Chapter 27

Life could be tough.It could be lonely and painful and unforgiving. Especially when love was involved. But it could also be amazing. Thrilling. Taz knew this. His sister had had the kind of love most folks dreamed of. Yet she and her husband were taken so young.

And even though he had a good read on the situation at hand, life had taught him never get too comfortable. And more importantly, always expect the unexpected.

The flight back to Bozeman took just over four hours. A good tailwind cut down their time, but still, it was a long ass day. After they landed, he'd driven over to his mom's and got the girls. She hadn't asked questions, just smiled when she spied Scarlett in the passenger seat. The girls, however, were a different story.

They'd squealed like a bunch of stuck pigs, their laughter and happiness contagious, and the ride back to the ranch had been full of giggles, questions (most he and Scarlett deflected) and of course, singing.

While Scarlett decompressed, he managed to make a meal, then there'd been an extended story time. When that was over and done with, they tucked the girls in and Scarlett put Hank down in the spare room, where he'd put together one of the girls' cribs over a week ago.

Taz was in the kitchen doing some cleanup when Scarlett appeared.

"Hey," she said softly, walking over to him. She licked her bottom lip, a nervous gesture, and he grabbed her hand.

"We should talk," he said.

She followed him into the living room and perched on the edge of the sofa. "I can't thank you enough. For what you did for me and Hank."

Taz wasn't working up to a slow build. He was coming in fast and hot. "I love you."

Scarlett's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

"It's okay," he said. "Just listen. Let me do the talking."

She cracked a small smile. "You're good at that."

"Always been a strong point." He blew out a breath and rolled his shoulders. He was really doing this. Laying everything on the line. "It might sound corny, but I think I've loved you ever since I saw you in the post office, standing there so fierce and righteous in your nightie. You have something that I was missing. You are someone I never knew I needed. Until I did. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and the girls and Hank."

He took a moment, his throat tight. "Scarlett, you're all I need. All I want. And though we haven't known each other for years, I think it's been long enough for you to know I don't waste time on things that have no meaning for me. I love you and I think that you?—"

"I do," she said, jumping to her feet. Her eyes were shiny. Her hair a wild mess of waves he was dying to sink his hands into. And her feelings, her heart, were there for him to see. "I love you, Taz. I never dreamed I'd get the chance to meet a man who is everything to me. Who is the best kind of man I want to have in Hank's life, but you've got to know that I'm not perfect. In fact, most of the time I'm the opposite of perfect."

She took a step away. "I'm stubborn." She shrugged. "Even when I know I'm wrong I won't admit it half the time. I leave globs of toothpaste in the sink and my hair clogs the shower drain. I eat too much chocolate and I like to have dance parties when no one is looking."

"I know," Taz said softly, thinking back to a day when he caught her in the rain.

"Sometimes I go quiet. Usually when I'm sad. When I remember things about my mom. About what it felt like to love someone who left me behind."

"I get that."

"I know. But I don't know if I can survive that again." She turned back to him. "You have to be sure. I need you to know that you own every piece of me. All of it. The good. The bad. The spaces between the good and the bad. That means that you own my heart. My soul."

She let out a soft sigh, eyes shiny with unshed tears. "Those things can't be returned. Once I give them to you, they're yours forever. I might have more pieces than you can handle so you need to think about that because I'm not perfect and love might not be enough." Her breath caught. She had to get this right. "I'm just me."

"What you are," Taz said, voice thick and gruff. "Is everything I want. You're here with me now and I'm not letting you go. Those pieces inside you?" He took a step closer. "They fit inside me perfectly. I love you, Peaches."

He stepped closer still and dipped his head. "I'm going to show you how much." The pulse at her neck was erratic and he heard her catch her breath when his tongue tasted her skin.

Taz kissed her then, a slow unraveling kind of thing that had his body hard and ready much too early. He needed this to last as long as it could. With a groan he tore his mouth from hers.

"We've got all night," he whispered roughly, then silently led her up to his bedroom.

With the door closed, the kids tucked in and asleep, the two of them slowly undressed. Taz kissed every inch of Scarlett's body, from the top of her head to the bottom of her toes. There were some spots he paid special attention to, the back of her right knee, the indent at the base of her neck, the treasure between her legs.

They came together in a wordless celebration of love, eyes meeting, fingers touching, bodies moving as one. And once it was over he pulled her into his arms and the two of them fell asleep.

For the first time in nearly a week, Taz got enough shuteye to feel good and refreshed when he woke up. The sun was creeping up and he kissed the sleeping woman curled into his side. Gently he got out of bed, careful not to wake her, and after pulling on a pair of sleep pants left the bedroom.

He checked on the girls, they were still asleep, and then made his way to Hank's room. The boy was chattering to himself, the tops of his toes visible over the crib. Taz got him changed and dressed in a clean onesie and took him downstairs. He fed him, then set him down in the living room to play with his toy horse, while Taz rustled up some breakfast.

He had scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit ready when the girls wandered downstairs, hair all over the place, sleep still on their faces, their hands glued to Scarlett's as they led her over to the kitchen table.

There were no questions. No wonderings about the fact that Scarlett and Hank were in their home. There was only the rightness of the situation.

Scarlett kissed him good morning and accepted a cup of coffee. She glanced over to her son and then back to him. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me." He leaned over the island and kissed her. "Just yet."

"Keep that up and we won't make it through breakfast."

"How do you know that's not my plan?"

She laughed. A sound that was like a drug to him. "The kids might get in the way."

He served breakfast and he and Scarlett were just about to clean up when his cell pinged. He scooped it off the counter.

"That was Millie. She's in labor." Worried, he stared at the phone. "She's early."

"Oh my God. We have to go to the hospital." Scarlett jumped off her stool.

"We do." Taz grabbed a small box out of the cupboard in the kitchen. He looked down at it. "But before that happens I need to do something."

"What's that Daddy?" Cameron asked.

"It's a ring," he said turning around to face Scarlett.

"What kind of ring?" Ryan wanted to know.

The answer to that was easy. Taz smiled and opened the box. "The kind of ring a prince offers a princess."

"Oh, Taz," Scarlett said, tears springing to her eyes.

"The kind of ring that means forever."

She walked into his arms, and he knew he was never letting her go. The girls danced and squealed in delight, their happiness a fire that caught as Hank turned over and got up onto his hands and knees to rock back and forth.

"You haven't given me an answer," he teased lightly, holding up the ring.

She held out her hand. "I can't speak," she managed to whisper.

Taz placed the ring on her finger and in that moment their pieces fit together perfectly. In that moment, the rest of their lives began.