Page 104 of The Marriage Deal
Briggs kisses a trail back up my throat, my jaw, to my lips. Then his lips drift to the shell of my ear and he rumbles, “Tell me again, Lilah.”
“I love you, Briggs.”
The rumble of male pleasure as he pulls out and sinks back inside me in time with my words is everything. He never picks up his pace as he loves me softly and thoroughly. And when we shatter, it’s a full body shattering of his pieces and mine. We float down from the ether of our high, the pieces of us blending together in the chaos of a love we never expected, but one that is true and real and raw all the same.
When we finish, he pulls out to tuck me into the warmth of his chest within the safe circle of his arms. He tells me he loves me again and again through kissesto my hair as I fall into a dreamless sleep, finally content, in the arms of the man I’ll marryfor real.
40
NEVER LIVE IT DOWN
NASH
My phone pings from where it sits inside my pocket as I walk the dry, desert like land between the job site that will be Sunset Falls Ranch and Resort and the barn where Briggs currently works out of in a small, too tight, makeshift office.
After seeing the sprawling spaces the guy usually works in, his current space is laughable. It’s just more proof of how wrapped up in the little woman that he’s making his wife. I’m no fool, so I know for a fact that things went from being fake to really fucking real, really fucking fast.
Hell, I’m not sure they were ever fake to begin with.
I check my text.
Briggs:I’ve gotta run Mom into town. Lilah wanted to stay at the house. Head up there, will you?
The thought of her being up there alone puts fire under my step. I haven’t felt wholly comfortable with the woman being on her own since Briggs told me about the ex who fucked her over.
Me:Already heading that way.
Briggs:Thanks.
I don’t have experience with psychopaths, but from what I’ve read about the soulless fuckers and the picture painted of Lilah’s ex, I’d put money down he’s one. The only comfort is that, for the most part, when his crew of losers moves on, they usually stay moved on.
But their crew also don’t end up landing the heart of a man as wealthy as Briggs, either. A man who uses that wealth to put the lot of them away for good.
I told Briggs his digging made me nervous for Lilah. He told me about Carson’s warning to be vigilant. I haven’t slept right since.
That could be because I’ve been bunking in the Alder house the last three nights, unbeknownst to Lilah. Well, she saw me this morning, but the party was excuse enough for that.
It makes me uneasy, the two people I love like family and the woman they love sleeping like sitting ducks for whoever and whatever decided to prey on them. I’m not sure what I’d do or how I’d help in the event shit went down. I just know I want to be there for whatever that shit was.
If I went down with the people I loved, then I was going down happy.
But I wouldn’t go down without giving the best fight I had in me.
I hit the barn and Briggs’ temporary office with a grin. I like to rib the guy about the sacrifices he’s made to be close to a woman, but I know I’d do the same.
It’s a bit of a hill from the barn to the house, and I’ve already worked up a sweat under the hot sun. Hey, maybe I’m sweating out the liquor I drowned myself in last night when a certain woman with a wild head of tight curls refused to spare me even a single glance.
Fuck, it’s hot out here. It’s a different kind of heat from the Alberta sun I’m accustomed to. I haven’t decided if I like it yet.
Maybe if I got out on that big lake that edged town. The one the falls fed. I bet it’d be more bearable then.
Maybe I’ll buy myself one of those boats people use to whip others around on tubes. I could stop in the middle of the blue and dive into the deep to cool off from this unrelenting heat. Yeah, that could be fun.
I’d buy myself a bright one. Blue or maybe lime green. The paint would sparkle?—
Who the fuck?
My heart kicks over a beat in my chest as my boot hits a rock and I stumble. I right myself in time to see the black sedan, shiny and tinted, pull beside Lilah’s Tahoe.
