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“I know. But…I like the idea of taking care of you. And, well, the three or four pretty babies you want to give me. How about I take care of you, and you take care of me, and together, we take care of them?”
“I thought you started with two or three pretty babies earlier?”
“Well, I’m adaptable, you see. However many pretty babies you want to give me works fine for me actually.”
“So you are talking forever.”
“I am talking forever. As soon as you say the word.”
Ben leaned down and kissed her. He had her right there, in his arms. Right where he wanted her to be. Life really didn’t get better than that. He kissed her, then pulled back to let his cavewoman breathe, and all. “Are you going to say the word anytime soon?”
“Forever. Word. Whatever you want me to say. You are the one with all the words.”
“So I am.” Ben scooped her up again. Carried her to the bed. And showed her exactly what he felt for her.
No real words were neededthen.
None at all.
EPILOGUE
“You were kissing my brother.”
It was the first thing Ben’s sister said to Dusty when Dusty finally came out of that man’s room the next day and stopped by the front desk—wearing Ben’s T-shirt and the pants she’d been in the night before. His sister had been waiting to capture her the first chance Nikki could get. “Iwaskissing your brother. I justfinishedkissing him again.”
“You were in hisroom,Meyra said. All night long, you hussy.” Nikki was giving her thatlook.The one that said she knew Dusty wasn’t telling her everything. “Had you…been kissing himbefore,Destiny Marie?”
“I had. A few times. It just sort of…happened, Nik. I wasn’t hiding it from you. Not exactly.”
“Are you going to be kissing him again?” Nikki crossed her arms, and blocked Dusty from the front desk. Even with the life-altering events of the night before, she still had to work the inn. Not because of the schedule, but forherself.The continuity of it, the stability, it mattered now. More than she had ever realized before. She was going to take Matt’s offer. But she wasn’t going to give up the inn and the diner completely. She’d find a way to make it work. Just like she’d told her family last night. Dustyknewwhat she wanted now.
She was going after what she wanted.
She andBenwould. He had loved her through the night. And it was as hot and fiery and passionate as Marin had always insisted it was supposed to be when you were with a man you loved. When he had whispered that he loved her that first time, she’d believed him wholeheartedly.
When she’d whispered it back, she had meant it just as deeply.
She didn’t really know when it had happened. But it had.
She loved Benjamin Tyler. And always would.
“Your brother and I are going to be kissing each other a lot going forward.” Dusty looked at her closest friend in the world. She put her hands on Nikki’s shoulders until they were eye to eye. She…really wanted to see Nikki’s reaction to her next words. “Forever, Nik. Forever. I am moving in with your brother as soon as we can make that happen. We are going to have between two and four pretty babies. We haven’t quite decided on how many yet. And we are going to be together. Forever. In case you missed it or something.”
Nikki squealed and squealed. It brought Meyra and Daisy running from the back office.
“What’s happened now?” Daisy asked, fear on her beautiful face. “Dusty? Are you okay?”
“Dusty is going to be kissing my brother. Forever.” Nikki was practically bouncing right there where she stood.
“Well, everyone knows that,” Meyra told Nikki, shaking her head at Nikki. “I mean, we were all just waiting for the two of them to figure it out.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’tknow,Nik?” Daisy asked almost incredulously. “Haven’t you ever noticed how he looked at her all the time? All sexy and longing and hungry? She really needed tofeedthat man months ago.”
Dusty just stared at her younger sister. “What?”
“Ben treats you differently than he does any other woman in the world,” Meyra told her, almost patiently. Like Dusty and Nikki were both clueless idiots or something. “Daisy and I figured it outlongago. Like right after he came back to Masterson County and everything. We were just waiting for you to catch up.”
“Apparently, I’ve missed a few things lately,” Dusty said.
“Me, too. Me, too.” Nikki wrapped one arm around her shoulder. “But of all the women in the world for Ben to fall in love with, I’m glad it is my best friend on the whole planet.”
Dusty was, too. Ben was hers now. She wasn’t about to let him go.
