CHAPTER THREE

Part of me knew he’d be happy to start trying again. But when he says yes right away, I can’t keep the tears back. One slips into my hair. His thumb comes up and brushes it away.

“Are you happy?” he asks.

I just nod.

“Good,” he says. “That’s all I want, redbird.”

At first, it was hard for me to believe that was truly all he wanted. I spent so much time with my first husband who didn’t care what I needed. It frightened me at first that Gerard was ready and willing to give me anything. It took me a long time to realize his kindness isn’t a trap. Or a trick so he can hurt me, the way it was with Clint.

But old habits die hard. Even now, it makes my head spin that there’s no cruelty hidden under his actions.

When he says he loves me, he means it.

When he does something for me, there’s no catch.

I clear my throat. “Kiss me again,” I beg.

He does, giving me a taste of his tongue before pulling back. His mouth is firm and warm on my neck as he kisses down to my collarbone. I feel the brush of his palm over my breast. Then he tugs and cool air washes over my right breast and nipple, tightening it.

My eyes flutter shut. The cool air is replaced by his hot mouth.

My spine arcs, my hips strain up.

He presses them back down, his palm right above my clit. “Stay still, redbird,” he orders.

“Yes, sir,” I gasp.

He lowers his mouth back to my nipple, curling it with the tip of his tongue. He flicks it and I moan. Then he sucks it with gentle pulses.

Heat flares between my thighs. I’m acutely aware of the emptiness like a heartbeat inside me.

I need him.

I need my husband.

I need my Sovereign.

I need him to take me here on the soft earth. Then bring me back to the house when he’s done, my palms and knees stained green. I want to fall asleep satisfied, with brambles in my hair and starlight burned into my eyes.

My knees spread. The heel of his palm slips lower to feel where I’m still wet from the last time he took me.

He strokes my pussy gently. My chest heaves. Overhead, the stars and moon are bright and blurry through my lashes.

The wanting is so strong it’s like a gravitational pull. I would say like the tide, but it never ebbs. It only flows and then flows stronger until it pulls me under.

Until I drown in him.

Without warning, he flips onto his back and drags me across his broad body to straddle his hips. My hair falls back, my fingers dig into his shirt. Between my thighs, I feel his raw power.

Desperate, I press my naked, wet pussy against the hardness under his pants and grind.

But he stops me. Big hands on my thighs, keeping them down. Our eyes lock and I have to bite back a whine. I know better than to protest.

For a moment, I see a flash of cruelty in his eyes and I have to remind myself that this is just play.

At the end of it, his hands will be gentle.

“I think you should wait,” he says, his voice low in his chest. “Show me how good you can be for me.”

Desire shivers down my thighs and makes my toes curl in the dewy grass. He takes me by the neck with his rough palm, pulling me down. Until our mouths are inches apart.

“I think you need spanked first,” he says. “Just to remind you of your place. Then I’ll fuck your cunt, you needy, little whore.”

Oh God, he knows exactly what to say. He always has, but after six years together, he can bring me to my knees with a few short words.

His eyes soften.

“But for right now, just be with me,” he says softly. “Wife.”

I melt into him, laying my head on his broad chest. His heart is a steady drum, and in it I feel my world. I swear sometimes his blood flows like the river, his heart beats like the rain coming over the mountains, and his skin burns like the summer sun.

He’s lived so long on Sovereign Mountain that they are one and the same.

Perhaps that’s why I fell so hard. He’d brought me here and showed me what he loved first. I saw the care he took of it and deep down knew he would love me the same way.

“What’s going on in this head?” he asks quietly.

His fingertips brush my hair, playing with the strands.

“Are you sure you want another baby?” I whisper.

“You sound worried. Are you already pregnant?”

“No,” I say quickly. “I’m still taking my birth control. I just want us both to be sure before we start trying.”

He rumbles in his chest, like he’s pleased. His palm rests on my back.

“Do you want another baby?” he asks.

I nod, chewing on my lip. His other hand comes up and cradles my thigh, holding my body over his. I love laying on him like this and soaking in the warmth of his body. He’s always so calm and I feel it seep through and slow my heart.

“Let’s make another baby then,” he says. “I meant it when I said yes.”

My stomach swoops and I push myself up to rest my chin on his chest. He’s gazing up at the stars, their pale light in his eyes.

“Just like that?” I whisper.

He glances down and a smile ghosts over his mouth. “Just like that.”

I can’t hold back my laughter. It’s pure joy and it bubbles up in me. Overflowing. God, that feels so good.

“I love you,” I whisper.

He gives me that look—the one that’s pure longing and admiration all at once. The first time I noticed it was when I caught him staring at me in the cabin, all those years ago. When I’d asked him what he was looking at and he said, “Just you.”

He says that a lot. I’ll catch him staring and it’s not for any reason. He’s just looking. One time I pushed him for a real answer and he took off his hat and slapped my ass with it.

“I’m just looking at what belongs to me, redbird,” he said.

I drag myself back to the present, knowing I’m going to have my fill of my husband later tonight.

“Did you take your pill today?” he asks.

I shake my head. “I thought maybe you’d say yes.”

He rumbles, a quiet laugh. “You’ve turned into a woman who knows what she wants.”

“I just know you.”

“You know me and you know what you want,” he muses.

I’m getting uncomfortable with being in his spotlight. “What do you think Cash will think about being a brother?”

His jaw works. “It depends. I think he’ll like it overall.”

I furrow my brow. “I hope we don’t have adjustment problems.”

“There will always be problems,” he says. “We’ll figure them out.”

I nod, tracing my finger over the buttons of his Henley. Enjoying how firm his chest is, how it feels like a warm slab under my touch. It was one of the first things I noticed when he fucked me the night he saved me from the fire—how big and broad and warm he was against my body.

“What do you think it will be?” I muse.

“Maybe a little, redheaded girl. It’d be nice to get a child with your sweetness, redbird.”

“Cash is sweet,” I scold. “At least, when he chooses to be.”

“He’s bullheaded,” he says. “I’ve got my eye on him.”

“What if we get a redheaded girl who’s just like you?”

“That’s a deadly combination. I don’t know what I’d do.”

I love it when he’s relaxed and I can hear the amusement like a current beneath his voice. It used to be such a rare thing to see his humanity.

Now, I see it flashing here and there, like the sun darting from behind the clouds. When we married, I thought I loved Sovereign as deeply as I could. But watching him be a father to my son has made me realize it’s possible to love him more deeply still.