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“And I always will be your good place.” I lather her up, then lather myself.

We both move to stand under the spray when I’m done.

“You know we’ll probably argue,” she says.

“Only about who gets on top.”

She gives me a look. “Most couples do argue.”

“Arguing is just disagreeing. And it can usually be avoided with clear communication.”

“Like who gets on top?” She raises her eyebrows.

“Exactly,” I say. “I’m willing to be generous and say have it your way.”

“I swear, Maverick. I’m serious.”

“Me, too. You want to be on top? No argument from me. Bottom? Not gonna argue about that either.”

She sighs. “I’m trying to say that I don’t like arguing.”

I shut off the faucet and reach out to grab a towel and pass it to her. “I don’t think anyone truly does. But again, it goes back to communication.”

“And if you communicate and still can’t reach an agreement?”

That’s when I realize what she’s really getting at. After hearing her parents arguing and carrying on, then seeing their relationship fall apart, she’s fearful of repeating that type of home life.

I tuck a towel around my waist then pull her into a hug. “I’m not going to fuss and argue. I’m not going to cut and run. I promise we’ll always work everything out.”

Her arms tighten around me and a surge of protectiveness rears up inside me. And I silently vow then and there that I’m going to pour every bit of me into making sure she’s always the happiest woman in the world.

We stand like for a few minutes, then I say, “Let’s get dressed and tell our families that a wedding is coming their way.”

“There might be some pushback about it,” she warns. “Especially from my mother.”

“I know. That’s because she’s been disappointed and hurt.”

“She has.” Tempest looks sad for a moment. “And then there’s my dad and his whatever Floozy is to him now. She cheated; they broke up. They got back together. If they get back together yet again, I wouldn’t put it past her to crash the wedding just to cause drama.”

“Honey, you concentrate on finding a wedding dress and walking down the aisle. Everything else, I’ll handle,” I assure her. And I will. Tempest might have gone through hurt and heartache in the past, but that was the before picture of her life.

I’m the after picture. The man who won’t let anyone else’s issues upset her. Hell, she won’t even know if any family drama is going on because the buck stops with me.

I’ll be her rock and her shield. Her silent, peaceful place when the world is loud. The one who’ll bear her burdens.

I’ll make sure she only has love in her life from now on.

Chapter 13

Tempest

I peek outside the opening of the wedding tent set up on my sister Sunny and brother-in-law Kurt’s ranch in Lucky River. It looks like most of the town is out there sitting on the white wedding chairs waiting for the ceremony to start.

“Stop fidgeting,” my mother says. “You’ll mess up your hair.”

“Tempest is worried something will go wrong,” my sister Rainee correctly guesses.

Sunny smooths the bow on the back of my wedding gown. “Nothing’s going to go wrong.”