Chapter 1
BUCK
“I can’t believe Molly is having her baby before me,” Ellie muttered, pouring one of those little cups of creamer into her coffee.
The plan we’d made for this morning was to meet her and Trig at the Sip N’ Serv for breakfast…
if she didn’t go into labor. I walked in and easily found them.
Ellie’s belly was so big these days she couldn’t fit in a booth, so a chair was pulled up and she sat at the end.
Trig was on one side, I settled in across from him.
Trig reached out and stroked his wife’s hair. She was in one of his flannels, which worked perfectly as a maternity top, black leggings, and boots.
They’d gotten here ahead of me, so they’d already been served coffee and placed their orders.
I’d been up since five, already finished up my morning chores, mucking stalls, refilling hay nets and offering fresh water alongside the ranch’s three employees.
With over three thousand acres, there was always something to do.
On the way into town, I’d planned to drop off the snowblower we kept in the stable at Shep’s shop to get serviced, but that would’ve made me even further behind, especially since I got stuck behind a snow plow on the county road.
It didn’t matter anyway; Shep was waiting at the hospital with Ma and Pops.
Last night, Colt had sent a group text to everyone that Molly had gone into labor, but since it was their first child and it had been ten-thirty, we should skip waiting at the hospital until morning.
I was sure Ma and Pops didn’t sleep a wink and were probably wearing a path in the carpet in the waiting room waiting for their first grandchild to arrive.
Like Ellie had said, everyone expected it to be her who popped first because she was due a month ahead of Molly.
We’d gotten two updates from Colt since. Five centimeters dilated. Then eight centimeters dilated and the baby’d probably come in a few hours. The three of us were killing time eating before we went to the hospital to join everyone.
I set my hat in the booth beside me and shucked off my leather gloves. January was fucking freezing and official winter had just started. There was so much snow, I doubted it’d all melt before May.
The diner was warm, the windows that faced the parking lot had condensation on the inside from the humidity. The scent of grilled onions, bacon, and coffee filled the air.
“It’s gonna happen, sugar,” Trig said, then grinned. “My boy’s just happy where he is. You know how much I like being inside you.”
Ellie’s eyes widened and she blushed like crazy. Reaching out, she slapped her husband on the arm. “I can’t believe you said that!”
He shrugged. “What? It’s not like anyone can miss the fact that we have sex.”
When all of us Wilder boys had been single, we’d shared details about our conquests. Trig had been a rodeo star and he’d talked about the buckle bunnies he’d had fun with back in the day. But I didn’t want to hear about him having sex with his wife, even if he was right.
The main reason? I wasn’t getting any and I was fucking jealous.
The second reason? He’d done the one thing I wanted to do and had yet to accomplish. Fuck a woman bare, fuck her nice and deep and get my seed in her and breed her. Make a slew of babies.
The idea of seeing my woman swollen with my child made me shift in my seat.
Fuck, I wanted that.
“She’s not due for another three weeks and I’m a week late!” Ellie moaned. “I need this baby out of me, now.”
It was possible her head was going to spin off her shoulders like she was possessed.
I felt for her. I did. Obviously, I had no idea what it was like to make a human and carry it around inside you like a fucking bowling ball, but I could only imagine how frustrating it was when all she and Trig wanted to do was meet their baby.
“I hear spicy food helps,” I offered, knowing that wasn’t really all that helpful.
Ellie looked at me and at first I worried she might rip my head off for sticking my opinion in where it wasn’t wanted. But she looked down at the menu and said in her usual calm, sweet voice once again, “Maybe I can get a side of jalapeno slices for my omelet. That actually sounds really good.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see if I could find Mabel, the woman who owned, ran, and waitressed the diner. If Ellie wanted jalapeno slices, this I could make happen.
Instead of Mabel, the sixty-something woman working her way down the line of booths with a coffee pot in hand as I expected, it was someone else.
A woman. Younger. A lot younger. And fucking gorgeous.
Mid-to-late twenties with auburn hair was in a long braid down her back, but it was thick and curls had come loose to frame her heart shaped face.
She wasn’t looking this way, but smiling at someone a few booths down.
Her lips were full and wide. So were her hips and those tits…
fuck, I wanted to be smothered to death in those plump pillows.
Her simple outfit of jeans and a black diner t-shirt couldn’t diminish just how perfect she was.
And she was coming closer, although she looked rushed. Stop, pour coffee, smile, move on. Stop, pour coffee, smile, move on. The closer she got, the more I saw what I liked.
It took maybe thirty seconds for her to get to our table and I stared the whole way.
“Your meals should be ready real soon,” she said to Ellie and Trig.
Then, FINALLY, then, she looked at me.
It was as if a bubble dropped over the two of us. The sounds of the diner disappeared. A cranky pregnant woman, gone. The bell from the kitchen, silenced.
All I saw, heard and breathed was this woman. Her eyes widened and she licked her lips, as if she could taste what our first kiss would be like.
“–if not I’ll give you another minute,” she said and I realized I’d been staring and not paying attention to the fact that she’d been talking. To me. She held the order pad and pencil, ready to go.
Shit. I cleared my throat. “Breakfast plate number two.”
I’d eaten here for as long as I could remember and knew what I liked. The menu didn’t change all that much, summer or winter and I was thankful of it so I didn’t embarrass myself further.
She frowned, wrote that down. “Um, okay, eggs.”
“Over easy,” I added.
She scribbled. A random curl stuck to her temple and even though she was writing on an order pad, she had another pencil stuck behind her ear. So fucking cute. “Got it.” She started to turn away, but popped back around. “Oh, wait. Bacon or sausage?”
“Bacon.”
“Toast?” she asked, in a soft voice, finally remembering all the parts to the breakfast special.
“Wheat, please. Can we also get a plate of jalapeno slices for her omelette?”
She looked to Ellie, who was practically salivating at the addition.
“No problem,” she said, offering me a smile, the perfect smile. She’d given it to everyone else in the diner which made me want to poke every one of their eyes out with my fork so it was all for me.
I winked, hoping that one quick gesture conveyed Hi, my name is Buck and I’m your future husband and When your shift’s over, can I bend you over one of these tables? and I’m gonna fuck you so many times you’ll have cum seeping out for days.
Irrational? Hell, yeah. But it was gonna happen. I was never this ravenous about a woman. I’d dated. Had some one night stands to take the edge off, but that had been it. Quickies that meant nothing.
What I saw in her was permanent. Forever.
Hell, my fucking future.
I watched her walk away, grabbing a few empty plates from a neighboring table as she went, and eyed her peach of an ass beneath snug jeans.
Then continued to watch her. She didn’t appear to have the serving down, as if it was hard for her to keep up with everything.
Of course, Mabel’d been doing it forever and made it look easy.
“Yo, Buck. Earth to Buck,” Trig said, then kicked me under the table.
“What?” I snarled, having something better to look at than my older brother. I finally turned my head his way once she went into the kitchen.
He was grinning. “Got the hots for the waitress?”
The hots? Hell yeah. And then some. My dick was hard just looking at her. I was twenty-five, not fifteen. I could control my dick. Or so I thought.
“Who is she?” I asked. I wasn’t going to deny my interest. “I’ve never seen anyone besides Mabel working before.”
“That’s her niece, Sage,” he said.
Sage.
“Mabel had her hip replaced last week,” Ellie said, shifting in her seat. “She’s out for at least six weeks to recover.”
“I had no idea she had a niece.” Ma probably did because she knew everything about everyone.
“She’s from New York,” Trig said. “Covering for her so the place could stay open.”
That explained why she was trying to keep up. If she wasn’t an experienced waitress, the Sip N’ Serv solo was like trying to herd cattle without a horse.
“She’s really nice. We’ve been here twice lately because Junior here–” she rubbed her hand over her belly “– really likes the coconut cream pie, and she–”
Ellie stopped mid-sentence. Stared out the window. Trig and I looked in that direction wondering what she saw.
“Um… Trig,” she said, her voice calm, but weird. “I think… I think my water broke.”
His head whipped back around, then looked her over like maybe the baby was going to burst out of her stomach like in that alien movie. “What, how–are you sure?”
Those were all the questions I thought, too. From one second to the next, the baby was in and happy and then wanted out.
“Now?” I asked, my question right after Trig’s.
Like a switch was flipped, Trig was crazy flustered. He used to ride on the back of a fucking bull, but this? He looked panicked.
“Unless I peed my pants,” Ellie said, squirming in her chair.
“Are you sure it’s not those fake contractions, whatever they’re called?” I asked. Seriously? I just met my woman. Ellie’d had nine months, plus an extra week and now we needed to leave?
It seemed my question wasn’t worth answering because she pushed back and stood, using the table to leverage herself up.
Trig popped to his feet and put his hand on her elbow to help. He’d gone as white as the snow outside and he wiped his brow, as if sweating at the same time.
I stared at the floor, thinking there was going to be a puddle beneath her. I didn’t notice any kind of water or anything breaking. Maybe the movies didn’t have it right when they showed this huge gush.
“Okay, sugar, I guess you’ve got your chance for beating Molly after all,” Trig told her with a smile of someone who was equally excited and scared shitless.
Ellie stroked over her belly, then curled over. “Holy fuck. Okay, that hurt.”
Trig’s eyes widened and froze in place because Ellie never cursed.
I froze, too. Was she going to pop out the kid here in the diner? I ran a hand down my face, then realized I wasn’t the one having a baby. I was sane. Logical. I ran a huge fucking ranch and saw hundreds of animals being born every year.
I could handle a human.
“Okay,” I said, setting my Stetson on my head, then clapping my hands together. “Trig, take Ellie to the hospital.”
“No way is he driving!” Ellie said, with more force than I’d ever heard from her. Sweat dotted her brow. Her hand moved to the underside of her huge belly as if she were trying to keep the baby in.
“I can drive, sugar,” Trig countered.
“You’re putting on my coat,” she countered. Out of the two of them, she was the calm one.
Trig froze, looked down and saw what he was doing. Which was putting on his wife’s jacket.
“Shit.” He hastily wrapped it around Ellie’s shoulders.
“I’ll drive,” I volunteered, realizing now wasn’t the time to ask my girl to dinner. Or ask her to marry me. Or have my baby. I was being cockblocked by a baby. But if Mabel was recovering for six weeks, then I’d have my chance again.
Real soon.
I pulled out my wallet and absently threw cash on the table, following Trig and Ellie out the door into the cold.
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