Chapter 51
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The Lake
“It was nice that you let Declan win,” I said to Cas.
He offered me his hand and helped me into the waiting rowboat that bobbed on the bank of Lavender Lake.
“I didn’t let Declan win,” he said. “I lost because of you.”
“What do you mean because of me?” I demanded.
He handed me a picnic basket, and I set it down in the back of the rowboat before lowering myself down onto one of the soft pillows.
Cas got into the boat and took the spot across from me on the other end so that we were facing one another. “I could see your nipples through your dress. You’re lucky I didn’t cut off my own hand.”
I looked down at my chest. “Really? You could see them?”
“Okay, maybe I couldn’t see them,” he amended. “But I was fantasizing about them. About how they’d taste. How they’d feel in my mouth. Have you ever swung an axe with an erection?”
“Can’t say that I have.” I laughed.
He grabbed an oar and pushed us away from the bank. The oar slid into the water and he began to paddle us toward the center of the lake. It was dusk and when the sun set in an hour, the fireworks would start.
“What treats did you pack us?” I asked, reaching for the picnic basket.
“No peeking,” he warned.
I dropped my hand from the picnic basket. “I got a good video of you chopping wood, though. I think it would be perfect to post on your social media.”
“Do it,” he said. “You’re in charge of my page now. Rudolph Lancaster loves everything you’re doing for buzz.”
“I post from the female gaze. Ergo, more women are drooling over you each day. Ergo, more women telling their boyfriends that they should dress like you. Ergo, men running out to buy whatever clothes you put on your body to please their women. It’s a win for all of us.”
“I never thought I’d be a model,” he quipped.
“How do you feel about billboards?”
“Obnoxious. Annoying. Huge.”
“Like your ego?” I grinned.
“You like my huge ego. Just like you like my huge—”
“Billboards,” I interrupted. “As in, how would you feel about being on one? In Times Square?”
“Holy hell, are you serious?”
I nodded.
“I have to be wearing clothes,” he warned. “I’m not going to be a naked sex symbol. I’ve got my pride, you know?”
“You’ve also got a very jealous, hormonal girlfriend,” I said with a chuckle. “I already told them you have to be in clothes. Maybe you can have one button undone. Two at the most. But that part of you is so damn lickable, so I don’t know if I want everyone else to see it.”
“Lickable, huh? Come here.” He rested the paddle in its holder and held out his hands to me. I inched toward him on my haunches, my dress riding up my thighs.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said when I was close enough to touch. He cradled my cheeks in his hands and kissed my lips, and then he pulled back. “Hand me the picnic basket.”
I leaned over to grab it and nearly lost my balance, but I knew if I fell Cas would be there to catch me.
He took the basket from my hands and opened the flap. “I had Muddy help prepare all of this.”
“All of what?” I asked. “The food?”
“The food, the rowboat, everything.” He peered at me for a long moment, the sunlight streaking through the clouds behind him.
I closed my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “I’m just—taking a mental photograph of you. In this moment, looking the way you do. So I can always remember it. Or at least the feeling of it.”
I took a few deep breaths, breathing in the scent of the water, the dying heat of the air from a hot summer day.
And when I finally opened my eyes, Cas was sitting in front of me, holding out a ring box. It was open and presented toward me.
It was an emerald cut sapphire nestled among diamonds in a gold setting. It was beautiful and unique, and I knew just by looking at it that the moment I slid it onto my finger, I’d never want to take it off.
I looked at him and met his solemn gaze.
And then I held out my left hand to him.
He took the ring from the box and slid it onto my finger. Then he brought my knuckles to his lips.
“A perfect fit,” he rasped.
“Yes, we are.” I leaned forward and kissed him.
His tongue slid into my mouth and my body hummed with pleasure.
“Wait,” he said, pulling back. “There’s more.”
“I don’t need more,” I protested. “Kiss me again.”
He let out a low chuckle. “You’ll like this, I promise.”
Cas riffled through the picnic basket and pulled out a piece of wood encased in resin. It was smooth to the touch and there, through the crystal clear resin, I saw my carved initials, along with my mother’s in the bark of the red cedar from the forest.
“The fire burned most of the tree, Salem.” His tone was sad. “I didn’t want you to lose your special place, so I took a chainsaw and cut out the initials and had it put in resin. Turn it over.”
I flipped over the resin encased wood. The back was flat and numbers had been burned into it.
“I don’t understand.” I looked at him for an explanation.
“Those are the coordinates of where the tree was. I was thinking it would be a unique tattoo. After the baby’s born, of course.”
I pressed the piece of wood to my chest as tears gathered in my eyes. “No one has ever—God, Cas. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
We reached for each other at the same time, our lips meeting. Not in desire, but in fortitude. In vows. In promises.
He gathered me into his arms and held me for a long moment, but then my stomach rumbled.
With a laugh, he let me go. “Let’s feed you.”
He opened the picnic basket and pulled out homemade ginger beer, watermelon salad, and brisket from the Copper Mule.
As the sun sank behind the mountains, we ate dinner underneath the night sky. And when the fireworks started, he laid me down in the bed of the rowboat and made me see my own fireworks.
After I came undone, he sat behind me and wrapped his arms around me. His hands went to my belly. He lovingly stroked his thumbs up and down my stomach and I covered his hands with mine, the light of the fireworks winking off my sapphire engagement ring.
“Casimir William Bowman, you sure do know how to propose to a girl.” I looked up at him and smiled.
He pressed a kiss to the end of my nose. “Salem Kathleen Powell, you sure do know how to drive me insane.”
“You’ll never be bored.”
“Nope.”
“Me and our six children will keep you on your toes.”
“Six? Good God, woman, are you determined to drain me of seed?”
“You don’t want six?”
“I want as many as you want,” he said. “But holy hell, Salem. That changes things.”
“Changes what?” I asked with a furrowed brow.
“Well, the plans for the house, first of all. I better talk to Grady before we finalize the blueprint.”
“Is that all?” I asked in amusement.
“No, that’s not all.”
He moved one of his hands up from my belly to slide into the top of my dress and cupped a breast. His thumb grazed my nipple and it pebbled instantly.
“It’s going to be a full-time job,” he whispered huskily. “Keeping you satisfied. I heard pregnant women are insatiable.”
I wiggled back against him. “Are you up to the challenge?”
He hiked up my dress with his other hand and I immediately let my legs fall apart.
“I ride bulls for a living. I can handle you.”
I let out a throaty chuckle. “I’m more unpredictable than a bull.”
He slipped his fingers into my panties, and then slid two of them inside me. “I know how to keep you in line, you brat.”
His thumb grazed my clit.
“My new job description: full time brat tamer.”
“It’ll be the hardest job you’ve ever done.” I gasped when he bit my ear lobe.
“Hmm. I like a challenge. You still owe me, you know.”
“Owe you what?” I asked.
It was hard to focus on the conversation because Cas’s hands were magic.
“A night of doing anything I want to you.”
His fingers thrust harder inside me as his other hand teased my nipple.
“Just remember, turnabout is fair play,” I hissed. “You might wake up one morning, handcuffed to the headboard.”
He paused his ministrations and I whined in despair.
Cas removed his fingers from my body and stopped playing with my nipple.
“You fucking bastard,” I seethed. “I was close.”
He didn’t say anything, he just urged me to sit up.
“What are you doing?” I demanded as he grabbed the oar.
“Getting back to dry land.” His eyes met mine. “You think we can find a pair of handcuffs at this hour?”
I let out a laugh. “You are crazy.”
“Crazy for you.” He leaned over and kissed my lips. “Now grab the other paddle and help me, will ya? I’ve got to see a man about a pair of handcuffs.”