“I cannot wait to marry you tomorrow,” he growled.“I cannot wait to wake up next to you every morning and know you chose me.”
Her breath hitched.She turned her head just enough for him to see the edge of her grin.“Then do not stop, cowboy.Show me how much you mean it.”
He answered by snapping his hips faster, pounding into her slick heat.He pinched her clit lightly then soothed it with firmer circles.Her body tensed under him.
“Come for me, Kyla.Let me feel you come while I am buried inside you.Tomorrow, you wear my ring, but tonight you are already mine.”
She came hard.Her thighs trembled violently and her inner muscles locked down on his cock in strong waves that dragged him right over the edge with her.He thrust deep one final time and spilled inside her with a rough, broken sound of her name.
They sank into the hay, limbs tangled, too spent to care about scratched backs.The warmth of them faded slow.Titus turned his head, breathing in the sweet funk of her hair, the salt crusted at her temple, the ghost of bourbon on her breath.
He let his arm drape over her waist.His thumb caught on the curve of the ring she wore.The band still sharp-edged, worn for him alone until tomorrow’s vows made it public.Satisfaction and nervousness knotted together.
Kyla rolled toward him, shifting so their legs tangled.She pressed her mouth against his collarbone, lips barely brushing, as if memorizing the notch she had bitten so many nights before.Her hand curled low on his belly.Breathing even, slow.She did not speak.
Titus felt every inch of her.Night crept in slow.Through gaps in the barn walls, cool air brushed at their feet.From the world outside came little...an owl’s call, the last spitting crackle from the dying firepit.
He shut his eyes, willing time to stall.Wishing for one more hour before the world demanded new words, a crowd, and all the business of making forever official.He listened to Kyla’s breathing, her body pressed warm to his as sure as any contract.
They did not need words now.He pulled her closer, greedy for another touch.Down below, embers dulled.The party unraveled as tomorrow crept closer.
He kept his eyes shut and listened for her heart, letting his own race ahead.Sated, sealed, waiting in the hush before everything changed.
Chapter 19
Late-March
Wedding Day
Cream silk shiftedalong Kyla’s legs as she crossed the barn threshold.Her boots met old planks with a heavy, certain sound.The whole damn town seemed squeezed in beneath the string lights.Everyone leaned forward like they had bet on her.
She smoothed her thumb over the knife tattoo hiding just inside her wrist.Her heart hammered fast and wild.She started down the aisle toward the man at the end.Her focus locked on him the second he saw her and only her.
Light spilled across the floor in crooked stripes warmer than the rows of rented chairs filled with faces.Neighbors who had first eyed her sideways now dropped by for recipe swaps or to wag their fingers about Titus’s boots at her kitchen door.
Someone sniffled in the third row.Two old cowboys nodded at each other with arms crossed and hats in their laps as if they might be asked to bless the vows.The air carried early March cold melt and damp hay with the bite of snow not done yet.Her spine straightened just shy of a dare.
