiss to her lips. “So. Yes? You will promise me forever? You’ll marry me?”
She pressed her palms to his cheeks and smiled up at him. Her eyes were warm and loving, and when she whispered, “Yes,” the answer clutched him like he’d been waiting his whole life for it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
One week later…
DAISY AND LUKE’S yard had been transformed into a magical world of roses and lilies, with tables draped in white silks and pink satins and chairs decorated with fancy bows. Even Luke’s world-renowned gypsy horses’ manes had been decorated with ribbons for the occasion. Of course, Luke wouldn’t have it any other way. His girls, as he called his horses, were as much a part of his and Daisy’s life as the love they shared for each other. An enormous gazebo had been brought in for their wedding ceremony, which had everyone in tears as Luke and Daisy exchanged handwritten vows and pledged their love for each other.
The reception was in full swing. Emily watched her cousins Treat and Dane talking with her brother Pierce and his fiancée, Rebecca. Treat kept stealing glances at his wife, Max, who was pregnant with their second child and holding hands with their little girl, Adriana. She was named for Treat’s mother, who had died when he was young. Max and Catherine, Emily’s mother, were gazing at Luke, Daisy, Wes, Callie, and Ross, who were laughing about something. Ross lifted his glass toward his fiancée, Elisabeth, and she excused herself from the group she’d been talking with to join him. Emily shifted her attention to Dae, standing with her brother Jake, deep in conversation. Jake was a stuntman who had flown into town for the wedding, as he’d lived in Los Angeles for the past several years. Dae looked striking in his dark suit with his long hair slicked back off his face, sporting a bronze tan, and so handsome that Emily’s pulse went a little crazy. One day it would be her and Dae exchanging vows. She smiled at the thought.
“That’s a mighty fine man you’ve got there.”
Emily turned at the sound of her uncle Hal’s deep Colorado drawl. He and Emily had always been close, and as she wrapped her arms around his burly body, she felt the love and comfort he’d always evoked.
“Thank you, Uncle Hal. It’s kind of crazy how quickly we fell in love.” It had been a week since Dae had asked her to promise him forever. His proposal was so very Dae. Promise me tomorrow. Promise me Saturday. Promise me forever. She couldn’t have dreamed up a more romantic proposal. Heck, she couldn’t have dreamed up a more romantic man. He’d practically moved into her house, and when they’d met her brothers and mother for dinner last night, he’d stolen away privately with each of them. He’d told her later that he was just making sure they were cool with their relationship. He said they’d been tough on him, but she knew her brothers well, and she knew they were just making sure that his intentions were honorable. Well, that and the fact that she’d received a zillion texts from them last night telling her how much they adored him let her know that her brothers approved of their relationship.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I’m not sure one falls in love, anyway.” His eyes slid to his second-oldest son, Rex, a brooding cowboy, possessive as ever over his gorgeous fiancée, Jade Johnson. Rex eyed every man who came within ten feet of Jade. Rex and Luke were similar in that way.
“I think love snatches a piece of you from the moment you meet that special person, and the only falling you need to do is into that person’s arms.” Hal draped a heavy arm over Emily’s shoulder. “Not like you have a choice in the matter. The heart takes what it wants.”
“Yeah. I think you’re right. I couldn’t have walked away from Dae without losing a big part of myself in the process.”
“Now, that brother of yours, Jake.” He nodded toward Jake. “That boy’s got something big eating at him. It’s gonna take a really strong woman to tame that stallion.”
“I’m not sure he wants to be tamed, Uncle Hal. I think he left a piece of himself behind when he and Fiona broke up.” Fiona was Jake’s first love. They’d dated for two years in high school and had planned to go to college together, but the summer before they left for school, she’d broken up with him out of the blue. He hadn’t let any woman get close to him since.
“Love’ll do that to a man.”
She watched him join his sons, Emily’s cousins Josh and Hugh. Hugh’s wife, Brianna, was pregnant with their first child together. Brianna had been a single mother to her daughter, Layla, when they’d met, and Hugh had adopted Layla when they’d married. Layla was dancing with Brianna, and Hugh’s eyes danced with delight as he watched them.
Emily couldn’t wait to start a family with Dae. She hadn’t recognized the signs of her biological clock ticking until her trip to Italy. Spending time with Serafina and Luca had cleared the fuzz from her brain, and the closer she and Dae became, the more powerfully she felt the pull of motherhood. Dae wanted a large family, too, and they’d decided to try to start a family right away after they were married.
“Sis.”
She turned at the sound of Ross’s voice and steeled herself for the brotherly onslaught he was bringing with him. All five of her brothers were heading in her direction. A wall of Braden men, thick bodied and full of confidence, with five sets of serious dark brown eyes locked on her. She searched for Dae and felt his hands circle her waist. She leaned back, letting him take the weight of them closing in on her off her shoulders.
He pressed his clean-shaven cheek to hers. “Hey, baby. Here comes the cavalry.” His words whispered across her skin as he laced his fingers with hers across her belly.
Ross’s smile was as welcoming as Jake’s scowl was serious, but it was Wes’s voice that broke the silence.
“I thought I told you not to have too much fun in Italy.”
Emily spotted Callie, Elisabeth, Rebecca, and Daisy—in her off-the-shou
lder wedding gown—hurrying toward them. Her cavalry.
She looked at Jake and drew her shoulders back. “Yeah, well, you also texted me last night after dinner and told me how much you liked Dae.” Dae squeezed her hand and moved to her side, draping a protective arm around her shoulder. She didn’t need it. She could handle her brothers, but she melted against him, loving his protective nature just the same.
Wes laughed. “My bad. We can’t even pretend to give you shit, can we?”
Ross lifted his chin and smiled at Emily. “We’re happy for you, sis. It’s about time you found your happily ever after.”
“Happily ever after,” Jake scoffed, and shook his head like they were all fools.
“What? That’s exactly what it is, you ass.” Ross gave Jake a playful shove.
Jake took a long gulp of his drink. “Yeah, well, you just sound like a sissy saying it.”
Elisabeth looped her arm into Ross’s. “No, he doesn’t. He sounds like a man who knows what it’s like to be in love.”
Daisy broke into the center of the group and narrowed her eyes at Luke. “What’s going on over here? It looks like you guys are ganging up on Emily and Dae.”
Luke reached for Daisy’s hand and pulled her against him. He smashed his lips to hers with a loud kiss. “We’re not ganging up. Just…”
“Staking claim to your sister?” Daisy sighed and gazed at Emily with a dreamy look in her eyes. “Look at her. Have you ever seen Emily so happy? And look at that spark in Dae’s eyes. That’s love.”
“Hey, I have that spark,” Wes said.
“Shit, I don’t want that spark,” Jake said.
Callie touched Jake’s arm. “Yeah, you do. You just haven’t felt it, so you don’t know what you’re missing.” She sidled up to Wes, and he tucked her beneath his arm.
“I second that.” Pierce kissed Rebecca’s cheek.
“Jake, I have to say, I agree, man,” Dae said. “I never considered myself the settling-down type of guy, but what I realized is that I just hadn’t met the right person yet.”
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