Beauty's Kiss(50)
“What else?” he asked.
“My job.”
“Will be waiting. No one’s going to fire you over taking a few days off, and good grief, wouldn’t it be nice to miss one week of that horrible Tuesday Night Book Group?”
Taylor giggled and then her giggle turned to a heavy sigh. “But Maureen will talk. The gossip.”
“And if it’s not Maureen, then it will be Carol Bingley, who used to gossip about all us Sheenan boys. But what I’ve learned is that even if you don’t go, or do anything bad, those same folks will talk anyway. It’s not personal. It’s just what they do.”
She stifled another sigh “True.”
He smoothed her long dark hair back from her face, kissed her bare shoulder. He’d loved it when she’d giggled a moment ago. She sounded so young and carefree and it made his heart lift, happy. He’d never met anyone he’d wanted to make laugh the way he wanted to make Taylor laugh. He’d never met anyone he’d wanted to love the way he wanted to love her.
Taylor Harris deserved the sun and the moon.
And Troy Sheenan was damned determined to give her the sun and the moon and all the stars in the sky, too.
“I love you, Taylor.” He kissed her again. “And if you’re not ready to leave Marietta yet, that’s okay. San Francisco will always be there. You come see my world there when you’re ready.”
She was silent a long moment. “Is that where you’d want to raise your kids... in the city?”
An interesting question, one he hadn’t asked himself before but now that she’d put it to him... no. He didn’t want to raise his kids in a big city. He’d want to raise them here, in Marietta. “I think my kids would have to be raised in Montana. With you here, it once again feels like home.”
She sat up, pulling the sheet with her. “You’d live on the Sheenan ranch?”
“No. We’d find our own place.” He saw her eyes widen at the use of we. “Preferably a big house on Bramble Lane,” he added, tugging on a long strand of her dark silky hair. “That way during the summer our kids could walk to the library to see their mom.”
Taylor blinked hard, her eyes turning liquid. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“I want to marry you, Taylor.” He hesitated a moment, and smiled crookedly. “I couldn’t imagine any woman more perfect for me.”
She knocked away the tears. “And you wouldn’t mind if I wanted to work after we got married and had kids?”
“Of course not. You’re my book girl. How could I take you away from what you love most?”
“But maybe I love you most,” she said softly.
“That’s a good answer.” Smiling, he reached out to catch the next tears before they could fall. “But there is no reason you can’t have a family and do the work you love. I believe in you, Taylor. I believe you should be who you want to be. If you want to continue at the library, I’m one hundred percent behind you. If you want to work part-time, then that’s what you should do. And if you want to stay home, I’m good with that, too. But I love you too much, and respect you too much, to make life decisions for you.”
“You are one evolved man, Troy Sheenan,” she whispered, leaning over to kiss him.
He pulled her down on top of him, kissing her back, tasting the salt of her tears. “My mother taught me well.”
“I wish I could have met her, Troy.”
“I wish you could have, too. She would have loved you. You would have been the daughter she never had.”
“I hope we have a little girl. We could name her after your mom.”
“I hope we have a little girl, and I hope she looks just like you.”
“But without the big glasses.”
“I’d love it if she wore big glasses. It’ll help keep all the boys away.”
Taylor punched him lightly in the shoulder. “I thought you said you loved me in glasses.”
“I do. But as you know, I’m highly evolved.”
Taylor didn’t know whether she should laugh, cry or punch him again. “So most boys don’t like girls who wear glasses.”
“Well, we both know that most boys are fools. Let’s just say I personally think book girls should rule the world.”
She laughed and kissed him. “You are so good with words.”
“I mean every word I say.” He clasped her face in his hands, and kissed her slowly, thoroughly, completely. “I love you, Taylor, with all my heart, and I want to have a life with you, and make babies with you, and grow old with you. You are my friend, my lover, and my future.”