Solomon lets her finish the whiskey. He lowers his voice. “Because I could think of a few ways to warm you up.” His words have her belly dipping and warming.
A mock gasp. “Solemn Man, are you trying to take advantage of me?”
The faintest of smiles tugs at his bearded lips. “What if I am?”
She presses up on tiptoes and whispers against his mouth, “Hmm. I think I’ll let you.”
He pulls her tight into his arms, dark blue eyes fixed on her, nothing but devotion in them. And love overflows inside her like a flood. Before Solomon, this would have felt too big for her. She would have pushed it away, run, but not anymore. She never imagined her life would take this turn. Taking risks. Learning to love. Making a family out of the strangest of circumstances.
Solomon sweeps a kiss against her lips, warm, searching, and it’s like she’s back in that Tennessee bar, only one year ago, meeting Solomon for the very first time. Then, with a quick growl and an even quicker hand, Solomon sweeps her into his arms. She rests her head against his chest, smells the forest on his skin, sees the undimming love in his eyes.
Her husband.
Her son.
Her life.
Stretched out in front of her forever, like the wild Alaskan starlit sky.
Two Years Later
Wilder grips his hand and tugs. “Here, Daddy?”
“Okay, little man.”
Solomon settles on the sand next to his two-year-old son. Wilder’s brand-new eyes take in the beach, wide with amazement, as he scoops up sand with his plastic shovel.
Scanning the horizon, Solomon runs white sand through his fingers. The crash of waves sounds on the shore. The late afternoon sun beats down. Damn breathtaking. He never thought he’d love the beach as much as he loves the mountains, but he does. He gives thanks to the sea for everything it’s given him.
Because the beach is where his second life began.
He peers over his shoulder at the beach house, on watch for his wife.
But Wilder’s bubbly laugh steals his attention. With jet-black hair and dark brown eyes, Wilder’s the best combination of Solomon and Tessie. The child knows every lyric to every Hank Williams song, courtesy of his mother. He has Tessie’s fierce mind and her fight. He’s Solomon’s little sous chef in the kitchen and the very best explorer of Chinook and its wildlife.
“Shells, Daddy, shells. For the castle.”
“You got it.” With a grunt, Solomon shoves up and gets to work alongside his son. His big fingers collect creamy scotch bonnets, tusk shells, banded tulips. Then he and Wilder build. Soon, the sandcastle moat turns into one tower and then four.
“Can’t do it.” Wilder drops the shovel and collapses onto his bottom. The sand’s stacked too high for him to scoop. His lower lip sticks out in a well-practiced pout. No doubt learned from Tessie. His wife still has him wrapped around her little finger. “Can’t.”
“You can, little man. You’re strong,” he tells Wilder, handing him the red plastic shovel and making him try again. “Like your mama. You can do anything.”
“Mama!” Wilder squeals, tossing down the shovel to point a chubby finger over Solomon’s shoulder.
Turning, he follows Wilder’s joyous gaze.
Joy. That’s been his life for the last few years.
Tessie’s emerging from the beach house. The sight of his wife, gorgeous, glowing, tan-lined, and toned in a skimpy bikini, has him grinning. Then, his eyes move, lingering on the tiny bump on her belly.
They’ve been busy. Making more surprises. Building their family.
Between the two of them, they barely have any time—running a restaurant and a small business and chasing after a toddler—but they’re doing it. Amid all the chaos, they managed to sneak in a second babymoon and leave it all behind for a week. The renovation to Howler’s Roost was a game changer. Not only did it double income for the bar, but it got Tess a feature in Architectural Digest and Solomon a profile in Food & Wine. Tessie’s business is kicking ass. She leaves Chinook every six months to check in with her clients around the United States. Their life is what they’ve made it. Solomon could never ask for anything better.
Everything he’s ever wanted is right in front of him.
Shoving up, he meets Tess on the beach. Frames her face in his hands. “You get your nap?”
“Mm-hmm,” she hums sleepily, pressing up on tiptoes to kiss his bearded cheek. Her watchful gaze flicks to Wilder, then back to Solomon. “How goes castle making?”
“Serious business. No one’s getting through that moat.” He surveys her belly. “You feel okay?”
Chocolate-brown eyes sparkling, she nuzzles against him. “I’m fine. Just sleepy. Didn’t you know, I’m in my house cat era? Sleeping more, lounging in the sun, hissing at interruptions.”
“You sure?”
Tessie gives him a flat look. “Solomon, I will drown you in the Pacific if you keep asking me.”
He grunts. No chances. None at all with Tess. His wife’s four months pregnant, and after what happened with Wilder in the delivery room, he’s a mess. He’ll always be an overprotective mess when it comes to her. He’ll never forget how close he came to losing her.
“Had a dream about names,” Tessie says.
He splays a hand over her belly. “Did you?”
“What about Vienna?”
Solomon frowns. “Like the sausage?”
Tessie simply shakes her head and laughs. “I can’t with you.” She smiles up at him. “Checked in back home. Peggy Sue’s alive, no thanks to Howler. Ash is actually going on vacation for once in her gloomy life.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Of sorts. It’s a job, but hey, she’s off to Hawaii. She’s gonna fry.”
Solomon lifts his brows. “That’s why you wear flannel.”
“Flannel is nice, but this is better,” Tessie says, tracing her finger over his muscular chest before dropping it to caress his tan forearm and then moving on to his hard bicep. His new tattoos, three stars added onto the inky black sky of Chinook, represent his family, and soon he’ll add another. For their daughter.
He pulls her into his arms, kissing the tip of her freckled nose. “Feeling me up, Pregnant Woman?”
“It’s only fair.” Tessie laughs, the sweet melody lifting over the crash of the waves. “After all, this is all your fault.” She rubs her swollen belly. “Look what you did to me.”
“Do it again if you let me,” he growls, fiddling with the thin string of her bikini bottoms.
Tessie gasps. “Don’t you dare.”
He kisses the top of her head, keeping one eye on Wilder playing in the sand. Slowly, he and Tess turn toward the horizon. A soft oh pops out of her mouth when she sees the sunset. A kaleidoscope of pinks and oranges. And then Solomon’s hand finds hers, their fingers interlacing. As he holds his wife in his arms, his heart crashes around his chest like the highest wave. They stand in the sun, the screaming blue sky above, thinking of Mexico, almost three years ago, remembering how unsure they were of how to make their lives blend, but they did it.
He’ll never have Mexico with anyone but Tess.
Solomon drops his mouth to her ear. “I love you, baby,” he says, his voice ragged with emotion.
Tessie twists in his arms, curling into him. Her brown eyes soften. “I love you.”
Sweet, warm, is the kiss. Soft and perfect. He drinks her in like a promise, this woman who’s changed his life. Mountains or beach, good or bad, she’s got him, and he’s got her. Until the end of their days.
“Mama, up!” Tessie is launched forward by a squealing Wilder, who wraps his arms around her knees. “Up! Up! Up!”
Solomon chuckles, gently holding Tess’s elbow to keep her steady. “Whatever happened to lying low, little man?”
Laughing, Tessie sweeps Wilder up in her arms. “You build your castle, Bear?”
“Oh, yes, Mama.” Wilder holds her face between his hands. His expression serious, stern. “It will never fall down.”
“I know it won’t.” Smiling, Tessie presses a smacking kiss to his cheek. Wilder coos and burrows his head in her neck. The way her love radiates, the happiness in his son’s eyes, has Solomon’s heart cracking open.
The best mother.
So damn lucky. He and Wilder both.