“Then how do you know I still have a job?”
“Because I’m not talking about the bar.”
“Oh.Then what?”
“Being my wife, songbird.”
She gapes at me, her mouth open in an adorable little O.
“If you’re moving in, you’re marrying me,” I say, laying her out on the couch beneath me and crawling over her.“Don’t care if it’s tomorrow or next year, but you’re going to be my wife.”
“Do I get a say?”she asks.
“Depends on if you’re saying yes.”
She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me down to her.“Yes,” she whispers in my ear.“Yes, Rhys.”
“Fuck,” I breathe, every muscle in my body relaxing at once.I tilt my head to the side, sealing her vow the only way I know how.With my lips on hers and my hands on her body.By the time I let her up for air, we’re both naked and she’s writhing beneath me.
“Rhys,” she whispers, staring up at me with that look I’ve missed so much.The one that says she’s mine in every way.“I love you.”
“Songbird,” I groan, sheathing myself inside her.“Sing us to heaven.”
She does.As sweetly as ever.
Epilogue
RAVEN
Five Years Later
“Mama, a cow!”Brant says, pointing at one of the hundred cows in the field.“A cow!”
“Moo,” our youngest, Gretchen, shouts.
I shake my head and laugh quietly.Our babies always love when we come to visit Cassia and Cord on the ranch.They run around like tiny crazy people, driving the ranch hands nuts.Luckily, the ranch hands are used to it.Cassia and Cord’s brood are just as wild as mine.
“Mama.”Willow, our oldest, tugs on the hem of my shirt.
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I think that cow is running away,” she whispers, pointing across the field.
I turn to look and laugh again.“That cow is definitely running away,” I say, watching as Patty slips through the fence and makes a beeline for the woods on the far side.She and one of the bulls here, Hamburger, are escape artists.They keep Cassia and Cord on their toes.
“Your cow is escaping again,” I tell my sister-in-law.
She looks up from her burger and groans.“Darn it.Cord!”she shouts.“Your cow is on the lam again.”
Cord whips around, spatula in hand, automatically homing in on Patty.“That one isn’t mine, pretty baby.She’s your hellion.”
Cassia makes a face at him.“Nope.When I have food, she’s yours.”
He chuckles and shakes his dark head, his eyes alight with humor.Cord is crazy about my sister-in-law.He’d chase the cow all over this mountain if it made her happy.I’m pretty sure he’s actually chased the cow all over this mountain for her more than once.
“Man the grill,” he says, handing the spatula to Rhys.“I gotta go find someone to catch the damn cow again.”
“You need to buy them some fucking cones like the vet uses,” Rhys mutters.“They couldn’t slip through the fence then.”
