“YOU KNOW YOU’D better rock Sawyer’s naughty little world tonight after all this. I’m impressed, Mak.” I squeeze her lean frame to mine as tightly as I can. “I’m so happy for you.”
She playfully swats my arm. “Thanks, Callie, and believe me, I will. How long have you known he was going to propose?”
“Just a couple of days, actually, and it’s been killing me to keep my big mouth shut. He played the song for me yesterday, and I swear I cried for an hour.”
“You actually kept a secret?” She laughs musically, the highs and lows of it make the perfect song to match the look of absolute bliss on her face. I can’t remember the last time I heard her laugh like that. “That’s a pretty big deal.”
“I wouldn’t do it for just anyone. But Sawyer? I think we all need him around. Even Wes is happier now that he’s in our lives. They act a lot like he and Shane did together, and it’s heartwarming to see someone filling that empty place in him. In you, too.”
Before she can respond, Sawyer steps up behind her, circling his broad arms around her waist and pulling her against him. “What are you two pretty ladies talking about?”
“Oh, just about how impossibly perfect you are,” I reply, batting my eyelashes at him dramatically.
“Not even a little bit.” Sawyer snickers as a soft pink creeps into his cheeks. “But I’m glad I have you fooled.”
Makenna spins around in his arms to face him. “Well, I think you are. Thank you for today.”
“No, darlin’. Thank you for saying ‘yes.’” He lowers his mouth to hers in a smoldering kiss that almost makes me blush. Almost. I begin to step away quietly, but Sawyer mumbles something unintelligible into Makenna’s lips and grabs my elbow.
“What did you just say?”
Instead of stopping the kiss long enough to answer, he digs his cell phone out of his pocket and holds it out to me. I take it from his hands, unsure of what I’m supposed to do with it, but I unlock the screen anyway. There’s a message from my husband.
Wes Baxter: ‘I’m ready for her. Can you send her to the backyard?’
Ready for what? My husband is not a planner. At all. I can’t imagine what he’s up to, but I’m not going to stand here all day, trying to figure it out. I pass Dalton in the kitchen, and he doesn’t say a word, but the sly grin on his face is quite telling. He knows something. I’m going to have to keep an eye on these three guys from now on. They’re quite the little schemers. Sexy little schemers, nonetheless.
The back door slams shut behind me, and I immediately pull my sweater tighter around me when the cool March wind filters through the thin knit of my shirt. My eyes scrutinize the backyard, scanning through the trees for any sign of Wes. The apprehension coursing through my veins has me on high-alert, so when I hear his voice, I nearly jump out of my own skin.
“Hey, beautiful.”
I spin on my heel so fast that I have a hard time stopping myself. “What are you doing out here?” I descend the steps hurriedly and meet him at the side of the house just under the old oak tree. The weathered rope swing gently sways in the breeze, creaking slightly as it lumbers at the mercy of the wind.
He motions for me to sit on the wide plank of the swing, kneeling in front of me when I do. “I know things haven’t always been easy for us, Cal,” he begins. His crystal blue eyes bore into mine with an intensity that rivals anything I’ve ever felt. “Especially the last couple of years.”
“Wesley Baxter, you’re scaring the shit out of me. What’s wrong?”
The softest smile curls the corners of his mouth. “Nothing at all, love. Everything is perfect. Seeing what Makenna has gone through with Sawyer has made me appreciate every minute that I’ve had with you in my life. It reminds me of all the heartache we’ve been through and how we survived the storm. You stuck by me; you never left, even when I deserved it. I know I don’t tell you enough what you mean to me. You helped me through the darkest parts of my life, too. You made me a better man.”
I shift forward in the swing and wrap my arms around his neck. “No, you’ve always been a good man. You just lost sight of it for a little while, and I helped you find your way back. But it’s always been there.”
He begins to speak, but I lean forward and catch his bottom lip between the two of mine, knowing that he’ll argue with me all day over it. He groans softly and deepens the kiss, threading one hand into the hair at the nape of my neck and urging me closer. As soon as his tongue sweeps across my lip, warmth blooms just under my chilled skin, and I lose myself in him. Forgetting where I am, forgetting who I am, I plunge one hand down the back of his shirt, aching to feel his skin against mine. When my nails bite into the soft flesh at his spine, he hisses into my mouth, which encourages me to do it again.