Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
T heo placed a kiss on Gretchen’s shoulder, grinning as he watched her toying with the necklace he gave her for Christmas. The holidays had been a whirlwind of activity, starting with the town’s annual holiday social and ending a couple of hours ago at his parents’ farmhouse.
He and Gretchen had decided to spend the night together here, in what they’d begun to think of as their cabin. Sadly, that would no longer be true in a week, once Boone, the new vineyard manager, arrived to begin work.
Rather than rush to bed, as was their usual routine whenever they were alone together, they opted to relax by the fireplace first. So, as he built the fire, Gretchen made them a cozy nest of blankets and pillows. Then they stripped down to their underwear and crawled beneath the fleece.
She lay in front of him, on her side, her ass occasionally brushing against his crotch.
He was hard—a permanent condition whenever she was close by and nearly naked.
He was a hundred percent certain those brushes of her ass were teases, but he didn’t call her on them, curious to see how far she would go.
He’d stayed with her every night since Briggs’s assault in the barn, worried about her suffering from panic attacks or nightmares, but there’d been none of that.
Strangely, despite the terror of the moment, once Sheriff Anderson took Briggs into custody, something shifted inside her.
They went to the police station so she could press charges for assault and file for a restraining order the morning after the attack.
Gretchen was calm and collected throughout the process.
After they left the station, she said she was certain Briggs knew it was over this time, and she felt confident he wouldn’t come back again.
Theo wished he shared that confidence, aware years would have to pass before he felt secure that the man was truly history. But he didn’t say that to Gretchen because she’d found peace in regards to her abuser at last. And he would never take that away from her.
“I love my necklace,” she said softly, for the twentieth time since she’d unwrapped it this morning. When he’d explained that the necklace with its heartbeat charm represented the day he met her, the day his heart beat for the first time, she clasped it around her neck, vowing to never take it off.
“More than the photo?” he asked.
“It’s a tie.”
Theo chuckled.
He’d given her over a dozen gifts, some big, some small, but the two she’d reacted to the most had been the necklace and the framed photograph of everyone taken at Thanksgiving.
She teared up when she saw it, remarking that the photo included every single person in the world she loved.
She planned to hang it up in her office, next to the older one she’d had framed of her and Shaw at her brother’s graduation.
Gretchen had kissed him when she opened it, quietly whispering, “Thank you for giving me a family.”
Even now, the thought of those words and her soft kiss warmed him, made him happier than he ever thought possible.
He’d gone on to explain to Gretchen that the Thanksgiving photo was a tradition Mom had kept going since the first year she and Dad were married.
Everyone who sat down together for the meal would gather on the front porch to pose.
When he mentioned Mom had a photo album dedicated to just those pictures, Gretchen asked if she could see it.
So once they arrived at the farmhouse for dinner, Theo pulled it out, flipping through the pages as Gretchen asked who everyone was in the earliest photos, and then remarked on how much the family had grown and changed.
She’d been right. Theo couldn’t remember the last time he’d flipped through that album, but it was fun to reminisce.
By the time they hit the final photo—this year’s—he and Gretchen were surrounded by no less than ten other people, all jostling for position around the couch so they could look too. This year’s Thanksgiving group had been the largest, because they’d added Shaw, Edith, Manny, and Kasi’s family.
Gretchen sighed, as she sank even deeper into his embrace. He tightened his arm around her waist, then decided to tease her back, pressing his cock against her ass.
She giggled. “I’m going to miss our cabin.”
“I’m not,” he said.
Gretchen glanced over her shoulder, eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Because I’ve got my sights set on a better one. It’s farther up the mountain, closer to Remi’s stables.”
Gretchen’s eyes widened. “I know which cabin you’re talking about. I helped Mila prepare it for renters one weekend because there was a rush turnaround between the departure of one party and the arrival of the next. The view from the front porch is incredible.”
“It is. It’s also one of the first cabins we updated when we decided to give them all facelifts. It has a more modern, less rustic feel inside.”
“What do you mean, you have your sights set on it?”
“That’s the one I’m going to ask for. For us.”
Gretchen twisted in his arms, facing him. Theo kept his arm around her waist, refusing to let her shift away, so their faces were close, her ginger-scented breath reminding him of the cookies they’d eaten for dessert. “For us?”
“I plan to live out my life on this farm,” he explained.
“I know. If this was my home, I’d never want to leave it either.”
Theo loved that she adored his family’s farm and Gracemont as much as he did. “That’s what I’m saying. It will be your home. Obviously, when you agree to move in with me, we can’t live with my brothers. So we’ll need a place of our own. And that cabin?—”
Gretchen drew in a soft breath.
“We’re still doing this on your timeline, okay?” he reiterated, not wanting to scare her or put pressure on her.
“I know. It’s just… You’ve really thought this out, haven’t you?”
Theo playfully bopped the tip of her nose with his finger. “I’ve got our whole future planned.”
“You do, huh?” she asked, grinning widely.
“Absolutely. Test me.”
“Fine,” she said. “Where do you see us in a year?”
“Living in that cabin I mentioned. Sleeping together every night, waking up in each other’s arms, sharing breakfast, then walking to work, where I intend to slip into your office every hour or so to steal a kiss.”
“You do that now,” she reminded him, though it was clear she liked sneaking those kisses as much as he did.
“And I’ll still do it then,” he replied confidently.
Gretchen pressed her hands flat against his bare chest, her fingers toying with his nipples. “I have to admit, I like the sound of that.”
“Say the word and it’s ours.”
She bit her lower lip. “Maybe not yet. But…” She seemed to seriously consider what he was offering. “Yeah. I could see us there in a year.”
Theo kissed her slowly, deeply. “You make me so happy.”
Gretchen, not finished with their game, stroked his jaw, playing with his beard. “Where do you see us in five years?”
“We’ll still live in our cabin, but it’ll be bigger. My brothers and I will have put on an addition, doubled the size of it.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because in five years, we’ll already have our first child, a precocious little three-year-old with your good looks and my outrageous personality, and the second baby will be on the way.”
“Two children?”
“Within the next five years.”
Gretchen tilted her head. “Does that mean you want more than two?”
Theo reached up, slipping her hair over her shoulder, baring it so he could place a kiss there. “Kitten, I want as many babies as you’ll give me.”
“Two,” she replied. “To start. Then…” She lifted her shoulder.
“Two sounds damn fine.”
Gretchen ran her hand over his cheek, cupping it. “I have to admit, I never saw myself as a mother until this moment.”
Theo was surprised. “Why not? You’ll be an amazing mother.”
“My biggest fear the past few years was that Briggs might one day decide he wanted children.”
Theo understood that fear. Understood that Gretchen would never want to bring a child into a violent home. However, for too many years, she’d been trapped, unable to get herself free, so her fear made sense.
“But you want kids?” he asked.
“With you? More than I can say.”
Theo swore his heart pulled a Grinch and grew three sizes.
“I don’t have a doubt you’ll be the world’s greatest dad,” Gretchen added.
“I hope that’s true. I was blessed with one hell of a role model.”
“Rex is awesome,” Gretchen agreed.
When Theo told him about Gretchen’s dad leaving when she was young, Dad appointed himself Gretchen’s “adopted” father, taking her under his wing this past month, teaching her things her own dad should have—like how to change a tire and check the oil in the car.
“So it’s settled. In five years, we’ll have two adorable children and a beautiful home with an incredible view of the farm.”
Gretchen’s eyes were glassy with happy tears. “That sounds wonderful. I’ve spent so much of my life simply going through the motions, taking everything day by day without a thought to the future, because I couldn’t see anything good on the horizon.”
“Our life together is going to be a long one, and very, very good, kitten. I promise.”
“A long one. Does that mean you know where we’ll be in fifty years?”
He winked. “Of course I do. We’re going to be lying in front of the fireplace in our cabin, just like this, talking about how lucky we were to spend the holiday with our children and grandchildren.”
“You do realize we’ll be eighty-four and seventy-four in fifty years. Who’s going to get us up off the floor?”
Theo laughed. “Good point. We’ll have that conversation in bed. And then, we’ll make love.”
As he spoke, Theo slipped his fingers into the waistband of her panties, tugging them down until she was able to kick them off completely. Then, he removed her bra, bending to worship her perfect nipples, which were hard and tight and begging to be sucked.
Gretchen’s hands grasped his hair as he sucked and squeezed her gorgeous breasts.