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Ruth finally roused beneath me, standing up as well and reaching for the paper towel dispenser. No doubt to clean me off her, dripping down her legs. I don’t know why the thought had my half-stiff cock jerking. It was a caveman’s response, the thought of my cum on her skin arousing me.
I leaned forward just as she finished gathering a wad of towels, and bit the back of her neck, not hard, just enough so that I could taste her skin and feel her shudder beneath me.
She groaned low and then turned in my arms. I took her mouth voraciously. She kissed me just as hungrily back, her arms coming around my neck. For once, I allowed it. I was too hungry to taste her. To feel her kissing me just as hungrily back.
How could we still be this crazy for each other after fucking? I grabbed her hair and pulled, ruining the updo just like I’d ruined the rest of her makeup as I tugged her face back from mine. And goddammit, I loved the way her wide, lust-filled eyes came to mine.
“Don’t do it,” I said, the words spilling out of my mouth on impulse. “You don’t belong behind a desk, stuck in a lab somewhere decoding intake data or whatever the fuck you said you’d be doing. You belong on the land. Doing what you love.”
She blinked rapidly, her soft body suddenly stiffening. “What are you saying? It’s my job. I have to have a job—”
I shook my head and the words just shot out of my mouth. “I’m saying be old-fashioned with me. I’m saying marry me and run this ranch with me and maybe the horse program if you’re interested in that too.”
She choked and then sputtered, her eyes as wide as saucers. “W-what? Is this a business proposition or did you just— Did you just propose to me?”
I groaned and bent my forehead to hers. “It’s coming out wrong, huh? I just, I don’t think it’s wrong to want to be part of a world where loving a woman means loving her through and through. I want it all. Could I have ever imagined a woman who loves the same kinda life I love, is smart as a fuckin’ whip, smarter than me sometimes—which, being the ass that I am, grates for about five seconds before it just turns me the fuck on? No. No, I never even fucking dreamed there was a woman out there like you.” Saying it all out loud, I realized how true it was. And how much I wanted her. As my wife. In my bed. Always.
“Oh.” She blinked hard, still looking shell-shocked.
I grabbed her by the back of my neck and pulled her in close. Sure, what I was doing was fucking nuts, but people fell in love fast all the time, just look at my brother and Charlie.
“What I’m trying to say is, this is what love is. The oh-shit-this-one-actually-checks-all-the-boxes part and the I-want-to-wring-her-neck-or-fuck-each-others-brains-out-nonstop part together. That’s love.”
She blinked up at me. “A-Are you sure?”
I grinned at her, an elated feeling lighting up my chest. “I don’t fucking know. But I’ve never felt anything like this before. You’re all I can think about. I used to get so mad at my brother for falling in love with some woman or other, left and right, I never understood why he got so moon-eyed—”
“No.” She shook her head goofily back at me and interlaced our fingers. “Me too. I was always so cautious in relationships. Never opening up or letting myself be vulnerable.” She shook her head in a grimace and made a slice across her neck with her finger. “Never.”
“So this,” I said, my voice deepening as I stepped closer, our chests touching, “I’m the only one you’re letting this close.”
“This is crazy,” she giggled, running her hands through my hair. “Are we really doing this?”
I pulled away from her far enough so that I could go down on one knee. She still had the wad of paper towels in her hand and she was disheveled as all hell. She’d never looked more radiant. And I wanted to do this right, even if I didn’t have a ring yet. I’d fix that as soon as I could.
“Ruth Harshbarger, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she whispered in voice so full of joy, I knew she felt the elation too. And then she pulled me to my feet and cemented her body to mine as we locked lips.
Chapter Seventeen
RUTH
It was Charlie’s wedding day, the day all the planning had been leading up to, but I’d barely slept a wink last night.
Jeremiah had proposed.
Proposed!
I was engaged.
I mean, holy crap. We’d agreed not to tell anyone. Neither of us wanted to take away from Reece and Charlie’s special day.
But about every three seconds, I’d have a little internal giddy freak out. Jeremiah wanted to marry me! We were going to get married. Jeremiah loved me!
I smiled to myself as I finished tying a bow with a little bit of tulle around the last of the chairs. Everything was almost ready for the ceremony. We’d been running around nonstop all day. I’d barely gotten to say two words to Jeremiah other than him stealing me away for a brief two-minute make out session when I ran inside the bunkhouse to grab a protein bar.
Last night we hadn’t gotten any more time with each other after I’d finally put myself back together and made what I could of my smudged makeup. Luckily, when we finally stumbled out of the bathroom, the party was breaking up. Jeremiah waited until I got into my Lyft before he got into the van they’d rented to take everyone else back to the ranch—Matt had volunteered to be the DD for the night.
