Chapter Twenty
Twenty
“Are you going to sleep in all morning, baby?” Sloan whispered close to Leslie’s ear. He glanced out the window and saw it snowing. No surprise there. This was Alaska, after all.
He looked back down at Leslie and watched as she slowly opened her eyes. When she stretched her lips in a smile, he felt hunger stirring in the pit of his stomach.
“I’m exhausted,” she said, closing her eyes again.
He didn’t doubt it. After all, other than eating dinner, they had remained in bed and made love all through the night. He caressed the side of her face as love for her flowed through every bone in his body. “You want me to make you some oatmeal?”
She opened her eyes with a stern look on her face. “Stay out of my kitchen, Sloan Outlaw.”
He chuckled. “Why? What harm could I do?”
“I’m not willing to find out.” She glanced out the window. “It’s daytime.”
“Yes, and we only have four hours of it. I thought we could make some calls. I can’t wait to tell everyone that I am marrying the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Oh, Sloan.”
She wrapped her arms around him, and he pulled her closer in a long, drugging kiss.
With her cradled beside him, Sloan took his cell phone and began making calls.
With such a huge family, all he had to do was call specific individuals who would get the world out.
Of course, it was Charm who asked the most questions.
He couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, Charm, Leslie and I are back together, and you’re right.
It is about time.” He nodded. “I’ll tell Leslie how happy you are to have another sister and that you welcome her to the family. ”
Glancing over at Leslie, he knew she was listening to his words, and he could see her fighting back tears.
She might have lost her father, but she had gained a huge family who would adore her and love her as much as he did.
When he finally ended the last call, the one to his cousin Dillon, he placed his phone aside and eased down in the bed.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, baby.” He saw the tear that fell from her eye, and he leaned in to lick it off her cheek.
“First you help save my company, then you want me as your wife and now you share your family with me. You make me feel so special, Sloan.”
“That’s because you are special. If nothing else, I think being apart as long as we were has taught us not to take anything for granted. You mean so much to me, and I intend to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you.”
He bent his head and kissed her, thinking he would never be able to show her often enough just what she meant to him. Since they were already naked, it didn’t take him long to grab one of the condom packets he’d placed on the nightstand and prepare himself to make love to her.
They had decided they would start trying to make babies after the wedding. And since they intended to have a June wedding, when the weather wasn’t as cold, that meant this time next year they would be making babies.
He’d already told her that she was what he’d wanted for Christmas this year, and he’d let her know what he wanted for Christmas next year. He wanted her pregnant.
He began kissing her, starting at her mouth and continuing down her body, making stops to tug on the hardened tips of her breasts and feast on her navel.
She trembled beneath every area his tongue licked.
Just tasting her skin had desire pumping through him.
And when he made it to the area between her legs and buried his head between them, an intense hunger spread through him.
His greedy tongue showed her just how much he wanted her, and it didn’t take long for her body to respond with one hell of an orgasm.
“Sloan!”
He made his way back to her mouth, taking it with an urgency that he felt all the way to his toes. Then, releasing her mouth, he held her gaze as he slid inside her. “You still owe me a lot of foreplay, and I plan to collect, Les.”
Her inner muscles clenched him as he began thrusting into her. “I love you, baby.”
“And I love you,” she said, running her hands over the muscles of his back.
Her touch made him thrust harder, and from the sounds she was making, he was doing it right.
He broke eye contact with her to lean up and trail hot, moist licks along her neck and shoulders, her chin, and finally her lips.
Pleasure erupted between them with a shared orgasm that rocked him to the core.
She clung to him as much as he clung to her, and he knew at that moment he had definitely gotten what he wanted for Christmas.
A beautifully wrapped package named Leslie.
“Well, what do you think?” Sloan asked, pulling Leslie aside after he had introduced her to everyone. At least to those relatives she hadn’t met yet.
“You were right. You and your cousin Derringer favor a lot, but I was able to tell you guys apart.”
“There was no doubt in my mind that you would.”
“I hope you don’t expect me to remember names. This is a large family, and you are blessed to be a part of it. Everyone is so kind, and they are truly happy for us.”
“Of course they are. Another Outlaw will be single no more.”
Leslie glanced around the ballroom that was hosting the Westmoreland Charity Ball, not believing the number of people here.
Most had arrived the day before Christmas, like they had, and everyone stayed on Westmoreland property.
There were plenty of rooms. She and Sloan were staying at the Westmoreland B&B.
It had been a ranch that Jason Westmoreland’s wife, Bella, had inherited and turned into a bed-and-breakfast. Leslie liked Bella, but then, she liked all the women in the family, those who were born Westmoreland or who’d married one.
Sloan’s brother Garth and his wife, Regan, had announced they would be having a baby in the spring but assured them the baby would arrive before Sloan and Leslie’s June wedding. Last night they’d gotten word that his cousin Delaney had given birth to twin boys.
However, the highlight of the night was when his cousin Bane and his wife, Crystal, announced they were expecting.
And if the doctor’s prediction held true, Bane and Crystal would be having their second set of triplets.
They would be the first Westmoreland couple who’d managed such a feat, and they honestly seemed overjoyed about it.
According to Sloan, the couple wanted a big family.
Everyone loved Leslie’s engagement ring and thought she and Sloan made a beautiful couple. Leslie had to agree.
“Did I tell you today that I love you?” Sloan said, reclaiming her attention.
“Yes, but you can always tell me again,” she said, smiling up at him.
“I love you, Leslie Cassidy, soon to be Leslie Outlaw.”
She couldn’t help but beam. “And I love you.”
Not caring that they had an audience, Sloan pulled his future wife into his arms for a kiss.