Page 88 of Rocky Mountain Desire
Hope nodded. Then she didn’t know what to say. There was a ring in her pocket and a quilt on the side table, both things that seemed to ask a pretty big question, but she wasn’t sure how to turn the conversation that direction.
Matt snapped upright. “Shit. What time is it?”
She checked her watch. “Nearly noon.”
“Fuck. I mean, what day is it? I’ve been buried up to my eyebrows in calves and—” He glanced at the bedside table and rumbled to a stop. “Oh. It’s Saturday, isn’t it?”
Hope couldn’t stop herself. She laughed, soft at first then louder. His expression of total dismay turned the situation into something she was going to remember for a long, long time.
Maybe even forever.
Matt pulled the quilt over and opened it up, smoothing it over his pillows. He fingered the empty twine then looked at her expectantly.
“Oh no, Matt Coleman. You ain’t getting out of this one.”
He mock-pouted. “Sewed my fingers to the bone—figured my message would be clearer if I spoke your dialect.”
She still couldn’t believe it, that he’d found the time to do up a quilt. Rough as it was. “You going to make me beg?”
His grin flashed bright—that one that said sex and mischief and too much Coleman to argue with. “I like making you beg.”
She sat up straighter, intending to crawl over him and make him squirm, but he beat her to the punch, pulling her hand forward as if looking for something.
“Where is it?”
“Where’s what?” Hope tugged her hand free. “Ah, I need to do my nails—”
He rolled off the bed and scooted her hips forward until she perched on the edge of the mattress. “May I have it please?”
It took a moment to dig in her pocket. She had to lie back to get at the ring.
Matt growled in approval. “Hmm, maybe you should just stay in that position for a while.”
A sharp nip along the inside of her thigh made her gasp. She sat, the ring trapped between thumb and forefinger. “Later. First, I think you left this lying around in public. You should take better care of special things.”
He was up on one knee, pulling the ring from her grasp, holding her hand captive. “I intend on taking very good care of something special. If you’ll have me.”
Hope let him slip the ring on her. “You just try to get away.”
They grinned at each other. She opened her arms and he scooped her up, twirling her around before depositing them both back on the bed, all tangled together.
There was a whole lot of kissing and caressing going on, but Hope wanted a few answers before she gave in and enjoyed herself. “Whose ring was it?”
Matt rolled her on top of him, his hands slowing but not stopping. “My gramma’s. My mom gave it to me a while back. Said if I wasn’t a stupid mule I might be able to figure out the perfect woman who could appreciate not only me, but being a part of the Coleman family.”
“Your mom said that?”
He nodded. “She likes you. They all like you. Hell, my dad even chipped in and made one of the quilt squares. Of course, he called me a few names first considering the bad timing. And the fact that Mom refused to help him, but he did good. All of them did.”
His family, drawing her into their midst. “Who else?”
Matt laughed. “Blake made the log cabin. He said Jaxi was twitching so hard watching him use her machine he finally gave up and hand-sewed straight seams and then cut until it looked right. Travis—that boy surprised us all and did the star. Not sure what the idea is behind it, but it’s kinda appropriate.”
“You calling your brother shiny?”
“No, unique.”
She just listened, took it all in.
