She shrugged and tried to pull away, but I didn’t let her. I held her tight and cupped her chin. “Doesn’t change anything, sweetheart. So I’m famous, and you’re rich and famous. I still want to fuck your brains out. And not because of your father or anything else.”
She finally met my eyes, and there was relief and something else I was hoping for shining in them. “Umm, I know what kind of contract you have. You’re rich too.”
“And what if I told you, I was ready to throw it all away? Would you care?” I already knew the answer. April had told her old man to fuck off when he’d tried to corner her into taking over his agency when he retired. She understood the merit of following your own dreams instead of someone else’s.
“No.” She waggled one eyebrow at my lower half. “It’d be a shame never to see your ass in those tight football pants ever again, but I’d never tell anyone not to be who and what they want for themselves. Plenty of people have thought they could do that to me, and it stinks.”
“Okay then. If that part is out of the way, we can spend the rest of this storm getting to know each other. And I very much want to know everything about you.”
“You just want to get in my pants again.” She laughed, but I recognized a test when I saw one.
That was fine. Just because I’d fallen head over heels in three seconds flat, didn’t mean she had.
“I do. But I want a lot more from you. There’s something special between us, and it’s not just the sex. I like you. A lot.” I knew better than to scare her away by saying anything more than that. If it took me the rest of my life, I was going to convince this girl to marry me and have my babies. Lots and lots of babies.
She didn’t immediately respond to that, and I was going to give her a minute to process what I was saying.
Fuck, I hoped she wanted kids. I didn’t even realize I wanted any until I imagined little blue-eyed mini versions of April running around with a whole herd of big, fluffy dogs.
Better start with the dogs. I turned back toward the kitchen, looking for Bear. He’d probably curled back up by the water heater. “Bear, come here boy. Come have a proper intro to our guest, buddy.”
No fluffy head or wagging tail popped out. Weird. Where did he go? “Bear?”
A big snuffle and groan like he was put upon that I was calling him sounded from behind April. He was laying on her other side, not three feet from the fireplace, calm and as comfy as could be. I gently stroked him in that soft spot between his eyes. “When did you sneak over there, you big fluffball?”
Spoke to how completely focused on April I was and my imagining of our future life together. “I think I’m not the only one who likes you. He’s never been this close to the fireplace in his life. He’s scared of it.”
“I like him too.” She ran her fingers over his head and gave him a scritch behind his ear. “Why is he scared of the fireplace? He seems pretty fine with it now.”
“He was caught up in a forest fire here in Colorado when he was a puppy. We have them pretty much every summer. Poor guy was a wreck. Patches of fur burned away, smoke inhalation.”
“You rescued him?” She looked up at me like I was some kind of knight in shining armor. I was just a guy with a soft spot for animals. Especially ones in need.
“Yeah. He stays with my folks up here during the season.” Wouldn’t be fair to have him down in Texas when I’m on the road all the time. But if I moved back to Colorado, he’d be by my side a lot more than just my bye-weeks. “I just picked him up from them this morning. Gotta have my guy by my side for the big shindig this weekend.”
“Shindig?” Both April and Bear gave me that what-are-you-talking-about head tilt. These two were made for each other.
“Yeah. Our holiday Cause for Paws.” We did fundraising like this a couple of times a year, but the holiday one always brought in the most money. Probably because I made a bunch of professional athletes donate time or money or prizes. Being scary had its advantages. “There’s a 5K where everyone brings their dogs, then we do a big cookout and a party over at the ski resort. There’s a silent auction, and we raise a bunch of money for local shelters and make funds available specially to take care of pets that have been affected by natural disasters.”
“That’s... very cool. But won’t you have to cancel?” She waved an arm at the window.
“This is Bear Claw Valley, doll. We love a little snow.” The ski resort on the other side of the hill was likely doing a happy dance for all the fresh powder they were getting.
“Little?” She shook her head at me, and Bear gave a little woof in solidarity.
“What? Everything is little compared to me.” Except April. She and I fit together exactly right.
“You got me there.” She winked and let out a chuckle that made my heart do flips in my chest. “I guess everything is small when you’re as big as a bear.”
“You’ll go with me to the Cause for Paws stuff tomorrow, won’t you?”
“I’ll have to cheer you and Bear on from the finish line of the 5K, because, you know, fancy high-heeled boots. But yeah, it all sounds like fun, and I’m always down for a good cause.”
Here goes nothing... or everything. “And after that?”
She turned in my arms, and this time she was the one who pushed her hands into my hair. “I don’t know, but,” she brushed her lips across mine, pulling away too fast to let me kiss her as I wanted, “I like you, too, Bridger. Even if you’re the absolute worst at begging.”
I was ready to beg her to stay with me forever. “I think it’s probably going to take a long time for you to teach me that particular skill, sweetheart.”
