Page 133 of Almost Always

“I get it,” he added and glanced at their running around with the dogs. “I do sometimes wonder what things would have been like if my ex had stuck around. But I look at my kid and know that we’re better off without her, you know?”

“Especially when you’ve got a certain realtor making you paint again?”

“Maybe. She’s beautiful and funny and really gets me, you know? And Dig really likes her, but what if it’s just…”

He clamped a hand on Mack’s shoulder. “Don’t overthink it. Your kid likes her,youlike her and if she fits, that’s all that matters.”

Before Mack could reply, a loud whistle went through the backyard. He looked over and found Daisy with her arms in the air and awhat the hellexpression on her face. Laughing, he patted Mack on the back and walked down to where she was waiting with one hip cocked and arms crossed over her chest.

“Wife.”

“Husband,” she teased and looped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arm around her waist. “Wanna sneak away for a minute?”

“I’d do that in a heartbeat, but I’m afraid of what we’ll stumble across in this house.”

She laughed and looked around at their friends. “Maybe we’ll find a sex cave.”

“There’s no sex cave,” Ginny said as she walked past them. “Trust me, I tried to build one.”

They laughed and he focused on the woman in his arms. “We’ll make one for ourselves.”

They swayed to the soft music pumping through speakers and he let the sounds of their friends fade away as he stared at her. She was looking up at him too, beautiful caramel swirls dancing as she smiled. He’d shown up in Wildes with zero intention of finding love or anything and he’d foundeverything.

“You’ve got your thinking face on, hotshot,” she teased.

He smiled and kissed the tip of her beautiful nose. “Thinking we should find an old ranch and turn it into our forever home.”

“You going to become a rancher now?”

“Only if I get to wear a cowboy hat.”

She laughed, fingers tugging at the leather rope tied around the topknot, letting his hair loose. “I’m sure we can make that happen. I do prefer the firefighter.”

“Firefighting cowboy?”

“No,” she said with a laugh. “Just you.”

He slid his hand under the dark curtain of her hair and wrapped it around the back of her neck. Her head tipped back slightly, eyes sparking with desire and he narrowed his eyes.

He growled. “Stop seducing me.”

“Can’t help it. I married a stone cold fox.”

He laughed, feeling a blush spread over his cheeks as he dipped his head to kiss her. She smiled against his mouth, fingers tangling in his hair. Their friends hooted and whistled around them, but he didn’t bother to pull away. They could watch if they wanted, he honestly didn’t give a shit. He was so fucking happy and if he couldn’t sneak his wife away to consummate their marriage, he would make out in front of everyone.

“Gross,” a soft voice said beside them and he broke away and found Cal staring up at them with a weird face. “Can we eat the cake now, Mama?”

Daisy sniffled and pressed her face into his neck as Rafferty ruffled his son’s hair. “Sure.” Once he rushed off to where the cake was, he looked at his wife. “You sure you want to adopt him?”

“We’ll have to teach him about timing.”

“Don’t want to scar him for life, so yeah.”

She smirked and released him to link their fingers. “I am so excited for us to be a family, Raff.”

“You’ve always been our family, Hero. Everything else is just a piece of paper.”

“That piece of paper is quite important,” she added and they walked to where their friends, dogs and son were waiting. “Besides, I like that he calls me Mama.”

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