I fantasize about flinging a massive handful in the asshole’s face. Grabbing him around the throat and bringing him down to the level he’s reduced me to. But that would make Summer unhappy.
Henry laughs. “He looks like he’s made of mud.”
I spit gritty, black water from my mouth. “You mistake me for someone who will run if you push me hard enough. But I’m not going anywhere. I love your sister.”
Owen leans over me. “You don’t understand. The moment Summer comes running home with your little one on her hip, crying about how you aren’t the man she believed you were, I’m going to load my shotgun and come after you.”
It’s the ultimate if you hurt my sister threat. And it’s pretty damn nerve wracking. Or it would be if I wasn’t planning on spending the rest of my life with her. I get to my feet, straightening to my full muddied height. “I’ll say it again. That’s not going to happen because I am not going anywhere.”
“Yeah.” His gaze, as dark and green as the trees around us, assesses me. “Let’s hope you find a way to make her happy then.”
“You have my word.”
“Then we shouldn’t have to come back here and bury you.” He shoves me back into the mud before striding to his four-wheeler. Climbing on, he revs the engine and says to the other four, “Let’s go.”
They clear out one after the other, tires spitting mud at me as they follow Owen.
By the time I get to my quad bike their motors are a rumble in the distance. I sit on the bike until the shake in my hands eases and my jaw unclenches. Until my vision eases from a haze of red to browns and greens.
Until it sinks in that Owen believes Summer is unhappy with me. What if he’s right? What if the awkwardness between us the last couple months hasn’t been all morning sickness and exhaustion? What if it’s something else and I somehow missed it?
I need to get back to the house and fix whatever has my girl unhappy. Starting the quad bike, I wait for it to lurch forward.Instead, the wheels spin and spin, churning deep into the mud. And then it sinks until the mud is up around my knees.
The more I try to get unstuck the worse it gets.
Great. Fucking great.
I’m going to have to call for help. Mud smears across my phone’s screen as I light it up. There’s not a single bar in this black hole.
The quad bike moves under me as it sinks another inch. How the hell do I get myself out of this?
19
Rogue
Ivy Love, about to be Love-Maddox, you are the woman I imagine spending the rest of my life with. You are my...
The first time I saw you in your princess costume I knew you were going to be...
Baby, from the moment you came into my life...
Fuck me, for as good as I am at being charming and witty, I suck at this. Being out here in nature, on the back of a horse, should make it easy to work out my vows for the ceremony. I know exactly how I feel about the woman riding the big white horse in front of me, her dark hair swaying down her back. The caramel highlights in it glisten in the sun, the tips brushing against the bare skin above the waist of her jeans where I like to rest my fingers.
Remind me why we each needed to take a horse for this joy ride across Heart land, because I would be much happiersitting behind my bride, my arms wrapped around her waist, the motion of the saddle rocking beneath us.
Except that I have less than three days to write my promise to her. Vows that need to be perfect and encompass everything Ivy means to me. Vows that aren’t too private to share with our families and friends.
Vows that aren’t tainted by what happened the last time we stood in front of our friends and family and tried to say I do.
I know how I feel about her. I love her with all my heart. Every breath in my lungs. Every cell in my body. There isn’t a piece of me she hasn’t touched in some way, changed to make me a better man. A man who will never be able to go back to who he was before her. One who would never want to.
At some point, living without her became impossible. From the moment I started to fall, she owned me, possessed me, and brought me to my knees.
We’re a damn Hallmark card, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Love like ours is undeniable. Immutable. Permanent.
In this life and in whatever comes after this, there will only ever be us.
The painted horse sways underneath me as we stroll along the path through the tall grass and wildflowers. The sound of four-wheelers in the distance makes his ears—one white, one brown—twitch.
