It’s possible her brain hasn’t caught up with her heart, but it will. I can be a patient man when I need to be, even though nothing has tested my patience quite like the woman in front of me, the woman I married.
“I love you, too, Rook,” she says the words slowly, as if she’s not sure of their taste quite yet.
Then her entire face lights up with a huge grin and I can’t help but mirror it. When she pulls me down to her, this time she’s the one kissing me.
My control completely snaps and my arms wrap around her and pull her against my chest, erasing any distance between us. Feeling her softness against me has my cock going from semi-hard, which it always is when I’m around my wife, to a steel pipe in my jeans.
I groan into her mouth, and she giggles against my lips. She can feel exactly what she does to me.
Good. She deserves to know just how much I want her, crave her, need her. I never want her to question whether or not I worship, not only her, but the ground she walks on as well.
My fingers slide into the hair at the back of her head and I grip the strands, tilting her head just the way I want it as I plunge my tongue inside of her mouth. She clings to me like I’m the only thing keeping her tethered to the here and now. Considering I already know I’m going to need her to pull me back from the edge, we might be in trouble here.
Before our kiss can turn even more heated, someone clears their throat and we jump apart like we’ve been electrocuted. I look down at Meadow to find her lips swollen from my kisses, her eyes bright, and her cheeks flushed.
“Gorgeous,” I mutter under my breath, but with the way her blush deepens she has no problem hearing me.
We both turn slowly to find Mr. Holden standing in the doorway to his office. His eyes are bouncing back and forth between us, and he has a huge smile on his face.
“Your grandfather would love this,” there’s a note of glee in his voice.
I let out a low groan, but I don’t move away from my wife. Hell no, not going to happen. My arm slides around her waist and I tuck her into my side, needing her closer, always needing her closer.
With a wince, I ask, “How much did you hear?”
He shoots me a pointed look. “Enough.” It’s all he says before turning his attention over to Meadow.
I clear my throat. “This is Meadow, my wife.”
“I thought that’s what I heard, but then I thought maybe I had started drinking too early.” Meadow’s mouth falls open and one side of my mouth tips up before he holds his hands up and contritely confesses, “Kidding. I was just kidding.”
Meadow looks up at me with wide eyes before she falls apart in a giggle fit in the hallway outside the office of the lawyer who holds our future in a file folder on his desk. It’s perfect.
And I fall a little bit deeper in love with my wife.
“It appears we have a lot to go over,” he steps back into his office and waves us inside. “With your marriage, I can petition for the timeline to be shortened since you now qualify to be given ownership.”
“We also need to talk about what I need to do to ensure Meadow is protected legally and financially.” My voice drops and takes on a dark quality, “And a restraining order against my father.”
He nods like he knew it was coming. Maybe he did.
As we sit, I reach for Meadow’s hand, and she laces our fingers together like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I never expected for this to happen, for me to marry to the woman I’ve been denying my feelings for, but here I am.
I’m not entirely sure what the future holds, other than a lot of hard work, laughter, and endless opportunities. There will be bountiful years and times when I can’t see the light anymore; that’s a given.
With my Wildflower at my side, I’m ready for whatever is on the horizon. I won’t let my father steal my family’s legacy; one he never earned. Meadow will be there to lend me her strength.
I’ll be there for her too. I’ll be her built in taste-tester, her sounding board, her biggest supporter and the person who cheers for her the loudest.
I grew up seeing my grandparents’ love, the way it had deep roots, and never wavered. Now, with Meadow at my side, I have no doubt I found something just as special with her. I’ll protect it with everything in me, now until forever.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
MEADOW
“You all are being ridiculous,” I gripe to my friends. “You’ve kept me out all day and I’m tired.”
