“I’m selfish because I’ve only just found you. I want to keep you for myself for a little longer. I want to share a world with you. I want to marry you. I want to give you everything you’ve ever wanted, and only then, once I’ve had you all to myself, will I be ready to share.”
Her shoulders slouched as love glowed on her face. Love I still couldn’t get used to. Love I would do anything to deserve. “Ren, we could have a hundred children and not one of them would steal me from you. I know women aren’t meant to admit this, but you would always come first for me. I wouldn’t be able to help it.”
I chuckled against her lips as I kissed her again. “You’ve just proven you’re not ready, either. You’re the one being selfish, Little Ribbon. When the day comes that you love me so much that your heart has expanded for more, that’s the day we’ll start a family. But not before.”
Standing, I held out my hand to pull her to her feet. “Because one thing is for sure. Our child will steal our hearts entirely, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would want you to love our daughter more than you love me. I’ll happily come second.”
She weaved her fingers with mine until there was no space between us. “You have my word, Ren Wild, that I will forever love you. But if and when we have a family of our own, I promise they will be loved just as much as I love you.” Walking into my embrace, she hugged me hard. “But I don’t want a daughter. I want a son. I want a son exactly like you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
REN
2018
“DO YOU KNOW this is probably only the third or fourth time we’ve been shopping together?” Della grabbed a can of nectarines from the supermarket shelf and placed it into the basket I carried.
“Supermarkets aren’t exactly a rare occurrence.” I smirked. “I happen to be well-versed in how to get into most of them undetected.”
“Yes, and you didn’t let me go on those adventures, did you?” She smiled, her blue jacket, jeans, and boots faded from forest-living, and her hair with its requisite leaf hidden amongst the gold.
“I didn’t want you to be in danger,” I said.
“No, you didn’t want me cramping your thieving skills.”
“That too.” I reached for a packet of pasta, placing it on top of the canned nectarines. “Then again, when we lived in the city and we had cash to pay for things, you did most of the shopping.”
“Only ‘cause you worked such stupid hours. I mean, really? Who gets up before dawn?”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you forgetting I’m a farm boy? At Cherry River, I was up with the cockerels, and at Mclary’s—well, it was be up before him or your ass would be beat and you’d have to spend the day in agony as well as exhaustion.”
Her face fell a little, her gaze trailing to my missing finger. “You know, I don’t think I ever apologised for what my father did to you.”
I froze to the spot. “Why would you? You weren’t responsible.”
“I know, but now that I’m not so self-obsessed, I can see how hard it would’ve been for you to love me. Not only love me but keep me when you were running for your life.”
I went to her as she turned to stare blankly at brightly boxed taco shells. Wrapping my arm around her, I kissed her temple. “What’s really going on, Della? Why are we talking about the past when we’re both so incredibly happy in our present?”
Wedging herself into my chest, she breathed me in, shaking a little. “I don’t know. Being back in a town? Having other people watch us? Wondering if they know? Afraid that we’ll be caught and the past few wonderful weeks will be over?”
Putting the basket down with our carefully chosen supplies, I hugged her close, breathing into her ear. “No one sees us. We’re invisible.”
Other shoppers strolled past, some looking at us and others not caring at all. I wouldn’t deny I’d felt the same fear Della did as we left the forest, backpacks, and tent and followed the animal tracks out from the trees toward the country doorstop where the only things on Main Street were a bar, pharmacy, doctors, pet store, diner, and supermarket. Oh, and a knickknack store that claimed to have more junk than K-Mart at half the price.
However, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Della’s insistence. We didn’t need food, but fresh fruit and baked goods would be nice. And we didn’t need medicine, but we had come to see a doctor.
The prickle of being around people again was worse after being on our own for so long, but Della had insisted, and I couldn’t refuse.
Besides, I wasn’t against getting some more painkillers for the ache that hadn’t left my chest. It’d been months since I’d had the flu yet an occasional cough still lingered, annoyingly persistent.
“Della, look at me.” I pulled back a little, waiting until her chin popped up, and her eyes met mine. “No one knows who we are. We’re just two strangers to them. Two strangers kissing in a supermarket.”
Her lips parted in a gasp as I bent my head and captured her mouth with mine. Her back rippled with tension under my palms, her eyes wide and worried. But then I deepened the kiss and her tension melted away, trusting me to keep her safe, slipping into the lust we always suffered.
Her eyes closed, and my body hardened, and this was a bad, bad idea because I couldn’t just keep the kiss at publicly acceptable; I had to lick her, taste her, clutch her as close as I could so she felt what she did to me.
Only when her breath caught and someone cleared their throat in disapproval did I let her go. The kiss upset my balance. I expected trees around us not shelves with overly sugary cereals. I was all the more aware we were in a place I hated. But at least I’d helped Della with her anxiety, and she gave me the biggest smile with pink-pleased cheeks.
“Kiss me like that again, and we’ll be arrested for indecent exposure.” She looked me up and down as if she’d rather eat me than the food on display.
“Look at me that way for much longer, and this town expedition will end as quickly as it began.”
She laughed softly. “Thank you. I needed that.”
“I know you did.” I wiped my bottom lip where her taste still lingered. Honey and chocolate from the Toblerone bar she’d opened and snuck a piece before we’d paid.
“Okay, so we’re done here, right?” I coughed once and picked up the basket from the floor. Another tube of toothpaste, sunblock, painkillers, and a range of perishable and non-perishable foods. We used a basket to select what to buy so we didn’t fill up a cart and forget we had to carry it for miles.
“Oh, almost forgot!” She dashed back to the toiletry aisle while I made my way to the checkouts. At least today I wouldn’t be stealing. The cash I’d saved before leaving and the deposit on the apartment we’d had refunded were more than enough to keep us going for a couple of years before the dreaded concept of employment knocked on our strange holiday-honeymoon.
As I placed the basket on the conveyor belt behind an elderly woman counting out coupons, Della tossed three boxes of condoms on top of our innocent fruit and veggies.
“Three?” I raised my eyebrow, flicking a quick glance at anyone who might’ve seen. I didn’t care that we were buying condoms. I cared that they’d figure out Della was the one person I should never be sleeping with.
“Tina told me a couple of years ago that the pill takes up to a week to become effective, and if I have a tummy upset, secondary precautions are needed, too.” She gave me another coy I-want-you-right-now kind of look. “I won’t last a week, Ren. And don’t pretend you will, either.”
I gritted my teeth as the checkout girl stole our basket and started scanning things before tossing them into plastic bags. “You’re forgetting I exercised self-restraint for years. I can manage a week.”
She pinched my ass as I pulled out a bundle of cash from my back pocket. “That was before.”
Before.
Such a simple word, but it held so much history.
“You’re right.” I smiled, loving the way she stood close, her eyes twinkling with joy—joy for just sharing something as mundane as shopping with me.