“It’s a speaker in the boughs.” Ford tips his head upward, and when I follow his direction, I can just about make out a mini soundbar, clearly connected to his cell via Bluetooth.
And even as my chest swells with love, my heart stutters at the memories this song contains. The good. And the bad.
“A-after you left…” Ford’s eyes shoot to mine, concern marring his handsome face. “In the days before the audition…I locked myself in my room and played this song on repeat.”
His breathing accelerates before he holds me more firmly against him, lending me his strength as I continue. “So in the five years since, I’ve been unable to listen to it without remembering all I’d lost. All that had been torn from me…”
As I trail off, Ford reaches for his cell, clearly about to silence the rasping tones of John Rzeznik, and I immediately place my hand over his, shaking my head.
“But in the time since you’ve been back in my life, all I’ve recalled is the love we shared. The child resulting from that, and the idea that maybe…someday?—”
My voice falters, breaking on that last word, but Ford cups my cheeks, his eyes boring into mine with an intensity I can feel in my soul.
“Thisisour time, Tink.” I gasp a breath inwards, filling my lungs with not only oxygen but the fearful hope that he’s right. “Since I left, there’s never been a time when my heart hasn’tached for yours. What I said at dinner last night is true. I haven’t felt like I belong anywhere in our years apart because the only place I truly belong is by your side. The universe can’t be so cruel as to tear us apart twice. And there’snodoubt in my mind that we’ll have the life…”
He trails off, his blue gaze deepening to black as he wills me to feel the conviction of his words.
“We’ll have thefamilywe were always meant to share.”
Leaning forward on my tiptoes, I press my mouth to his, hesitantly at first, but when he brushes his tongue across the seam of my lips, I open to him and thrust my tongue forward to meet his with a groan of deep longing.
His hands slide into my hair, holding me against him, and I wind mine around his waist as I press my chest to his. The whole world fades into the distance, and it’s just the two of us in existence, the only beings on earth, shrouded in a cocoon of our own making.
Ford breaks the kiss, finding my eyes with his stormy ones that see all the way down to my soul as he palms my cheeks. “I truly believe I was placed in this universe to do one thing, and that’s to loveyou. With every beat of my heart. Every atom of my being.”
He brushes the pads of his thumbs lightly over my cheekbones as his eyes hold me in their thrall. His voice drops to the barest whisper as his words fill my heart.
“Until the oceans rise and the stars fall and the world around us fades into the obscurity of time. I will love you beyond all of that, because loving you is my purpose.”
I breathe in his declaration before tears rise and crest my lashes, streaking down my face. His raw emotion makes my heart clench as his eyes hold mine.
And as “Iris”fills my ears, not another word passes between us for long minutes. The simple act of justbeingin one another’spresence, a pleasure denied to us these past five years, is more than enough.
It iseverything.
My entire body absorbs the boundless love that flows between us before Ford tips his nose against mine, and a smile lifts my lips as he reaches for my hand, leading me to the table by the oak tree.
Once he’s assured himself that I’m settled, he presses a kiss atop my head, murmuring, “Now, pour us some wine while I grab that picnic basket of cheese, baby. You’ll need your strength.”
He rises as I giggle, lifting my gaze to his. “If this date night is a ploy to get into my panties, I can safely say you’re onto a winner, Cowboy.”
His deep chuckle resonates through his broad chest before he throws me a wink, moving off in the direction of the truck as he calls over his shoulder, “There’s a mattress in the flatbed of the truck, Tink, but let’s just say, I don’t plan on using it for sleep tonight.”
CHAPTER 28
FORD
I look downon a sleeping Emmy, curled up in the middle of our bed beneath a light blue comforter, long blonde hair splashed over the pillows surrounding her, and my heart physically aches.
“You’re so beautiful it hurts.”
My words are a whisper, a throwback to the first day I realized she’d somehow taken up residence inside my heart without my knowledge. I sigh happily, like the lovesick fool I am, as I toss my dirty clothes in the hamper before tiptoeing from the room.
Having carried through on my promise, we’d gotten almost no sleep whatsoever, so upon returning home in the early hours of this morning, I’d showered us both before carrying my weary Tink to bed.
She’d been out like a light, and like a thief, I’d stolen thirty minutes to watch her sleeping, allowing my eyes to drink their fill even though I know it’ll never be enough.
Though I’m tempted to join her, I slip into the hallway beyond our room, intent on helping Sully in the corrals. Working with Sidewinder, the dark brown rescue horse, has eased the sting of discovering Marshal’s passing last spring, but the regret of not seeing him one last time tastes bitter on my tongue.
