Baby Girl’s warm, wet nose settled on my shoulder, then his cheek, and Steve pulled back with an exclamation.I raised my fingers to my tingling lips and giggled.Like a damn schoolgirl.
By golly, it felt good.No.I felt giddy, bubbles of happiness bursting me from belly to my lips.
I secured the latch and gave Baby Girl a good scratch between her ears.Turning back to Steve, I slammed into his solid chest and squeezed him tightly.“I love you.So much.”Tears bloomed and spilled.“I’m thrilled to marry you.”
“Me, too, Jasmine.”He cleared his throat before offering me a sheepish smile.He looked young and uncertain, and my love for him unfurled into a deeper richness in my chest.
“I was nervous,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because it’s soon.And I didn’t want you to think I was pushing you.”
I shook my head even as I chuckled.“You might coax me to try certain things—like avocado oil and pecan crumbs for my fried chicken—but there is no way I’d let you steamroll me into marriage.I grasped the bottom of his T-shirt and rose on tiptoes so that our lips aligned.
“I want you forever, you rascal.”
His hands settled low on my spine, his fingers rubbing sweetly against my behind.“You got me, Jasmine.I’m yours.”
I smiled as I kissed him.Then, because I could—because he was mine—I kissed him again.
Eventually, we pulled apart, flushed and with heaving chests.
He pulled a ring from his pocket—not the box, just the ring.My fingertips flew to my lips and my eyes filled with tears.“That ring…” I whispered.
Four traditional prongs held an oval diamond in place in rose gold, but then the designer had added another row of diamond baguettes around it, creating a Victorian-esque filigree.The sides of the ring, also in rose gold, held slightly larger diamond chips.
The ring was ultra-feminine and exactly something I’d oohed and sighed over when Jenna, Kate, and Regan all asked me for help with their weddings.He slipped the ring onto my finger, where it nestled.
I gasped and met his gaze with wide eyes.
“Kate helped me.”Steve shot me an abashed smile.“I asked the boys for your hand, but I thought Kate needed to be involved, too.”
This man.He melted me with his thoughtfulness.Including my kids in his proposal showed how much he wanted our family to work.And just like that, I loved Steve even more.
That shouldn’t have been possible, but I did.And I had a feeling he’d keep doing things to make me fall more in love with him.It was his way—putting my desires above his.But I wasn’t having that.We were a partnership, and I was going to make sure Steve knew he was my top priority.
“But I want to see Gamma!”Cash’s strident voice rose from the barn doors.
“No, Daddy.I want Gamma!”
Steve grinned.“I told the kids I planned to ask you today.”
“So there all out there, waiting to congratulate us?”
“Yeah.”
I raised my eyebrows.“That was bold.”
“I’m a man who goes after what heneeds.”
“Gamma!Pi—eeeee!!!I want Gamma and I want pie!”
Jenna’s soothing voice filtered through the door, along with Cam’s deeper one.
Then, I heard Ike pipe up.“Ooh, look, Cash, there’s Sergeant Pepper!Do you think she’s laid any eggs?”
“I want to see!”Cash cried.The faint pitter of feet drifted away.
