Babymoon or Bust: A Novel

He makes a move toward her, but she backs away, and the pit in his stomach grows.

“Today. . .” She bites her lip and tucks a long lock of hair behind her ear, her attention flitting around the room. “I felt out of place. I felt sad that you and Serena never had a chance. That she died. It doesn’t feel fair.” She sighs. “It doesn’t feel like I belong here.”

“You do.”

“No. I don’t.”

“What are you saying, Tess?”

Her eyes glitter with tears, but she’s finally looking at him again. “I got a job offer. In LA.”

He freezes, his heart flatlining in his chest.

Fuck. He can’t be too late. Not again.

He sucks in a breath through his nose. “What did you say?” he manages, his voice a ragged husk.

She tosses her hair, staring him down. “I don’t know. What should I say?”

Don’t let her go, Sol. Don’t let her leave.

Taking his silence for hesitation, Tessie laughs dryly. Temper flares in her eyes. “What am I doing here, Solomon? I like plans and order, and you’re this maniac mountain man who freeballs life into the wind. You have a bar, and I have a baby, and we’re opposites in every way. We’re worlds away.”

“We’re not. This world”—he approaches her and presses a large palm to her stomach—“is ours. You understand?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She lifts her arms, lets them drop. Steps back again. Farther this time. “Why? Why am I here, Solomon? Why?”

Deep in the dark brown depths of her teary eyes, her worries shine loud and clear. That he’ll leave them. That he doesn’t want her.

Goddamn, he can’t go another minute letting her believe that either is true.

Floorboards thundering beneath his feet, Solomon storms the room. He gathers Tess in his arms. “You’re here because I love you,” he says. “Do you hear me? I love you, Tessie. I loved you the night we met, and I love you now.”

Tessie blinks up at him, looking shell-shocked, swaying in his arms. Her expression grows soft. And right as he thinks her stunned silence will break him, she opens her mouth, palms his chest, pushes up on tiptoes. Then she smiles the brightest smile he’s ever seen, and says, “I love you too, Solomon.”

Time stops.

It’s been seven years. He never thought he’d be ready to hear those words from another woman. He thought he’d follow Serena to the fucking grave. But here he is. In love with a woman who loves him back. Like it’s that easy. Like she’s the best thing to ever happen to him.

“Tell me again,” he commands. His voice shakes. His heart feels like it’s a shooting star in his chest guiding him home.

Eyes watery, she blinks back tears. “I love you.”

With a roar, he hauls her to his chest, cradling her close, crushing her mouth in a kiss, tasting her tears. Tessie whimpers, looping her slender arms around his neck.

“I love you, Tessie,” he says against her mouth, trying to bring his breathing back to normal. He says it again. He has to. She has to know. “I love all of you.” He holds her tightly. His hand goes to her belly. “And I love that baby.”

Their lips meet as they crash into each other once again.

“What does this mean?” She laughs between breathless kisses. Tears spill down her cheeks.

“It means I want us all together,” he says hoarsely. “Under one roof. I’ll go to LA if you need me to. I’ll be yours wherever we are, Tessie, because you’re there.”

He’s ready. Ready to give his all to this woman. She’s been so selfless; now it’s his turn. If it means leaving the bar, his family, so be it. Because she is so much more than a second chance.

She is his eternity.

“No, Solomon. I don’t want you in LA.”

At her words, his heart hitches.

She bites her lip, her dark lashes lowering in that shy way he loves. “What if I want to stay here?” she whispers.

He gathers himself and cups her face in his hands. “Do you?”

Say yes. Christ. Put me out of my goddamn misery.

“I do.”

“Thank fuck,” he rasps, relief weaving its way through his heart. He pulls her in closer, like his last gasp of air. Tessie molds her sweet lips to his, a soft, savage heat building between them.

He loves every fucking part of this woman. Stubborn, sassy, sexy, vulnerable. He wants it all. Her in his bed, his heart between her teeth. He can’t live without her. She is his soul. His star in the sky. North, south, east, west, down to hell and back. Any direction, he’ll follow her light.

When they pull back, she sobs out a laugh. “I only have one deal breaker if I stay.”

“Name it.”

“I need my records.”

“I’ll buy you records, Tess. Stacks so high you’ll never leave.”

“Mmm, you will?”

“I will. Now here’s my deal breaker,” he murmurs against her lips.

“And what’s that?”

“I’m going to marry you.”

Her eyes pop open. Light leaps into her face, and she loops her arms around his neck. “I think I’ll let you.” A little laugh bubbles out of her. Joyous. Amazed.

What he’d give to keep that look on her face always. He wants to be responsible for her and his son, take care of them and keep them safe for the rest of their lives.

“I love you,” Tessie says, running her small palms down his beard, over his face, his lips, like she doesn’t believe he’s hers. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“On repeat,” he says with a grin.

“I’ve never said it.” She smiles, her eyes misty. “You get it turntable style.”

“There’s no doubt when it comes to you,” Solomon breathes into her hair. His heart pumps double-time in his chest. “Being without you, without our son, I can’t fucking handle that. Not for one damn second. We click. You’re mine. That’s all there is to it.”

She sighs happily. “We click.”

“We do.” He slips his hand up the hem of her dress. Her full pink lips part for him as he sweeps his mouth over the cool shell of her ear. “Remember Tennessee?”

She flushes. “I remember stars.”

“Remember Mexico?” He drops his hand, catching the sleeve of her dress and slowly tugging it down her shoulder to bare her breasts. Her body is lush, all curves and bronze skin, still holding on to the last bit of tan from the beach, and his cock swells at the sight of her. Holding her firmly by the waist, he dips down, sucking the heavy swell of her breast into his mouth.

Tessie whimpers, stirring restlessly against him. “Oh. Oh.”

He spreads her legs, sliding a finger along the edge of her lacey underwear to dip slowly inside her. “And this. Remember this?”

“Well.” She sniffs primly, moans. “Solomon.”

He grips her supple ass, running a rough palm over the smooth flesh, and pulls her into him. She gives a shocked squeal and rubs her sweet pussy against his thigh. The bulge in his pants is painful now, but Solomon persists.

Here and now, he ends all her doubt.

“Yours.” A soft whisper from her pink mouth. “I’m yours.”

“You are.” Solomon lets out a growl both primal and primitive. “And if I have to fuck some goddamn sense into you, I’ll do it.”

Drawing back, she gasps. “I’m pregnant.” But her lips curve, feline and pleased. She throbs down below. Her soft pulse beating against his fingertips.

“And you’re gonna stay that way for the next twenty years if I have anything to do with it.”

Tears shimmer along her lower lids. “Show me.” Her voice is steady, eager as her palms ride up his chest. Her hungry eyes glitter. “Show me, Solomon.”

“Goddamn right I will, baby,” he grits out. This woman is slow torture. Fierce and delicate all at once. Fire and ice. “I’m gonna make you wet, and I’m gonna make you scream,” he growls, trapped by her spell. “Then I’m gonna let you cool off and do it all again. Until you believe me.”

Tess pants faster.

He leans down to kiss her lush mouth, easing her small frame up his body. With a whimper, Tessie twines her arms around his neck, loops her legs around his hips. With her cradled carefully in his arms, he backs her up against the wall. Angling forward, careful of her belly, he yanks her panties sideways, causing her to let out a gasp-like moan.

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