Chapter Thirty-Six

· Thirty-Six ·

Will

Walking through a field of wildflowers with Juliet Wilmot on my arm, I smile, my heart so impossibly full, it feels like it could burst.

Juliet smiles up at me, too. Afternoon sunlight kisses her skin, warms her cheeks, sparkles in her eyes. “I love your family,” she says.

My smile deepens. I’m still basking in the afterglow of lunch with all my family, Juliet at the table with us. How easily she fell into their rhythm, the rowdy conversation, the jokes and laughter, how, already, she’s won over Eleanor, who was sitting on her lap by the time we finished eating. “They love you. I told you they would.”

Summer’s lush beauty glows around us—golden sun, tall lime-green grass, a sea of magenta, violet, and buttercup-yellow blossoms. Any other day, I’d be stopped in my tracks, soaking in the glorious view, the vast beauty all around me. But not today. Because Juliet is here. And her beauty is the only beauty I see.

“I’m glad you were confident,” Juliet says, playfully glaring up at me. “I, however, had some very natural nerves about my first Orsino family meal.”

“That’s all right,” I tell her. “I was there to smooth things over until you felt comfortable. That’s what partners do, after all.”

Juliet smiles. “Yeah, it is.” She tips her head. “What’s your astrological sign?”

I frown. “Leo, I think? Why?”

Her eyes widen. “Wait, when is your birthday?” Her eyes widen even more. “I don’t know your birthday!”

A laugh jumps out of me.

“Will, I’m freaking out—I told you I loved you and let you do very deliciously filthy things to me last night and I didn’t know your birthday!”

“Ah.” I curl an arm around her and draw her close. “I didn’t know your birthday, either. Doesn’t mean we love each other any less. Just means…there’s lots left to learn.” I peer down at her, happy to see concern dissolving from her expression. “When is your birthday?”

“June 20,” she tells me. “I’m a Gemini.”

“August 15,” I tell her.

“Definitely a Leo,” she says. Her smile returns. She’s beaming up at me.

“What is it?” I ask.

Juliet clasps my hand in hers again. “Two things. First, I get to celebrate your birthday with you—it’s right around the corner! And second, we’re an excellent astrological match.”

I grin. “I’ll put together my birthday list for you ASAP, but I can give you a hint: all gifts will be received in the bedroom.”

“Spoken like a true Leo.” She bites her lip, heat in her eyes, then draws me down for a kiss.

“Astrology, the zodiac…You believe in that stuff?”

“I find it compelling.” She peers up at me, love in her eyes. “Do you?”

“Hadn’t up to this point, but…” I squeeze her hand. “I imagine I could be persuaded, if it’s got something good to say about you and me being together.”

A soft noise of contentment leaves her. Glancing out across the land, she sighs happily and squeezes my hand again. “I love it here,” she says.

Peering down at her, I feel my heart start to race. Because that’s something I want us to talk about, soon. If she thinks she could build a life up here with me.

If she’d want to.

I squeeze her hand back. “I’m glad.”

“So,” she says, as we start walking again, passing near the barn. “Google told me that cows live a maximum of twenty years. Which means Buttercup the cow who converted you to vegetarianism is either ancient or I actually met Buttercup 2.0.”

I smile. “Do you believe in reincarnation, Juliet?”

She laughs softly. “I don’t know. Do you?”

“I do,” I tell her. “And to me, the spirit of Buttercup reunited with and lives on in Buttercup 2.0. That or I’m just too devastated that she passed and I’m desperate for anything to help me avoid my grief.”

“You are such a sweetly sensitive soul.”

“With tree trunks for biceps,” I remind her, making a feigned serious expression.

She laughs.

I slip her hand from my arm and turn to face her fully. I step close, until I can see the blue-green flecks of her irises, their stormy gray edges. “What’s so funny?”

She tips her head. Her hand settles over my heart. A soft smile lifts her mouth. “I just love you, my strong and silent, gentle giant.”

“Gentle giant, huh?”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmurs, pressing up on tiptoe.

I take her mouth with a fierce, loving kiss. Then I bend, throw her over my shoulder, and swat her ass.

Juliet squawks, scaring a flock of birds from the trees.

“Will Orsino! What are you doing?”

“Just living up to my description!”

She laughs against my back and swats my butt, too. “Then carry on, gentle giant!”

“Where to?” I ask.

She presses up, and I shift her, lowering Juliet so that her legs can wrap around my waist, her dress rucked high at her hips. She kisses me soft and sweet and tells me, “Home.”

I stare at her, my heart pounding as I reach within myself for the courage she deserves. “Do you think…one day, you could call this home? Do you think you might want to live a life here, with me?”

She stares down at me, love shining in her eyes, her hand settled over my heart. “I think that sounds like a dream come true.”