Stolen Hearts (The Stolen Series Book 3)

by Renee Harless

  “Sounds good.”

  My cousins and I work together seamlessly for the first few hours, it’s why we went into the business together. We’re able to work as a team with minimal problems.

  Nailing the slats for the roof, Cooper speaks down to where I am assembling the steps for the rock wall. “So, how are things going with Taylor? Has she come around to the proposal yet?”

  The night we had burgers about a week ago I told Cooper and Jackson how I had been pretending to be Taylor’s fiancé when she got custody of Tabitha, at least until her sister’s Will is found. But when I found out that we were having our own baby together, I had proposed in the hospital. The guys just hung their head when I mentioned that piece.

  “She’s still pretending that I never asked in the first place.”

  “Has she mentioned why she doesn’t want to get married?” Jackson asks as he brings over another freshly cut pile of slats for Cooper.

  “She had a hard life growing up and ran away from it all. I’m sure that has something to do with it. But all she has said verbally is that we’re not in love.”

  “Well, you can’t really fault her for either of those reasons. So, what are you going to do about it?” Jackson questions as he leans against one of the posts.

  Stopping mid-air with my hammer in hand, I look over at him with narrowed eyes. “Am I supposed to do something about it? I just figured that she’d come around eventually.”

  Jackson shakes his head and I hear Cooper chuckle from across the way.

  “Dude, you’re an idiot. If you want Taylor to be your wife, first you need to make sure that you’re not doing it just because she’s pregnant. I know we’ve always been taught to do the right thing, but you’re both capable of raising a child without being married.”

  “Yeah, she said the same thing,” I begrudgingly admit.

  “Second, ask yourself these questions. Are you in love with her? Can you imagine a single day without her in it? Not for any other reason than she is the first thing you want to see in the morning and the last thing at night.”

  I think about all the times I’ve walked into the kitchen after getting home from work and finding Taylor at the sink. My arms immediately wrap around her and that’s the moment when I feel like I’m at home.

  Or the times when she asks for my thoughts on a project or to help her reach a glass from the upper cabinets and she turns to me with that bright smile. That’s when I feel like I could conquer the world.

  And I knew that night I followed her from the wedding that she was someone that I needed to spend more time with. She was the reason no other woman has had a chance. They don’t hold a candle to her.

  “Fuck, I’m in love with her.”

  “It’s about time you realize it,” Cooper adds as he jumps down and shoves his hammer into his tool belt. “Now, you need to make her realize the same thing. Take her on a date, somewhere special, not just a nice restaurant for a fancy meal. Somewhere that will have meaning.”

  An idea formulates in my mind and I can’t help but grin as I ask Cooper, “Can you guys watch Tabitha tonight?”

  Together we finish the swing set just before Taylor and Tabitha arrive back at the house. I have my crew scheduled to drop off some playground mulch on Monday, but for now, I can’t be happier with how it has all turned out. We were able to add on an infant swing for the baby that can be swapped out as they get older.

  “Wow, this turned out great.”

  I turn to find Taylor walking toward us holding Tabitha’s hand as she looks over the structure with a wary toddler’s eye. From her angle, she can’t see the swirling slide that we’ve built into the clubhouse.

  Wordlessly I walk over and lift Tabitha into my arms and plant an unsuspecting kiss on Taylor’s cheek. The skin turns a beautiful shade of pink beneath my lips.

  Strolling over to the clubhouse I sit Tabitha inside and she crawls around the space, taking in all of the toys and features that I’ve installed. Games, a chalkboard, a telescope, and steering wheel all give her a sense of adventure in the space.

  “This is pretty incredible, Hunter,” Taylor says in awe and her compliment has me feeling like a million dollars, I reach out and tug her close, leaving my arm draped across her shoulder. Her arms reach around my waist and she settles her head on my shoulder as we watch Tabitha zoom down the slide, her giggles filling the open air.

  I never knew what I was missing until this moment. Having Taylor nestled against me as we feel the joy exude from Tabitha.

  “I want to take you somewhere tonight.”

  “Okay,” she replies in a one-off tone as she holds out her hand to help Tabitha climb up the stairs to the clubhouse.

  “Like a date.”

  I feel her body still in surprise and she slowly turns her face toward me.

  “You want to take me on a date?”

  “Yes. Cooper and Sara agreed to watch Tabitha for us.”

  “Hunter, I don’t think-” she starts, but I immediately interrupt her chatter.

  “Please?”

  Taylor stares at me for a moment, her eyes searching my face and I can see when she comes to a conclusion. I brace myself for her to turn me down again, but when she turns back to help Tabitha up the stairs again I’m surprised to hear her softly reply, “Okay.”

  And even with her beside me I can’t help but pop my fist in the air, earning me a chuckle in return.

  Sara and Cooper scooped up Tabitha the moment they arrived and are taking her to a children’s based restaurant with animatronics and games. I’m not sure what possessed them to do so, but I’m not going to argue. I only asked that they sanitize every part of their body when they’re done and to give Tabitha a bath when she gets home. I don’t need that precious girl getting sick, or worse, getting Taylor sick.

  I flip the channels on the television aimlessly as I wait for Taylor to finish getting ready. I asked her to dress casually, but I had a sense she would use an excuse to dress up. So I made sure to wear my nicest jeans and a collared shirt.

  “Hey, Hunter? Can you help zip me up?”

  The television turns off with the click of a button and I toss the remote in a basket resting on the coffee table before pushing myself up off the couch. I try to slow my pace as I head down the hallway, but the anticipation of seeing what Taylor is wearing is too much for me.

  The door to the bedroom is cracked open, so I push it ajar and stare at her bare back, only a small line of white lace resting on the skin under her shoulder blades. For being almost twelve weeks along, Taylor hasn’t even had the tiniest of a baby bump pop out on her stomach. A moment I’m excited for. But yesterday she went out and bought some maternity clothes, just to be ready (and I made sure that she used my credit card for them since it was one of my little swimmers that knocked her up), and this dress looks like it would be one of those purchases.

  “Stop staring and help me,” she huffs in exasperation reaching for the thick silver zipper along her back.

  I step forward, sliding the back of my hand from the nape of her neck slowly down her spine until I reach the edge of the zipper. Instead of grabbing the piece of metal, I slide my hands underneath the navy blue dress with tiny white polka dots and wrap them around her waist until they rest on her stomach. My lips press against the soft skin where her neck meets her shoulder and she relaxes into me as she moans. I could taste her skin for hours and never be able to pinpoint exactly what has me so addicted to her sweetness.

  “Hunter,” she mewls as I lick and nip at her skin, my cock growing in anticipation. Taylor rocks her ass against me as I delve my hand behind her panties, caressing the soaked folds of her sex.

  She shivers in my arms as I rub circles around her confined bundle of nerves with the palm of my hand at the same time that I slip my fingers in and out of her channel.

  “So sensitive,” her voice quakes. Taylor grips my arm with her hand, smacking her palm against my skin when I feel the waves begin to crest in her core. />
  Moving my lips to the edge of her ear, I huskily whisper, “Let go, baby.”

  She stands on the tips of her toes as she lets me work her to release. My arms stay wrapped around her waist as she slows her erratic breathing, the pants smoothing out into gentle puffs of air.

  “Well,” she giggles.”That was unexpected.”

  “I do like surprising you.”

  “I certainly was. Can you help me zip up my dress now?” she asks, but not before the sexy vixen reaches behind her and strokes my hardened cock, aching against my jeans.

  “Minx,” I call her as I move a step back and lift the zipper to her dress.

  She turns around and I’m in awe of just how beautiful she looks. The dress dips between her breasts and ruffles down the side. Her hair cascades on either side of her breasts in dark waves of silk. A shade of red perfectly colors her lips, something I’ve never seen her wear before.

  “You look stunning, Taylor. I can’t believe I get the honor of taking you out tonight.”

  Color appears along her cheeks in the same shade as her lipstick.

  “You look handsome, too.”

  The drive to the restaurant is short and she looks at me in confusion when I tell her that we’re not eating here.

  “I called in a favor and I got our meal to go. We have somewhere else to be.”

  Noticing how excited she was at the choice of restaurant I make a mental note to bring her back here to actually eat inside. It’s one of the more high-end dining establishments in our city. It never occurred to me that she would have never eaten here before.

  When I arrive back in the car with several bags in my grasp she looks at me in bewilderment.

  “How do you know what I want to eat?”

  “I don’t, so I got a lot of things, we can pick and choose or share. And these are all things that were approved by the doctor.”

  During Taylor’s first doctor visit last week I asked every question under the sun, to which he told me to buy a certain book and handed me a list of not-approved foods.

  “Oh, well, that was a good idea. Usually, I don’t know what I want to eat until I see it or smell it.”

  I take us down the highway to the opposite side of the city, closer to where Taylor used to live. It’s not until I pull off on an exit that Taylor perks up in her seat and asks where we’re going.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “No, really. I know there isn’t anything down here. You’re not really a serial killer are you? And those boxes you grabbed at the restaurant aren’t for my body parts?”

  I look away from the road momentarily to cast a confused gaze over to Taylor, only to find her inching away from the center console toward the door. Immediately I break out into raucous laughter. Tears stream from the corner of my eyes at how ridiculous she sounds.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Do you think I’d ask you to marry me for real if I wanted to kill you out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “Well, no. But it’s not unheard of. I watched that Ted Bundy special.”

  “You’re crazy. And I love you too much to kill you.”

  I quiet instantly, but luckily, the lights burning off in the distance distract her from my slip of the tongue. The pang in my chest surprises me when she doesn’t reply.

  “What is this place?” she curiously asks as I drive through a pair of gates.

  I definitely called in another favor for this date with Taylor. I wanted something memorable. Something she could always look back on every night that she lives and breathes.

  As I park the car and I help her to exit my friend Jessica skips toward us with a basket in hand. I make sure to reach into the back and grab our dinner

  “Welcome to the Rivers Edge Planetarium. I’m Jessica, and you must be Taylor. I was so excited when Hunter gave me a call this afternoon.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Jessica,” Taylor greets as they exchange a handshake. “I’ve never been to a planetarium.”

  “We can go inside if you’d like, but I had Jessica set up something special for us. I’ll let you decide.”

  “Please, lead the way,” Taylor suggests, letting Jessica guide us past the building and out to a field via a rock-lined pathway.

  We walk for a good ways until we’re away from all of the lights of the city, the night air just creeping in around us.

  “Sure you’re not a serial killer?”

  “Not today,” I joke and both women giggle.

  Piping in Jessica tells us how we picked the perfect night for stargazing. And then when Taylor asks if that’s what we’re doing, Jessica tells her that we’re her guinea pigs for a new exhibit.

  Once we reach the location, I can see all of the work that Jessica has done for this evening. There is a small table set up and then a weighted blanket casually tossed on the ground so that no wind picks it up.

  “Wow,” Taylor sighs from beside me.

  “So,” Jessica begins, “I have the sound system slated to start right after sunset and it will last for an hour. If you need any guides, they’re tucked away in the basket.”

  “This is great, Jessica. I really appreciate it.”

  “And I will appreciate you leaving a review. And spreading the word. Now you both enjoy your date and I’ll be back once the show is over.”

  My hand slips to Taylor’s lower back and I guide her toward one of the chairs as I take the one opposite.

  Reaching for one of the boxes, Taylor rests her hand on mine and I switch my gaze on her. “Before we get started I just want you to know that this is the best date I’ve ever been on. I’m sorry to have doubted you.”

  Wow, an apology coming from Taylor is the same caliber as winning a million dollars.

  “How do you know it’s the best date?” I ask as I flip my hand over and join our palms together.

  “Because it’s you, and you went through all of this trouble.”

  If I weren’t already in love with her, I definitely would be now. Fuck, I’m turning into a sap, just like my cousins.

  “Well, thank you. I wanted you to experience something different. Now, for dinner. Do you want the steak, chicken, or pasta?”

  “Yes, please,” she replies and I look up to see her smiling.

  “Hungry?”

  “Always.”

  “Well, that sounds good. We can split all three meals.”

  Just as Jessica had described, a recording begins around us as perfectly timed electric candles flicker on around the field’s opening. Not enough to diminish the viewing of the stars, but just enough to shine light on the ground. The recording talks about the history of stargazing and astrology as the sun sets beyond the trees.

  “Full?”

  “Stuffed,” Taylor describes as she rubs her belly after finishing off a second piece of key lime pie.

  “Good,” I tell her as the small candles flicker four times as the recording asks us to take our seats.

  “This is really cool,” Taylor tells me as we lay beside each other on the blanket resting on the ground.

  Reaching out, I rest my arm underneath her head and she instinctively curls her body against mine, entwining our legs together.

  As the recording continues, I point out a few of the constellations described and Taylor does the same for a few stars that the narrator names. I’m so relaxed with Taylor in my arms that I don’t even realize that she’s dozed off until the recording ends and Jessica steps into the light.

  “Hey, what did you think?” she asks, then her eyes widen as she takes in Taylor’s sleeping form. “Sorry,” she mouths.

  “That’s okay, she sleeps like the dead. Believe me.” Sitting up, I pull Taylor into my lap, and sure enough, my girl stays completely knocked out. “What you’ve got here is really amazing. I’ll be sure to spread the word.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate it. I can’t believe the planetarium was left abandoned for so long. It’s taken forever to get it back up to par. I should have it runni
ng by the fall though.”

  “I have no doubt it will be a success. Do you mind helping me carry the trash while I carry Taylor to the car?”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll clean this all up. The pathway is lit for you.”

  “I don’t like you being out here by yourself, Jessica.”

  “I’m out here every night by myself. Don’t worry about me. I’m a big girl.”

  “Yeah, well, big girl or not I’m still not comfortable leaving you out here. So let’s clean up what we can.”

  With Taylor passed out on the blanket snoring softly, I help Jessica pack away a few of the items into the bags and baskets until we have everything stored away.

  We walk back to the parking lot, her carrying the bags, me carrying Taylor with a basket dangling from my elbow. I get Taylor situated in the car and give Jessica a hug. Her parents lived next door to mine growing up and she’s always been like a little sister to me. I’m glad that she’s been able to find something to make her happy.

  Taylor stays asleep through the entire trip until we pull into my driveway, the pothole I’ve been meaning to fix knocking her awake.

  “Oh, sorry about that,” she murmurs groggily as she wipes away the spittle of drool from the corner of her mouth.

  “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart.” I put the car in park and then turn to look at her from across the center console. “So, is this still the best date ever?”

  She looks at me coquettishly from beneath her lashes. “Yeah, but there is something that I think could make it even better. Something that I was dreaming about, in fact.”

  Taylor walks her fingers across my arm resting on the back of her seat until she reaches the back of my head, sinking her fingers in my hair.

  “Hmm, and what may that be?”

  Taylor closes the distance between us until our lips are just a slip of paper apart.

  “You, me, and a whole lot of nakedness. How does that sound?”

  “Well, before we can do that I have a few people I need to kick out of our house.”

  “That is a problem, but please don’t let me keep you waiting. I’ll wait right here until the coast is clear.”