by Dee Tenorio
His lips traced her jaw as he spoke. As if he couldn’t help himself. Her own hands weren’t idle, tracing the small rippling muscles at his sides, working up over the rise of his pectorals, winding up his neck to tangle in his hair.
“Your parents were wrong about a lot of things,” he rumbled, the timbre of his voice rough and strained. “But they were right about one thing. I can’t hold you to a promise you made when you weren’t sober. And I won’t have a wife who doesn’t come to my life with her whole heart.”
“Oh, Kane—”
“I was wrong to put so much pressure on you. I’ve waited this long for you to love me. I can wait until you’re ready to start a life with me.”
“Kane—”
He stole her words with his lips, his tongue delving deep, demanding a response she was helpless to hold back. She sank into the flavor of him, the feel of him so hard and male around her. Fluidly, he pulled her off the step, surging backward through the water to the deepest part of the bath. Deep enough to float, for his big body to cradle hers, his broad hands settling on her ass, keeping them chest-to-chest. The hot water created a delicious slickness where her nipples slid across the expanse of him. Where her open thighs notched her to him, the thick shaft of his cock jutted into her folds. She tilted her hips, seeking the firm flesh against hers.
He broke away with a groan, his hands subtly grinding her against him. She let him, biting back her own gasps of pleasure while he buried his face against her neck.
“Kane?”
“Hmmm?”
She took in a slow breath, her body going from deep hum to full rev at the erotic slide of his sex through the folds of hers. Almost entering her before going slowly up, then back down where it started, before the teasing starting all over again. It would be so easy to push down, to take him in and let him fill her until there wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t part of him. But if she did that, he’d think the conversation was over. That making decisions for the both of them without discussing it with her was okay.
She was done with that.
Done with biting her lip and not saying what she wanted, what she needed.
What she needed, more than anything else, was to get through to him.
After that, well, then he could spend the rest of the night making it up to her for being an autocratic, oblivious, self-sacrificing…man.
She loosened her hold with her legs, using her grip on his shoulders to push her body out of his grasp. Before he realized she was pulling away, she was already at the other side of the deep pool.
His groan this time wasn’t nearly as pleased.
Which was fine, because neither was her glare.
She crossed her arms, ignoring when his brows lifted in distraction as the motion pushed her breasts above the water line. She pointed at her face. “Up here, sex addict.”
“You’re supposed to be over here.” He actually punctuated that by putting his hands on his hips.
She decided not to think about what he was using to point out her proper position. “That’s a matter of opinion. My opinion, which—in case you haven’t figured it out—is the one that matters, says I’m just fine right here. Alone.”
His scowl darkened into a glower.
“If I wanted someone to tell me what was best for me and make decisions about my life for me, I’d still be living with my father.”
A flickered blink and he lost some of the thunder on his face.
“And if I wanted a man who pretended he was thinking of me when he was really thinking of himself, I’d still be with Craig.”
His eyes narrowed, the green nearly glowing with displeasure, but the tense lines of his body relaxed even more.
“I chose you, Kane, because most of the time, you’re not like either one of them. Most of the time, you care about what I think and what I want. Most of the time, you know how to listen to what I’m saying.”
Except for last year, when he’d pulled away. Because it had hurt too much, seeing her with Craig. Delilah softened, walking through the water back to him. She took his face in her hands, pulling him down for the softest kiss she could give him. Not sexual. Not teasing. An apology, for pulling the man’s heart in so many directions he’d had every reason to expect the worst from her.
“I need you to hear this, need you to listen and keep this in your heart from now on. I know I’ve hurt you. So many times, because I was too afraid to face what was right in front of me. I never wanted to hurt you. I love you, Kane. I love the man you are, your kindness and your nobility and even that stubborn part of you that makes me want to pull my hair out—or yours. But even more than that, I love the parts of you that you don’t show to anyone but me. You have every right to doubt me— ”
“It’s not that,” he said, but she could still see the shadows in his gaze.
“Yes, it is. So if that means it’s my turn to show you I can be what you want, what you deserve, then I’m ready, Kane. I’m finally ready.” More than ready. Wiling. And dammit, able.
His hands curved around hers, his expression raw and exposed. “You’d really be happy with a wedding you don’t remember to a guy who did everything he could to steal your heart before your real fiancé showed up to claim you?”
For a smart man, he could be so dumb. What was a single memory against an entire future of happiness? “What you don’t seem to get is that you stole my heart, long before my wedding day. You’ve been carrying it with you for three years. Keeping it safe until you could steal the rest of me along with it.”
“You’re not exactly making me feel better here.”
She laughed, kissing his lips playfully. “I don’t know why I should. According to you, I stole yours first.”
It took a moment, just like it did in the church, but slowly, carefully, that small, secret Kane smile slipped free. His hands spanned her waist and he brought their foreheads together. “If I take you, Del, I’m never giving you back.”
She draped her arms over his shoulders, so glad to feel his body had relaxed. Their whole lives stretched ahead of them. She could feel the pieces finally settle into place like a puzzle finally completed. No more indecision. No more fears. Just the knowledge that no matter what happened next, they’d face it together. “Who said anything about if?”
Epilogue
The whirring of the engine wasn’t terribly loud, but it broke the brisk stillness of the night all the same. Delilah leaned back, snug in the heavy blankets and the sheepskin coat Kane had insisted she wear. He was just as bundled in his own coat, their legs tangled together under the covers. She gripped the heavy silver thermos as he toyed with the controls in the open cart where they sat.
On their wedding two years ago here on the ranch, six months after the one she’d always consider their real one, he’d surprised her with their own private Ferris wheel. His one serious splurge with the money they’d won. Well, that and making sure she had an account with half of it in her name, no matter what. It was money she never gave a thought to, figuring they’d end up giving it to their kids someday, while the rest they invested into the ranch, finishing his expansion plans and adding to the horse stock. But the Ferris wheel, well, that they used every chance they got. Especially since Kane was in love with pushing the buttons that drove it. Customized for them to use by remote, he could control the speed, the lights that decorated it, even the music if he wanted.
After the wedding, the wheel decorated with flowers and streamers, he’d stopped their cart at the very top, feet above the roof of the big house, where they could sit and look up at the millions of stars in the unblemished sky. And on their first Christmas Eve together, just before midnight, they’d added the tradition to go on and open their most special presents to each other with Mexican hot chocolate, staying up there to make their wishes for the coming year. Sure, they felt like kids, but that was part of the charm. High enough to have their heads in the clouds, strong enough to keep their feet on the ground.
“Think we wok
e anyone up?” Kane asked in a whisper that seemed a little silly after the sound of the wheel’s engine taking them to the top.
“Probably not Craig,” she answered, trying not to laugh at Kane’s unwillingly smug expression. “Why did they insist on trying to ride the horses? They do this every year and it never goes well. Craig can barely walk and Jesse’s going to have a bruise the size of his head on his ribs.”
“Because they hate thinking there’s something they can’t do.”
Delilah shook her head. “At least Dad had a good time.”
“Well, he does enjoy watching people make jack asses of themselves,” Kane replied, grinning all out now. The first year after their crazy elopement had been a bit rocky with her parents, but Kane wouldn’t let her stop inviting them to come for a visit. Finally, the Colonel and Dinah had come and their relationships had only gotten better with every visit. Dinah never uttered a single peep about “the right kind of” anything and her father had actually apologized to them both, surprising Delilah, but not Kane. According to him, all the Colonel had wanted was for his daughter to be settled and secure. Delilah finally finishing school, earning her CPA and taking on clients had given her father the faith to believe she’d be all right after al.
Knowing she was happier than she’d ever been in her life probably had something to do with it too, but Delilah didn’t want to rain on Kane’s practical parade.
Career satisfaction had never mattered as much to Heath McGavin as knowing his daughter was loved and taken care of by someone he could trust. And she was. It was as simple, as protective, as that.
“I wouldn’t have taken him for a horseman,” Kane continued, oblivious to her rambling thoughts. “He’s really getting comfortable on them, though.”
“Just keep him on the fat, plodding ones and my mother will continue to think you hung the moon and stars.”
“Yeah,” he laughed. “She really does, doesn’t she?”
“That’s what you get when you defend her mother and her daughter from the crankiest man on earth. Eternal devotion.”
“Now if we could just get Rainbow to stop sending me fertility teas, I think we’ll be all set.”
Delilah stopped pouring the hot chocolate, her back straightening. “I thought you wanted to start a family.”
“I do,” he assured her, pulling her close for a smiling kiss before snuggling his way to her ear. “Can’t blame a guy for enjoying the practice time, can you?”
She relaxed. “About that…”
“About what? Practice? It’s a little cold tonight, don’t you think?” She could see him working out the logistics as he scanned the amount of blankets and coats.
Shaking her head, Delilah handed him the oversize mug. “Sex addict.”
“I’ve yet to hear you say no, fellow addict.” And there was the smug grin again.
“Is it midnight yet?” Better to change that subject right away, because it always led to trying to prove she had more willpower than him and Kane did love a challenge…
He checked his watch. “Thirty seconds.”
Perfect, she thought, filing her own mug. all the necessities taken care of, she sank back against his shoulder and waited for their magic moment. She knew it had come when Kane took her hand in his and she heard him hold his breath.
That little quirk of his never failed to make her want to kiss him.
“So, out with it.” She sipped, the sweetness of the spiced chocolate filing her mouth. “What’d you wish for?”
“Apart from you in that red satin thong with the fuzzy balls on the ties?”
If she could have angled herself in all those layers to smack his shoulder—if he would have felt it!—she would have. “That was supposed to be a surprise!”
“Oh, believe me, it was. I’ve been hard as a rock since I found it in your desk this morning.”
“What were you doing in my desk?” she demanded archly.
“Looking for a pencil?” His attempt at innocence was so lame she didn’t even have to bother being skeptical.
“Under the folders in the file cabinet?”
“You don’t keep them there?”
“You are so pathetic, Wilkensen.” Which was why she’d put that thong in there to find. Better to let him think he’d found his presents than for him to get anywhere near her real surprise. She’d been holding onto this one for over a week, hoping and praying he wasn’t paying very much attention to the calendar with all the company.
He laughed unrepentantly, squeezing her close. “What about you, what did you wish for?”
This was it. The moment she’d been waiting for. He’d be happy, of that there was no question. Kane was a man who’d wanted a family of his own for most of his life. Finally, finally, she could give him one more part of his dreams. Of her own.
She reached into the folds of her blanket and pulled out a slim but heavy box wrapped in silver paper. “You have to open this first.”
His eyes glittered with glee. Honestly, this man and his presents. He tore into the wrapping, peeling it off with the swipe of his hand. The tape didn’t last much longer, allowing the flat box to open from the top flap and reveal the hand-carved, 8x10 inch wooden frame within. He smiled down at it, running his fingers over the lacquered pine and tapping the notched edges with his nail. “It’s beautiful.”
“Read it,” she urged, pulling the top of the box back further so the lights of the wheel would illuminate the painted parchment under the glass.
“Did you make this?” He was still marveling over the wood frame.
She nodded. “Remember that Industrial Arts class I squeezed in last year?”
He blinked in shock. “You made this a year ago and I’m only seeing it now?”
“I was saving it for something special,” she replied haughtily, touching the glass to track him back to the message inside. “I did the art inside, too.”
He finally looked down again, tilting the box into better light. The painted border almost hid the torn seams of the parchment, but she knew he recognized the paper as his fingers traced the ravaged edges of their first marriage certificate beneath the frame glass. They’d gone back to Norman and the Fantasy Castle the day after deciding to stay together and had him redo the ceremony right, just for them, but she’d kept the first pieces. Their first promises, she always thought. The ones that made everything else after it possible.
“Ten Ways To Steal Your Lover ,” he read the script on the page softly. “A Romance Master Plan by Kane Wilkensen. Follow any of these ten steps and you can steal the girl. Follow them all and you’ll keep her forever.” He turned back to her, a confused lift to the corner of his mouth. “What is this?”
“Keep reading.”
He went back to the frame. “Ten: Declare your love, preferably before she marries one your best friends… ” He took a second to send a squinty-eyed, sideways glance at her.
“Well, you did. You just cut it really, really close.”
“Smart ass.”
“Bite me.” The taunt had no teeth until he kissed her soundly, nibbling once on her bottom lip. She giggled and snuggled into his shoulder, arms wound around one of his.
“Nine: Listen to her discuss her hopes and dreams without ever once telling her she’s crazy. Aww, Del—”
“Hint,” Delilah continued, not willing to be derailed. “Try not to get too excited when they match your own—in case she figures out too soon you’re in love with her.”
He groaned, but it was the laughing kind. “I can’t believe you’re busting my balls in the middle of my own Christmas present.”
“I’ll bust more than that if you don’t keep reading.”
“Eight,” he said pointedly. “Marry her under the stars in a crazy elopement where you present her your family heirloom rings as a testament to your devotion. ”
His voice slowed down as he read, the frown he got only when he was trying not to be emotional pulling his brows together. “Seven: Make love to her lik
e she’s the most important thing in the world to you. Because she is.” He kissed the top of her head. “She really is.”
“She knows,” Delilah rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.
“Six: Give her your last twenty bucks to play on a one-armed bandit, even though she usually has the worst luck in the world. Usually, huh?”
“Eh, luck changes. Hers sure did.”
“Maybe it’s not so much luck as it is following her heart.”
“I’ll be sure to remind you of that the next time I follow my heart to the tune of six-thousand dollars.” Not that he’d care about the money too much, but he blanched at the thought of it all the same. Nope, he’d never be the type to just throw it around without a purpose. Or a dash of peyote.
“Five: When you wake up with her in a hotel room with no idea how you got there, help her retrace her steps, even if means you might lose her in the end. Brave heart wins fair maiden. I’m not brave, I was scared out of my mind.”
“It’s not brave unless you’re scared, didn’t anyone ever tell you that? Go on.”
He shrugged, still not comfortable, but he continued. “Four: Defend her honor against a grabby boxer…and win! You’d better win,” he added under his breath.
“Three—”
“Hey, my present, I get to read. Three: Face her family with her when they realize what you’ve done and don’t take shit from anyone. I take it your Dad won’t be reading this?”
“Oh, I’m planning on putting this up right next to the front door.”