RHETT
I came downthe stairs in our home, freshly showered and dressed for Christmas dinner with my family. I’d already gone and checked on the cattle, making sure that they had food and water available to them, checking to see if there were any sick ones.
The house smelled better and better the closer I got to the kitchen. Mags must have made the spice cake I loved to go with the sugar cookies she made with her mom.
When I rounded the corner into the kitchen, I saw her at the counter in her red sweater dress and boots.Damn. She looked incredible.
I leaned against the door frame, taking her in, wondering if I had it in me to go to Christmas dinner or if we should just head back to the bedroom.
She looked over at me watching her. “Sorry, my foil keeps ripping.” She tore off another sheet of foil.
I folded my arms across my chest and raked my eyes over her curves. “I'm just admiring the view.”
She rolled her eyes at me and teased, “Take a picture. It will last longer.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It made a loud shutter sound as I did just that.
“I was joking!” she said.
But I only smiled back at her. “I wasn’t. You’re so beautiful, babe.”
“Thank you.” She finally got the foil tightly around the edges of the pan, then smiled over at me. “I got you something for Christmas.”
My eyebrows drew together. “It’s Christmas Eve.”
“And I’m impatient.”
I chuckled and stepped forward to hug her, my boots heavy over our stone floor. “Is it you? Because I’d love to unwrap this dress.”
She playfully hit my shoulder. “You’re insatiable. Let me get it real quick.”
My hands felt empty without her to hold, but soon she returned with a small box wrapped in gold wrapping paper.
When she handed it to me, I said, “I'm excited to see what you got me.”
She seemed a little nervous as she said, “Go ahead and open it.”
Finding an edge of paper, I peeled it back to find a white and pink box shrink-wrapped in plastic. Once all the wrapping paper was discarded, I had to read the box’s label to make sense of it.
Ovulation detector.
I looked up at Maggie, chest already thrumming with hope at what this meant. Before I could say anything, she moved forward, taking the box from me and setting it on the counter. Then she held both of my hands like she needed me to steady her. If this was real, I needed her to steady me too.
“Rhett Griffin,” she began, “I know that you're going to be an amazing dad one day. I love you, and I want to do this with you. Everything in life with you.”
My eyes were already burning with emotion, so I pulled her close and kissed her until my breath was coming fast, and so was hers.
She giggled against my lips and said, "I didn't mean we had to start right now.”
But I picked her up and lifted her onto the counter and said, “Why the hell not?”
KNOX AND LARKIN AND THE PICTURE FRAME
1
LARKIN
Knox cameinto my house looking annoyingly good in a deep red sweater, jeans, and brown leather boots. If I wasn't holding three different bobby pins in my mouth, I would have bit my lip to keep from drooling.
