Just Her Luck (85 page)

Oh, yeah, and a length of rope...

Hee, hee, hee.

Mmmm, hmmm.

I shivered at the memory of my handsome cowboy making love to me all night long, the snow falling softly all around us.

“Ah, come one, there has to be one that stood out among the rest?” he pressed.

His hand entwined with mine, his thumb stroking mine softly.

“Nope,” I shook my head, “I loved them all.”

“Bowen’s was pretty bad ass,” Sawyer chuckled, “I’ll give him that one.”

“It was. You guys looked hot as hell in those monkey suits.”

Bowen had wanted to do a James bond theme.

Intrigued by the idea, I’d obliged.

Hey, if it means I get to see them all dressed up in penguin suits, pretending to be sexy secret agents, I’m all for it.

They all hammed it up, each choosing a different ‘bond’ to be, dressing the part to a ‘T’.

It was so much fun.

“Oh, no,” he tugged me up a little higher on his chest, his erection pressing into my thigh, “I was referring to that green sequined number you shimmied yourself into. God, brat. You don’t know how many times I thought about sneaking off with you, taking it off of you with my teeth and…”

“It’s in my closet…” I murmured huskily, using a fake Russian accent.

“Tease.”

“Ah, but you love it.”

He grinned, kissing my lips. “Yes, I do.”

“I thought you aren’t crazy about weddings?” Bowen asked as he walked up, plucking me up and heading back into the house.

He must have been standing there for a minute.

“You’re gettin’ ballsy, Bo!” Sawyer called, trying to untangle himself from the hammock.

Bowen just chuckled.

“I must be a bad influence on you,” I lamented, running my hand over his short hair, “Where’s the stickler for propriety I fell in love with?”

He grinned, all teeth.

“What can I say, sweetheart, you bring out the worst in me.”

“Chuh. Don’t blame your short comings on me, sir. That wolfish, alpha male manliness is all you, sexy.”

Reeve heard us laughing and walked out of his office.

“Don’t drop her,” he warned, popping back in.

Bowen and I shared a look, rolling our eyes at my overbearing grump.

“You’d think I was made of glass,” I giggled.

“Maybe he’s hormonal too,” Bo said thoughtfully, a small smile teasing his lips.

“Hey!” I hit him, squirming until he set me down, ignoring his chuckles and half-hearted apologies. “I swear,” I grumbled, “I am
not
hormonal, okay! I mean, good grief! You cry during one movie,
one!
And I’m forever hormonal!”

“Who’s hormonal?” Ephraim walked into the room, coming right up to me, a huge happy smile in place on his handsome face, giving me a very proper how de do with a yummy, lingering kiss.

When the kiss ended, I hugged him tight, inhaling his scent, smiling into his shirt.

“Make way, make way, favorite lover coming through!” Thatcher bellowed dramatically.

He elbowed his way past his brothers, ignoring their snorts and snarky comments, giving me a roguish grin.

“And how are my two favorite people?” he asked happily, hands going straight for my belly.

He rubbed my stomach lovingly, tugging me towards him for his turn.

“Aw, Thatch,” Ephraim teased, giving him a goofy smile, “I didn’t know you cared.”

Thatcher huffed.

“Not
you,
idiot
.
I meant my gorgeous woman and
my
babe growing in her belly. Not
you
.”

“Bowen’s implying that Reeve and I are hormonal,” I interrupted, looking up at my blonde hottie sadly.

“You?
Never!”
he insisted adamantly, making me laugh.

“Hormonal? I’m not a damn woman and I aint pregnant,” Reeve grumbled, shoving Thatcher’s face, knocking him backwards, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me in for a kiss.

“Reeve!”

He pulled back, grinning at me.

“Hmmm…” he frowned, pulling back to stare down into my face, “I must not be doing somethin’ right…”

“What? What do you mean? Why do you say that? And quit picking on Thatcher.”

I think he kisses juuusssttt fine.

In fact, more than fine.

“You’re still capable of speech, I must not be doing it right,” he explained.

“Price check on corn,” Thatcher piped up, snorting, “I repeat, price check on corn. Reeve’s full of it.”

I burst out laughing.

He ducked Reeve’s back hand, backing up and cackling gleefully.

I chuckled again, trying hard to stifle a laugh.

“I give up!” I said in feigned exasperation, “You’re all impossible!”

The others started laughing too, everyone getting the table ready to eat.

Moment Of Truth

“Here.”

I looked up, recognizing the envelope in Reeve’s outstretched hand.

It was the one he kept on his nightstand, the one from our wedding night.

I’d forgotten all about it until just now.

Hmmmm, I guess he hasn’t opened it yet.

Why wait, though? That’s a long time to leave something unopened.

“What’s this?” I asked curiously.

I took it and turned it over in my hands, not recognizing the return address.

He plopped down next to me on the couch, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

I scooted closer, using his shoulder as a pillow, his hand automatically going to my ever expanding baby bump.

He chuckled when the baby gave a kick, his hands lovingly rubbing the spot where a foot or a hand was pressing up against my skin tight.

“Have you thought about which name you like best?” he asked quietly, tickling the spot where our little bouncing baby boy was kicking away exuberantly.

“Mmmm… sort of…”

“Oh? What does sort of mean?”

“I dunno,” I said undecidedly, waving the unopened envelope at him, “what’s with the letter?”

“You go first.”

“No,” I pursed my lips, mulish expression firmly in place. “You go first.”

I waved the envelope at him again, flapping it out in front of him.

He sunk down into the couch, turning fidgety.

“It’s from my doctor’s office,” he said after a brief pause, unsure how to proceed.

I tensed, sitting up to turn, facing him fully.

“And you’re just now opening it! Is it important? Reeve!”

“Hey, hey. Hold your horses, cowgirl.” He tried to ease me back down towards him, but I pulled away.

“Is something wrong? Why would you…”

He put his finger to my lips.

“I’m sorry, I should have explained first. I’m going about this all wrong.”

I pushed his finger away.

“Then explain already!” I almost shouted, about to panic.

He scowled at me.

“If you’d stop having a damn heart attack and give me a damn minute, you stubborn female, I would.”

“Don’t you cuss at
me
, Reeve Marshall Harrison!! I am your…”

He tackled me, careful of my belly, and kissed me fiercely, his hands gliding through my hair to keep me in place.

I gasped at the contact, giving up any token protest as his tongue slipped inside, exploring the moist, hot cavern of my mouth.

My fingers twined in his hair and I moaned, tugging him closer, my body instantly responding to his, lighting up at his touch, his taste, his scent,
him
in general.

Mmmm. Mine.

He pulled back a few minutes later, eyes slightly glazed with passion.

I licked my lips, eyeing his, debating on whether or not I should chew his ass out or pull him back down for a little hot lovin’.

“You ready to listen to me now?” he asked quietly, voice husky and low.

I traced the scar on his face, lifting myself up to kiss my way up the puckered seam.

“Maybe…” I teased, kissing my way back down as he swallowed hard, my lips kissing a path down his neck, towards the collar of his shirt, giving a throaty laugh as he shivered. “You ready to listen to me?” I countered.

He laughed quietly, stilling my hands when they went for the buttons on his shirt.

“Be serious, Vieve.”

Sighing heavily, I dropped my hands and plopped back, fun time over.

“Alright, moonshine, what’s up? What’s with the letter and all that?”

He let out a long breath.

“I had a doc check me out.”

I raised a brow at him.

“Yes,” he snorted, “
a pickle doctor
, as you like to call them.”

“Aaaaaannnnndddd?”

He smiled a little, a soft sad smile.

“Now you’ll know.”

He went to get up, but I gripped his shirt.

“Why?”

He frowned down at me, but didn’t respond.

“Why did you do it?” I asked again.

He grew uncomfortable.

I studied his face, seeing what he wasn’t saying.

“You did it for me, didn’t you? You wouldn’t have checked otherwise.”

He looked over my shoulder, not meeting my eyes, his face troubled.

This whole thing was really bothering him.

He was worried.

“Yes. I did it for you.”

I let him get up, sensing how upset he was getting.

He needed space and I readily gave it to him.

I glanced down at the envelope in my hands and looked back up at him.

“It doesn’t matter to me either way, gremlin.” He gestured at the letter. “That babe is still mine, regardless of what that piece of paper says.”

“Have you read it?” I asked him, “Do you already know the answer?”

“No,” he said quietly, “‘cause it really doesn’t matter to me either way.”

He started to walk away, freezing when he heard the sound of paper ripping, listening to me tearing the letter in two.

He pivoted, watching, wide eyed as I ripped it again and again, until it was in teeny tiny confetti sized pieces all around me.

I gathered them all up and tossed them up in the air, grinning as they fluttered all around me.

“Doesn’t matter to me either, moonshine. Guess you rubbed one off in a doctor’s office for nothing.”

He burst out laughing, his face breaking out into a heart stopping smile, rushing up to pick me up, cradling me close to his chest; kissing me with that strong, pure possessiveness he comes by honestly and all the intensity that comes with something emotional like this, making me weak in the knees.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against mine.

“How’d I get so lucky to find a woman like you?” he whispered fervently.

He opened his eyes, revealing a slight sheen that wasn’t there before.

“Oh, I dunno,” I whispered back, a mischievous glint in my eyes, “I somehow managed to nab up a gaggle of hot cowboys and one grumpy old geezer. They even managed to knock me up. I think it’s safe to say that
I’m
the lucky one.”

Before he would have said something back, I grabbed his face, knocking his socks off with a boxer dropping kiss for my sexy husband, doing a little appreciative smooching of my own.

Take that, old man!

Mmm. Who loves you, baby?

I gripped his belt buckle at the same moment he reached for the waist band to my capris, not breaking our lip lock as we rushed to rip each other’s clothes off.

“Hey, hey! Break it up you two! We have company comin’ over and I don’t want anyone gettin’ any crazy ideas. This house is
not
clothing optional!”

Reeve slid me down his torso slowly, glaring at Ephraim for interrupting.

“Hmmmm… well… we
could
always take this upstairs…” I purred.

That got both of their attention.

I walked slowly towards the back door, running my hand down the open ‘V’ of my shirt.

“But, you know, let’s say people
did
get here early. It would be a lot harder for them to figure out what we were up to if we were somewhere else, like say
… the loft in the barn turned crap room?
I
have
always fantasized about being taken and hog-tied by two sexy cowboys,” I eyed them both for a second before turning back around, hiding a grin, “A willing victim to whatever naughty games they can come up with,” I cleared my throat a little, “but you know, I understand if you’re both…
busy
.”