Page 19 of Claiming Cowboy
“I’m the luckiest bastard in the state,” he says while gently rubbing my belly.
“What does that make me?” I tease while blushing.
“The woman I love. The best woman in the world. The woman of my dreams. Take your pick, sunshine,” he says before kissing me a second time. He can’t ever stop at one.
I love him all the more for it. “I loveyou.”
“Again, I’m the luckiest bastard in the state. I’ll say it to everyone,” he chuckles, then he raises his voice and shouts, “I’m the luckiest bastard in the state!”
He gets some laughs, some cheers, and some claps. He winks at me while I flush red. Laughter spills out of me anyway and I tug him closer, rubbing his back. Before I can say a word, Maya bounces over to me, beaming.
She looks at Oliver – now her husband after a quick, small, and intimate ceremony – then pouts. “Can I?”
“Of course, baby,” he says with a grin.
“What? Are you okay?” I say in a rush.
Maya presses a hand to her flat belly, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Our babies are going to be besties too!”
“Our?”
“I’m pregnant!” She yells, then hugs Oliver. “We’re pregnant.”
He looks at her with total adoration, so much love and warmth in his eyes that I’m afraid he’ll cry like he did at his wedding. I beam. “That’s great news!”
“I know. I can’t believe it. Also, for the record, Ryder. You’re not the luckiestmanin the state until she says yes,” Maya insists.
“She does, regularly. To many things,” he answers before taking a seat and guiding me down onto his lap. He rubs my thighs.
“You know exactly what I mean. Paige does too,” Maya says.
She and Oliver order some food. While Oliver talks about baby names, about what to prepare, about what Maya will need, Maya comments on how healthy my baby must be, how good my sweets are, how I barely need her. It’s pure happiness, love, and more than I thought I’d find here.
I feel Ryder watching me and glance over as he traces my ring finger again and again. I nibble my bottom lip. I already found the ring – he never hides things well – and love it. I just have to wait for the question if I even let him get it out since I want to behis wife so much. A best friend. Babies on the way. A job I love. A man who’s both my safe place and my wildest adventure. And the perfect little town to build a forever in.
Becoming Ryder’s wife won’t change any of it, it’ll only make everything more certain. It’s my way of telling him, every single day, that I choosehim. This life.Us.
And for the rest of our lives, I’ll keep choosing him. No more doubt. Just joy, love, and the future we’ve built together.
