The breeze stirs the tall grass around us. The sun hangs low over the ridge, painting every edge of him in warm gold. When he lifts his hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, my heart nearly breaks from the tenderness of it.
“You keep givin’ me reasons to fall even harder for you,” he murmurs.
My chest tightens so suddenly it almost hurts. “I haven’t done anything.”
He shakes his head. “Yeah, you have. You said yes. And you…” his gaze drops, lingering on my stomach with a softness I’ve only seen when he looks at our daughter, before meeting my eyes again “You’re carryin’ my child. That’s everything.”
A shiver runs through me—not of cold, but of being wanted so completely. This time we’re going to do it properly. It’s not going to be me against the world. When he cups my face in both hands, I melt right into him.
He kisses me slow at first, like he wants to savor every second. His lips are warm, sure, and familiar.
The blanket he laid out for us rustles behind me as he gently urges me backward. His touch isn’t hurried, it’s deliberate and confident. The way a man touches what he knows is his. The way a man touches the woman he loves and intends to keep forever.
The call of a bird brings me back to the present and I sit up. “We can’t do it here, Slate!”
He gives a dark chuckle. “Sure we can, darlin’. There ain’t no livin’ soul for miles. It’s just us and the birds.”
With that his lips meet mine and our tongues tangle. When my back meets the blanket, Slate breaks the kiss only long enough to look down at me.
“Jesus, darlin’,” he whispers, brushing his thumb over my cheek. “You, lying here in the sun like this… I might forget how to breathe.”
Heat blooms low in my belly. “Then don’t think. Just kiss me again.”
His breath catches and then he lowers himself over me, bracing his forearms on either side of my head.
“I love you,” he says quietly, the words warm and rough as gravel. “More than I ever thought I’d love anyone.”
He kisses my jaw, my throat, that sensitive spot beneath my ear that turns my bones to jelly. His lips move slowly, like he’s memorizing each inch of skin he touches.
The breeze lifts his hair as he trails soft, lingering kisses along my collarbone. He pushes up my sweater, and I feel his hands warm against my skin. I let out a moan as his fingers gently squeeze my nipples through my bra.
My fingers slide into his hair, curling gently as he continues downward, his mouth tracing a path that sends waves of heat spiraling through me. He undoes my jeans and slides the zipper down. I feel the graze of his stubble as he kisses me through the silk of my panties.
“These are comin’ off,” he says roughly as I wriggle out of my clothes.
I’m lying there bare to the elements as the warmth of the sun mixes with the warmth of his hands gliding over my sides, memorizing the curves he already knows by heart.
“Oh God,” I moan as his fingers find me and graze over my clit.
“You’re so wet, I fuckin’ love it,” he says.
I don’t know if it’s the pregnancy hormones, but I’m desperate for this man of mine. My hands go to his belt as I try and undo it. But I’m shaking so much I’m all fingers and thumbs.
“You want my cock?” he makes quick work of freeing his thick cock. He’s rock hard, his shaft swollen and the tip practically dripping with need.
“Mmmmm,” is all I can get out, but my legs part instinctively showing him exactly where I want him.
He strokes himself as he watches me. “I want to feel your pussy clamp down on my cock. You ready for me?”
I release a shaky breath. “Always. What are you waiting for, then?”
After that there’s no time for talking. Slate lowers himself again, kissing me deeper, slower, his body molding perfectly against mine. I part my legs wider as I feel him press against me.
He breaks the kiss only to murmur, “You feel so fuckin’ good,” before his lips descend again with a hunger that’s been simmering under his calm exterior since the moment we rode into this clearing.
The world around us disappears—the trees, the ridge, the sky—until it’s just him, the weight and heat of his body, and the way every stroke, every kiss reminds me that this man loves me fiercely, wholly, and without hesitation. Feeling him thrust inside me is everything, and I lose myself in the moment.
Arching into him, my hands roam the strong lines of his back, feeling the flex of muscle beneath his t-shirt. He responds instantly, shifting his body to fit mine even closer.
