That same punch of love he hoped he’d never get used to hit him as he watched her and, helpless to resist, he went to her, wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck. ‘You’re so beautiful, Sierra,’ he whispered as he inhaled her perfume.
‘I’m lumpy,’ she argued immediately, but one of her hands came back to his neck, keeping him close.
‘You’re pregnant,’ he corrected. His hands moved over her stomach, soothing, before he shifted, stroking them down to her full hips. He gripped her there, pulled her back into him so that she could feel how hard he was for her. ‘And so goddamn sexy.’
She pressed against him, welcoming him as she hummed with pleasure. Her fingers at his nape sifted through the hair there. ‘You make me feel so loved, Benji.’ Taking one of his hands off her hips, she guided it to her sensitive breast. ‘So wanted.’ She sighed when he cupped her, moaned when he ran his thumb over her peaked nipple beneath the fabric of her clothes.
‘You are loved,’ he reminded her as his need for her shifted from that constant simmer to a raging inferno. ‘You are wanted. Always.’
Wanting to show her, wanting to take that edge of restlessness away for her, he stepped back, lifted her shirt up and off. ‘In the lake.’
She raised one eyebrow. ‘You want to … In the lake?’
‘To start.’ He grinned when she turned to contemplate the perfectly still surface of the water under moonlight. ‘It’ll be gentler on you than in the bed of the truck,’ he explained.
He stripped down to his jeans and knelt on the floor so that he could help her out of her sweats. Sierra put one hand on his shoulder and stepped out of the baggy pants. ‘The water at night kinda scares me,’ she commented. ‘It’s so dark. Can’t you imagine something with teeth swimming towards you?’
‘The only thing you need to worry about eating you is me.’
Sierra giggled, and the sound, so light now, so free, pulled a grin out of him.
Benji removed his jeans, and when she would have walked gingerly down to the water, he scooped her up and with one loud whoop, charged into the lake. He didn’t stop until the chilly water was up to his chest, and even then, he didn’t put her down. He let the water take the brunt of her weight while his arms kept her close.
Sierra didn’t shiver or whine. She sighed and dipped backwards until her pregnant tummy popped out of the water and her hair splayed like a fan over the surface. ‘Oh, God, the cold feels so good.’
He supported her weight as she floated, her eyes closed, her hands gently treading. Despite the cold water, watching her made his blood blaze.
Benji knew that she thought he was lying when he told her that he found her pregnant body beautiful and sexy. But he wasn’t trying to appease her – or not only. For him, it was the most erotic thing in the world to see their child, half of him, growing in Sierra Hunt. It was proof that he, the white trash kid her brother had befriended, hadn’t just been a passing amusement to her. It was his reminder that they’d have their daughter binding them together. Forever.
With their differences at the forefront of his mind, he gently tipped her back into a seated position. Sierra roped one arm around his neck to steady herself. She smiled up at him, but when she saw the look on his face, the smile faltered. She reached one hand up to touch his cheek. ‘What’s wrong?’
He’d planned to wait, to give her time to adjust to motherhood before adding to her stress … And even that wasn’t entirely true. The truth was that he was terrified she might say no, terrified that when they’d spoken of marriage previously, it had been the new fears surrounding her pregnancy guiding her words. But just then, with the moonlight kissing her skin and the stars shining in full force above them, he wanted to know, ‘Would you marry me?’
Sierra jerked in his arms, almost dunking them both.
‘I know I don’t have much, compared to how you were raised,’ he began. ‘But soon I’ll have enough to buy us a house – a nice one. Or maybe build one on the ranch, if you want to stay close.’
‘Benji—’
Panicked, he just kept rambling. ‘I’ll love you always, Si. I’ll be there for you until the day I die, and I promise—’
‘When?’
Benji could only stare at her blankly.
‘Benji,’ Sierra repeated slowly. ‘When should we get married?’
‘You … You wanna get married?’ he asked. ‘To me?’
She laughed, and when he shifted her, guiding her legs around his waist, she replied, ‘To be completely honest, Benji, I’ve been waiting for you to ask for a really long time.’
Benji stared at her for a long moment. ‘I’m sorry … Are you saying yes?’ he felt compelled to clarify.
‘Yes!’
His heart bloomed, unfurling from its protective huddle to fill his chest. He laughed loudly. ‘Yes?’ he demanded. ‘Yes?’
Sierra threw back her head and shouted, ‘Yes!’ to the night sky.
