Chapter 35 Zane
Zane
I’m undone. I’m overcome. I thought I would tiptoe us back into a physical connection, and once again, Hope blew me away.
“I love you,” I whisper between unsteady breaths as we both shake through the aftershocks of our orgasms.
“I love you,” I whisper again when she repeats it back, when she kisses me sweetly and slides off me.
This time, the mess is entirely inside her.
I roll with her, shouldering my way between her thighs to kiss her quivering cunt once more.
“Zane, I can’t…”
“Are you sure?” I lick at her entrance, tasting both of us.
Fuck.
Her fingers sink into my hair and she arches her back.
That’s what I thought.
There are no words for how right this feels.
But there are licks, and there are gasps, and there are moans. There is the tight grip she has on my head, a profound confirmation in its own way.
And there is the sweet earthiness of her next orgasm, a lusty pulse of arousal just for me. Only ever mine.
After, when she’s plastered to my side, I finally let myself look at a fear I’ve been ignoring for a week.
Because claiming her under the stars, away from the house I so desperately wanted to be a safe refuge for her—and then it wasn’t—is bittersweet.
Deep down, part of me worried that I lost her that day. That I saved her life but broke us in an irreparable way.
And I’m so fucking glad that this was just as right tonight as it was a week ago when she climbed on top of me, when she thought the ranch was safe.
“Can I tell you something?” I murmur as she sprawls against me, her sundress barely covering her, our bodies the only warmth in the cool night air.
“Anything,” she whispers. “Always.”
“It’s not the best pillow talk, I’ll warn you.”
“I don’t care.” She kisses my shoulder, then props her hands on my chest and her chin on her hands. “We’ve been through it, Cowboy. And we still managed to do that very well.”
“We sure did.” I tangle my fingers in her hair. “I love you.”
I’ve told her that every single day.
She waits. She knows that’s not what I’m trying to get out. That’s the warm-up line, the truth that softens the pain of what I need to say next.
“If it’s too hard for you to stay here, I’ll understand. If you want to move, I’ll follow you anywhere. And if…” Fuck. “If it doesn’t sit right in your heart, being with me after seeing me kill a man, then—”
“Shut up,” she says fiercely, cutting me off.
“It’s hard. Of course it’s hard. I didn’t think that would happen, but it only happened because of him, not you.
Your strength impresses me every day. I love you, Zane Kincaid.
All of you, including the part that doesn’t hesitate to protect me.
And don’t pretend for a second that you could let me go, because I wouldn’t want you to. ”
I huff a laugh. Part relief, part confession. “Look, I try to be an enlightened human being.”
“Of course. Luna raised you right.”
“But you make me feral, you know that?” I pull her more properly on top of me, being careful of my far side, with the stitches that are starting to dissolve. “Is this okay for the baby?”
“Mmm.” She nods. “Did you notice that I’m starting to show?”
“What? No?” I roll her onto her back quickly.
She laughs as I push up her skirt. “You can’t tell when I’m flat on my back.”
“Then show me.”
She nudges me onto my back again, then slowly stands up and wriggles out of her dress.
Standing naked in the moonlight, she turns to the left and the right, tracing an almost imperceptible new curve low on her belly.
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. I tell her that.
“I love being pregnant,” she murmurs, lowering herself to straddle my thighs. She takes my hand and presses it where she was caressing her belly.
And holy shit, I can feel it. There’s a small firmness inside her that’s pressing up, demanding space.
I can see how it will grow, day by day, week by week. And in a few months, she’ll be swollen and lush, visibly pregnant for all to see.
There are good reasons not to rush her to any kind of a commitment. We don’t need that, because we’re bound by something deeper than words.
But there are other reasons to put a ring on her finger.
And they’re important, too.