I stop when my palm rests on the scar over her chest. And now, the look she gives me is soft, full of love and tenderness. I spent two weeks on the road and she’s acting like I was gone for months on end.
“I hated being away from you,” I confess, loving the way her lips tip up when I say shit like that. “But I love you. And I love watching you come on my cock. Let me watch. Let me see it. Let me hear it.”
She bites down on her puffy bottom lip, and I almost explode on the spot. When she nods, I double my efforts, thrusting up to meet her, circling more tightly on her clit. Her wet heat clenches on me.
And then she’s crying out, “Rhett!” with her head tipped back, lashes fluttering shut, looking like a goddamn angel. It’s still the best sound in the world. And I follow, hand still on her heart, shooting up into her, while she falls forward on to me murmuring, “I love you.”
“So fucking good,” I murmur back, feeling like I should pinch myself. Like I have no idea how I stumbled into having a woman like Summer choose a man like me.
But that’s just it. We’re here, choosing each other every damn day. And I want to choose her for the rest of my life.
I’d have married her that day in the stands when I retired. Right there. On the fucking spot. But I’m greedy like that, and I know she needed time to sort her life out. Hell, I needed time to sort my life out.
Her sister still won’t talk to her. And that’s a wound I so desperately wish I could fix for her. But I can’t. Not yet anyway. And her stepmom is lucky she doesn’t come around because I’d have more than a few words for someone who’s as cruel to my girl as Marina is to Summer. But she and her dad are closer than ever. And everyone in my family—hell, my entire town—loves her to pieces.
She’s become the golden girl of Chestnut Springs since buying out the local gym and transforming it into Hamilton Athletics. The place geared toward training athletes. Or torturing grown men as I like to call it.
It’s good for our small economy. And the ladies from town love it. They say they’re going for a Pilates class, but really just sit around and stare at the hockey players and bull riders who train there during their off-seasons.
Summer flops forward and kisses me, warm and damp and smelling like cherries, fingers tangling in my hair. “I said I love you.”
“I love you too, Princess. You know I do.” I feel her smile against the skin of my chest before she rolls off me with a satisfied sigh.
I press a kiss to the scar on her chest and get up to get a warm cloth.
Over the sound of the running water, I hear her voice. “How much?”
Chuckling as I walk out of the bathroom, I catch sight of her, and the air in my lungs stills. She’s heart-stopping, sprawled on our king-sized mattress. Right now, it’s just a mattress on the floor. The unfinished floor. And she’s surrounded by drywall that needs painting.
Our expansive rancher is definitely not complete yet, but we couldn’t wait to move in. I was sick of her living in the studio loft above her gym. We built on our favorite hookup spot. The spot where we’d drive “the rust bucket”—as my truck has become lovingly known—toss a blanket in the back and make love under the stars. This spot has the best view of the mountains—and that’s what Summer wanted.
And I want her with me all the time. It’s fucking consuming. But she’s my favorite human in the world. After a certain amount of time together, other people usually get on my nerves.
But not Summer. She’s my person. And I’m hers. Two halves of the same whole.
“Tell me. Tell me how much you love me.” Her lips tip up and her eyes dance.
“Woman, I’m wiping you with a hot washcloth after sex. That’s how much I love you.”
“Tell me more.”
I crouch down beside her and get to wiping, mind racing as I do, dick filling again being this close to her pussy.
I feel her eyes on me. She’s waiting for me to say more.
I slide her lacy thong back up her legs, because she looks fucking fantastic in expensive lingerie. “Turn over. I’ll show you.”
Her lips twist, questions dancing in her eyes, but she relents with a sigh, showing me her beautiful round ass.
I can’t help but pop a nice loud smack on it before walking back across the room to chuck the cloth in the hamper, pull on a pair of sweats, and reach for the bag I dropped in the bedroom before losing all my clothes with her. Swiping a pen, I walk back over to her, catching the curious glance she gives me over her shoulder.
“Okay. Pay very close attention, Princess.”
She giggles and nods her head. “Okay.”
I straddle her, and it’s a terrible idea, because all I can think about is sliding my dick between her legs. But I focus, uncapping the pen.
And then I start writing. Connecting the dots on her back the way I often do with the pad of my finger when we lay together. Her back is like the night sky, full of constellations. She and I really are binary stars, stuck in each other’s orbit, drawn together by forces we can’t see or understand—but that we can feel.
What I’m writing today is four words. And I swear I can almost hear her thinking, her body just a little bit tense, her head canted as she tries to decipher it.
“There,” I say, right as I finish.
“Rhett?” She turns to glance over her shoulder now, but her eyes are less playful this time. More watery. “Did you just write what I think you did?”
I shrug and grin at her. “Guess you’ll have to go look.”
She shoots off the bed, and I watch her take quick steps across what is basically a construction zone, toward the bathroom. The creases under her ass, the lace framing it, and the words Will you marry me? written on her back.
It’s so fucking satisfying.
I dart to my bag and grab the velvet box I hid. I go fast, not wanting to miss the expression on her face when she sees it.
My eyes trace her as she turns her back to the small temporary mirror in the ensuite bathroom. She casts a glance over her shoulder and then . . .
She smiles that little smirk that used to piss me off and now drives me wild. She doesn’t even turn my way. She just stands there, staring at her reflection, smiling.
I drop to one knee and hold up the ring in my hand—a canary solitaire with smaller diamond points to make it look like a star—and I might as well be holding up my heart.
Because this girl owns every bit of me. And she has from the first day she smirked at me.
When Summer turns back to me, her smile grows larger. She doesn’t even glance at the ring, she just stands there staring at me, her irises dancing with mine and speaking a language only the two of us know.
“Yes.” She nods, tears springing up now.
“Princess, please don’t cry.” She pads closer to me, wrapping her arms around me and pressing my head to her chest. Her heart beats are loud, strong and steady, and so fucking sure. Just like I am of this—of her.
“They’re happy tears.”
I reach up, swiping a stray tear from her cheek. “I still hate them. But I’m glad you’re happy. If these were your last moments, would you go happy?”
Taking her hand in mine, I slide the ring onto her finger, loving how perfectly it suits her.
We both spend a few seconds staring at it. Admiring it—but maybe more admiring what it means.
She grips my head, rubbing her thumbs across my beard. “Yeah, but this won’t be my last moment. I’ve got too many things I want to do with you first.”
A huge grin bursts across my face and I surge up, scooping her into my arms. I carry her back toward the mattress.
“Me too, Princess. Like take you to the main house and introduce the future Mrs. Eaton. Maybe make out with you at The Spur tonight so that everyone talks about it. But first,” I toss her down onto the bed, thriving on the watery giggle that escapes her. “First, I’m going to spend the afternoon listening to you scream my name.”
She laughs and holds her hand up to gaze at her ring. Looking so fucking happy.
And seeing her happy?
Seeing her happy is everything.
And I’m happy too, because I get to be stuck in her orbit for the rest of my life.
Want to see Cade Eaton, the grumpy single dad, meet his match? Keep reading for a sneak peek!
Pre-order Heartless here.
Have you met the Eaton brothers’ younger sister, Violet? Read all about her story in the Gold Rush Ranch series.
Start with Off to The Races.
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Heartless Sneak Peek
Cade
Lucy Reid’s eyes flutter my way. The look in them is just a little too appreciative for my taste.
“Well, I love to do arts and crafts. I do a lot of scrapbooking in my spare time. Knitting. I bet Luke would love to do some knitting. Don’t you think, Cade?”