I undid it quickly, rubbing her wrists to make sure her circulation wasn’t cut off. I hadn’t drawn the rope tight on purpose, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t have gotten twisted at some point.
“If it was up to me, I’d make you leave it there all day, making a mess in your panties until I was the one who cleaned it away tonight.”
Lennox righted her clothes and combed through the strands of her hair framing her face. “As hot as that sounds,” she began, pushing to her toes to give me a chaste kiss, “that’s a surefire way to end up with UTI. I’ll be quick, okay?”
“Whatever you say.” I swatted her ass on the way out, loving the way her cheeks flushed as she ducked into the bathroom between the offices.
I cleaned up while I waited, picking up the papers that’d been strewn across the floor during our frenzied fucking. It was an organized chaos, and there wasn’t much of a method to my madness.
When Lennox stepped out, she motioned toward the door. “All yours. I’m gonna head back, though, so it’s not too obvious what we’ve been doing.”
I grabbed her bicep before she could go, pulling her in for a kiss. “That’s fine right now, but I’m done hiding, sweetheart. You deserve a loud love. Besides,” I said, leaning down with a smirk. “It’s getting too damn hard to keep my hands off you.”
She smacked my chest and laughed. “Behave. You’ll get your hands on me tonight.”
I watched her leave the barn, focused on the sassy swing of her hips and the bounce in her step. It was like a night and day difference from the girl who’d walked into this barn with a heavy weight on her shoulders.
Once she was out of sight, I stepped into the bathroom and washed my hands. I already couldn’t wait to get this day over with. It was going to be hard not walking around with a hard-on when all I could think about was how good her body would look bound by my rope and the sounds she’d make when I’d take my time drawing out every ounce of pleasure.
I grabbed a paper towel to dry my hands and tossed it into the can at my feet, but it bounced off the edge. As I bent down to throw it away, I noticed something sticking out of the trash. I knew what it was. I wasn’t stupid. And yet, I still couldn’t stop myself from reaching forward, grabbing the end, and pulling it free.
My heart dropped as I stared at the two pink lines on the window.
Pregnant.
I thought back to each time Lennox and I had sex. We’d never used protection. She had an IUD, so I assumed we were protected, but what the fuck did I know? A quick Google search told me they were more than ninety-nine percent effective. That seemed great at first, but what about the less than one percent?
Was I going to be a father?
Lennox couldn’t have taken it just now. There was no way. She’d been too quick. So, when did she have the time? Unless…
She’d been crying when you walked in, you idiot. Probably because she was stuck with you and thought you didn’t want anything to do with her anymore.
Surely, I’d put her worries to rest. Kid or not, I was all in with Lennox. There wasn’t a single thing that could tear us apart. If she was pregnant, I’d be the best damn dad any kid had ever seen.
Even though my childhood had been shit, Lennox’s was not. I’d learned a lot from Doug over the years about what it was to be a man, a friend, and a partner, but I had a feeling that learning to be a father was going to be the most gratifying lesson he’d teach me.
I stared down at the test in my hands before stuffing it in my pocket. I didn’t want to throw it out. People kept them for announcements and shit, right? I vaguely remembered watching a movie one time where they did. Lennox could take another one if she wanted to, but I liked the idea of using this one, especially if it was the one she used to find out.
There were so many things racing through my mind that I barely heard Lincoln shouting my name. “Bishop! Are you taking a shit in there? Let’s go, man!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” I called back, finding him waiting by the sliding doors.
“Everything good?” he asked, falling into step beside me as I stormed past him. “Lennox sure looked like she was in good spirits when she re-joined the group.”
I gave him a smile. “Yeah, I think everything’s gonna be great.”
And for the first time in my life, I felt like it was true. I was well on the way to making all my dreams come true, but first, there was something I needed to do.
lennox
. . .
I staredat Bishop from across the campfire. He was tapping his fingers rapidly against the beer bottle in his hand, staring off into the distance like it held all the answers to life’s greatest mysteries. Callie lay at his feet instead of mine—the little traitor. Why did all my animals betray me for him?
It’d been nearly a week since the branding, and he was acting strange. At first, I thought it was all the love talk, that it really had bothered him more than he’d let on, but that theory promptly crashed and burned. The man constantly told me he loved me. He reminded me of a toddler who’d just learned a new word and couldn’t stop saying it. It was cute. Adorable, even. It still didn’t explain the weird behavior.
When we were at work, he constantly hovered around me. If I tried to lift anything heavy, he swooped in and did it for me. When we rode horses, he kept his pace slow and steady instead of the races we were used to having. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to taunt him into it. He wouldn’t budge.
