by Law, Kim
“You’d better get cleaned up,” Harper said. She took another long look at the wall, patted him on the chest as if in sympathy, then headed out of the room. “I’ll get the grill going,” she called back.
As it always was between them, she thought she was the tougher one.
“I’ll get the grill going,” he stressed. He headed down the hallway after her but drew up short when he found her standing in the middle of their spacious kitchen, staring silently out the back windows. The view was beautiful from here. They’d picked a home in her parents’ neighborhood, and though the house wasn’t on the lake, it sat on a slight hill, and they caught glistening glimpses of blue from this spot any time the sun shone bright.
Nick eased up next to her and slid an arm around her, and when she immediately molded herself against him, he thought of how far they’d come.
“I love you,” he told her. He kissed the top of her head, and she tilted her face up to his.
“And I love you.” She glanced back at the view. “I love this, too.”
“It’s not nearly as big as what you had before.” Nick had worried he’d come up lacking.
“I had too much before. That was more about Thomas and his parents than anything.” She’d tried once again to contact her late husband’s parents after she’d gotten the Harry Stone Memorial Foundation set up, but they’d never returned her query.
“You don’t miss having a helipad in the backyard?” Nick asked. They had a walking path at the perimeter of their property and a view of the community playground, instead.
“I will admit that I miss looking out the back and seeing my baby every day. But she’s not far away.” Since Harper now worked full time for SAR, the helicopter remained parked at the station.
He shifted to position her in front of him and wrapped both arms around her as they watched a boat bob far off on the lake. In the foreground, neighborhood children squealed on the playground. Nick touched his lips to the side of Harper’s neck. “We could call our families and cancel,” he murmured. They’d been so busy moving in and unpacking, they had yet to properly christen the house. “Just you and me, enjoying our view together.” He pulled a groan from her as he tugged her back against his erection. “We could start by checking out the view in the shower together.”
“Not on your life, Wilde.” She arched her neck to allow him better access, and her words came out soft. “Everyone is anxious to see the house. And I want to show it off.”
“Then we’ll just have to kick them out early.” His hands closed over her breasts.
“I wouldn’t argue with that.” Gorgeous eyes met his as she tilted her head back to look up at him, and Nick knew without a doubt that he’d found where he belonged.
“Marry me,” he said. They hadn’t talked about it in weeks, but his desire had never been secret. “Put me out of my misery.”
She nodded, and tears appeared in her eyes. “But you have to promise me babies.”
His life was complete. “I’ll promise you anything.” He kissed her gently. “I promise you everything.”
Acknowledgments
As usual, this book wasn’t written by my imagination alone. Which is a good thing, because I probably would have gotten way too much of it wrong. But thankfully, I have great friends and terrific readers, and they always hook me up with excellent sources of knowledge. I’d like to thank Darynda Jones for always seeming to “know someone,” and for reaching out to her brother-in-law in my time of need. David Scott, you were a great wealth of helicopter and SAR information, and just a really cool guy to chat with. Thank you so much for answering my random questions, and not for making me feel like a moron for all the things I didn’t know. I suspect I probably got some things wrong in the book, but I promise I tried hard not to. And rest assured that without your help, I would have gotten much more incorrect!
And Montana McDade and Rhonda Ziglar. Thank you, Rhonda, for sharing your daughter with me, and thank you, Montana, for (like David) answering an eclectic selection of questions. Your and your husband’s knowledge of all things rodeo, bull riding, and bull raising astounds me, and because of you, I had a blast putting my own stock contractor in this book. She is not you. I swear. But her occupation did totally come about because of you. I think a girl raising bulls is the coolest thing ever!
And then, there’s Google. Probably all authors should always thank Google. Without it, there would be a lot of question mark placeholders in every single book I write.
About the Author
Photo © 2012 Amelia Moore
As a child, award-winning author Kim Law cultivated a love of chocolate, anything purple, and creative writing. She penned her debut work, “The Gigantic Talking Raisin,” in sixth grade and got hooked on the delights of creating stories. Before settling into the writing life, however, she earned a college degree in mathematics and worked for years as a computer programmer. Now she’s living out her lifelong dream of writing romance novels. She’s won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award, has been a finalist for the prestigious RWA RITA Award, and has held various positions with her local RWA chapter. A native of Kentucky, Kim lives with her husband and an assortment of animals in Middle Tennessee.