Page 23 of Choosing Happily Ever After

He didn’t have to make a decision yet.

Levi smiled at Hope. “I think it’s a great idea. I bet you could pull off all kinds of winter wonderland things.”

“Listen to you.” Logan groaned and slapped his forehead, but everyone laughed. His family liked to give him a hard time, but he knew they had his back. “But hey, I just had a thought.” Logan sat up, suddenly serious. “Maybe you could offer sleigh rides for the new couple?”

Hope shook her head a little. “I don’t have any horses anymore. We’re technically a ranch in name only.”

“We have horses,” Katie said. “And that really cool sleigh in the back barn. It probably could use a coat of paint.”

“Or two,” Logan agreed. “But Katie’s right, you could use our horses.”

“Absolutely,” Aunt Deb jumped in. “And maybe even some of your summer brides might like a horse-drawn carriage.”

Levi looked around and couldn’t help but smile as his family jumped with both feet into the romantic spirit.

The rest of the evening was spent discussing the logistics of what using the horses would look like, and then, right as Levi was about to lose patience and throw Hope over his shoulder to get her out of there and get her alone, she was thanking Aunt Deb and saying goodnight to his cousins.

“That was nice,” Hope said as soon as they were in his truck, driving away. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen your aunt. It’s nice to see her doing so well.”

He nodded. “I hope it wasn’t too weird.”

“Weird?” She turned in her seat so she faced him. “How would it be weird?”

“Well…I know…we’re not…I mean, we’re…” Levi shook his head with a chuckle and focused on navigating the gravel road in the dark.

She was silent for a minute, but then she asked, “We’re what?”

He didn’t want to have a conversation with the potential importance of this one in the truck. Not like this. He wanted to be looking at her, touching her, making damn sure that she believed everything he was telling her, without even the slightest doubt.

They were only five minutes away from Ever After Ranch.

Levi yanked the steering wheel to the right and pulled off the road. He put the truck in park, unbuckled his seat belt and was turned facing her before she could ask him again. He reached for her hand; stunned, Hope giggled a little, but let him take it into his.

“We’re doing this,” he said without preamble. “At least, if you want to. Because I want to. More than anything.”

“This?”

“This.” He used his free hand to gesture between them. “Us. This.”

“This.”

He nodded. “I think we can get it right this time, don’t you?”

Hope laughed, but unshed tears shone in her eyes. “I think we might have a chance.”

Levi scooted closer on the bench seat so he could stroke her cheek before cupping her chin gently with his fingers. “We absolutely have a chance.” He looked directly into her eyes so there was no chance that she could miss what he was about to say to her. “I love you, Hope Turner. I don’t think I ever quit. I made a mistake once. And I’ve regretted it ever since.” She blinked, and a tear escaped down her cheek. He wiped it away gently. “I’m not going to make that mistake again. I love you,” he said again. “Will you do this with me?”

She laughed then and finally said the words he’d been waiting to hear. “I will absolutely do this with you.”

He kissed her then, and as much as he wanted that kiss to show her everything he’d just said to her, he also knew that once he started, he wasn’t going to be able to stop. So he kept it as chaste as possible before pulling away, once again taking his place behind the wheel and driving like a bat out of hell the rest of the way back to Ever After Ranch. And her bed.

Hope

Hope could only laugh when he’d driven home at full speed, thrown the truck into park, and ran around to her door where he’d scooped her up. He’d kissed her there against the cool steel of the truck and he’d had to hold her up because her knees had almost completely buckled from the intensity of the kiss.

She would have happily let him have his way with her right there in the yard, but Levi clearly had other plans and they involved her bed. “Not here.” His voice had been rough, only barely controlled as he tore himself away from her and took her by the hand.

Every cell in her body vibrated with anticipation. It had been years since she’d had Levi’s hands on her. Sure, there’d been a few others over the years, but the reality of those other men had never been able to come close to the memory of Levi.

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