Booker (Bluff Creek Brotherhood MC: Nomads)

12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

L exi finished frosting the cake. She’d enlisted Twist and Cowboy to get Booker out of the house for a couple of hours. Booker thought she didn’t remember when his birthday was. She wasn’t missing his forty-third birthday. She hadn’t been able to break away from him to go shopping in person. She shopped online for some new motorcycle gloves and a heavier leather jacket. South Dakota got colder than Kansas. She’d also made a cute little coupon book for him, which she hoped he liked. Though if he read them all when they were together, he might blush at some of them.

He'd liked the chocolate miracle whip cake her mom had made back in high school. She’d questioned Twist, but he couldn’t give her any other cake that Booker had ever indicated he loved, so she went with what she knew.

She put the number candles on the cake. She’d gone with a four and a three instead of forty-three actual candles. Her mom and Compass were making the homemade ice cream in the barn, so Booker wouldn’t see it if he returned early.

Her mom was coming back in to help with the meal: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, country gravy, and green beans, along with fresh homemade rolls. The butter was fresh from a farm down the road from theirs.

Luckily, her mom was a planner and always had wrapping paper on hand. She’d heard her mom sewing last night and the night before. She wondered what her mom had been making for Booker. Lexi didn’t remember any holiday that her mom hadn’t given something she’d sewn. Last year for Lexi’s birthday, she’d made her a new crossover purse with quotes from her favorite books on it.

Lexi was excited about the surprise party, but she wished she knew what her brother was planning. She didn’t think she could handle losing her mom or if he hurt Booker or the guys. If she wasn’t so scared of what he might do to her, she’d just go looking for him. But she was too smart to be the stupid girl in the horror movie who split off from everyone to go in the woods alone.

She heard the pickup truck and looked outside. The guys were back and parking the truck. She took off her apron and quickly hung the banner she made. Yep, it was hokey, but she loved the fact that she’d reunited with her Drew.

The door opened, and Twist came in. He covered his mouth, smothering a laugh at the sign, then Booker came in next.

His eyes went to the cake, then flicked to the sign. He grinned and then pulled her into his arms.

“Is that how you really feel?” Booker asked.

“Of course.”

Booker turned her toward her sign.

“Happy Birthday to the man I love who makes all my dreams come true. My high school crush. My cover model. My very own cinnamon roll book boyfriend come to life.”

His lips brushing her ear had a shiver trembling through her.

“I love you so much. Thank you for doing this,” Booker said.

He didn’t realize it, but this was just one of the ways Lexi would spend the rest of her life showing him how much she loved him.

Booker laughed and knew by tomorrow his stomach would ache from tonight. He’d laughed more tonight than he had in months. How they kept the party a surprise from him was amazing.

Twist had given him a gift card for books. Cowboy had given him a coupon for a free tune-up on his computer whenever he needed it. Lexi had even invited the two full-time ranch hands to the party. Booker wasn’t sure what he thought about them. The younger one, Chance, was quiet and a little nervous. Maureen said he’d been hired in the last three months, and she’d been gone two of those months. The older one, Buckles, was in his fifties and seemed to have an opinion about everything. He was a bull riding champion from his younger days who never let anyone forget it. During the party, he’d mentioned two different times how he’d do something different than the way Maureen did. Maureen had shrugged it off, but Booker planned on discussing both guys with the group sometime.

Compass had given him a gift card to an online motorcycle parts store. Maureen’s gift had touched him and come close to being his favorite. She’d made him a robe to wear this winter. But Lexi’s gift had both pleased and embarrassed him when he’d started to read aloud the second gift. She’d bought him new riding gloves and a heavier leather jacket for the weather in South Dakota. But her little notebook of coupons was enough to make him a little hot even with her mom in the room. The first few were tame: One kiss when you’ve had a bad day. Foot rub when you’ve been working. One coupon for me taking your dish duty. But then they’d started getting a little more risqué. He’d been so glad he was sitting down when he got to: Good for one blowjob wherever you want . Was she trying to kill him?

He'd felt the heat in his cheeks from blushing. Who knew a forty-three-year-old man could blush but darned if he didn’t do that. And she’d made him hard as steel in front of her mother. The final one that he hadn’t read but Cowboy had tried to grab had been: Outdoor sex when it’s warmer . Who knew little Lexi had grown into a woman who didn’t mind taking a chance outside? Once things warmed up, he prayed stuff would be settled because he couldn’t think of a prettier place to have his way with his woman than the stream they’d ridden by on horseback.

They’d all dug into the cake and ice cream. It had been years since he’d had that cake, and it was still his favorite. He’d never asked anyone to make it because it brought back memories of Lexi.

He’d finished the presents and the food. He stood up to take his plate to the kitchen.

“I’ve got this. Lexi has something else for you to do,” Compass said, taking the plate and heading toward the kitchen.

He smiled and walked toward Lexi. “What’s next?”

She grabbed his hand and a blanket off the back of the couch. She led him out the door onto the front porch. She fiddled with her phone a little, then placed it on the glider as music started playing. She unfurled the blanket and put it around his shoulders, then came up close and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Grasp the blanket and then you can hold me too but keep us warm,” Lexi whispered.

He followed her directions and listened to the music, dancing with her around the porch. He’d planned on doing this, but she’d beat him to it. He recognized the song from one Lexi listened to: John Legend’s Under The Stars .

Even though he was twitchy and worried about Lexi’s brother, this was the best birthday he’d ever had, and it was all because of the woman in his arms.

“Lexi, this has been a perfect birthday, but I want you to know, the days that are just the regular days of fixing meals, working, and washing dishes are just as special. With you, everything becomes extraordinary. Life with you is more than I ever dreamed of.”

Lexi sniffed against him. He hadn’t meant to make her cry.

“Lexi?” he asked, kissing her cheek.

“I’m okay. I’d given up hope of finding someone, but reconnecting with you has made me dream again.”

He touched his lips to hers, tracing the seam with his tongue. When she opened her mouth, he dove in, showing her with each touch and taste how much she meant to him. The faint hint of the chocolate frosting flavored her kiss. Lexi rubbed against him, and he knew the signs of her wanting more. She was going to be disappointed because he was going to kiss the daylights out of his woman right now and enjoy dancing. After she’d gone to all this trouble, he wasn’t cutting their dancing short.

He reluctantly pulled his mouth away and swayed with Lexi. The song switched, and he pulled her closer. A cool breeze blew across the porch, but he was warm with Lexi by his side. He could wait until tomorrow to figure out what to do next.

He needed this finished with her brother because he found himself excited about planning their life. Lexi and her mom had mentioned how the ranch was ideal for hunting, but her dad had died before he had started advertising to bring in hunters.

One of the things he wanted to help with was seeing what could be done to make sure the ranch stayed profitable enough to not need to sell off land. It was the home Lexi wanted, and he’d do what needed to be done to make sure she had it.