Every Kiss(2)
“Damn it, Cal,” he whispers before dropping his mouth to my neck, gently sucking just below my jaw. “The things you can do to me with just one kiss.”
“You don’t do so bad yourself.”
He presses a final kiss to the hollow of my neck and growls impatiently before sitting upright again. “You totally made me lose track of what I brought you out here for, and now all I can think about is dragging you out to a secluded place in the woods and finishing what you just started.”
Well, hot damn. I’m game. “I like the way you think, cowboy.” I pause to trail my fingertip down his firm chest. “If we disappear for a bit, they’ll understand. Hell, I’m sure Makenna would be disappointed if I didn’t find the time to get you naked at some point today. She thinks I’m the sexual deviant. Never in a million years would she imagine that sweet Wesley Baxter is way worse than I am.”
“Yeah, well, I like that it’s our little secret.” His hooded eyes look up at me, and he nods in the direction of the thick wooded area behind the house. “Do you seriously want to? Out there? We can wait until we get home, you know. I was only kidding.”
“No, you weren’t.”
“Okay, maybe I wasn’t, but I wasn’t expecting you to take me up on it.”
I shrug. “Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones invading my body, or maybe it’s all the sexual tension radiating from Makenna and Sawyer after that incredible proposal. But, yeah, I suddenly can’t think of anything other than getting my husband alone and making out with him in the middle of the woods.”
He cups his hand on my behind and pulls me into the warm wall of his chest. “Just make out?”
“Among other things.”
A wicked smirk spreads his lips slightly, and he uses the ropes of the swing to raise himself to his feet. “Let’s go before they come looking for us.”
He grasps my hand and pulls me along behind him, and I glance back at the house. I don’t expect to see Dalton staring back at me from the kitchen window, and I’m just about to tell Wes that we’ve been spotted already, but Dalton pretends to zip his smiling lips and steps out of sight. Something in his approving grin tells me he’s probably done this a time or two.
Wes takes one determined step after another, weaving through the bare trees and gnarled vines and brush. He leads the way, searching carefully for the perfect spot as he walks, and when he stops suddenly, I crash into him and nearly fall.
He whips around to catch me, and his strong hands grip my waist until I’m steady on my feet. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just a little too preoccupied to be walking, I guess.”
He takes a few slow steps, urging me backward until I feel rough bark pressing into my back, and he inches closer until there’s not even a millimeter of space between us from our chests to our thighs. “I love you, Callie Baxter.”
“And I love you. More than anything in the world.” I look into his eyes and see so many emotions swirling around in them. Respect. Trust. Love. Lust. Which explains the hardness I feel pushing painfully against my belly. “Umm . . . you wanna ease up there a little, cowboy? Believe me, I get that what we’re about to do is a major turn-on, but you’re kinda killing me, jabbing into my stomach like that.”
He scrunches his eyebrows together for a split second, but realization immediately follows, and he steps back. “As much as I’d like to take credit for it, that’s not me. Again, you made me forget why I wanted you to meet me in private in the first place.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a little blue box adorned with a silky white ribbon. “Mine isn’t the only package I want to give you right now,” he chuckles. “This is for you.”
“Tiffany’s? Really?”
“Really. Open it.”
I tug on the ribbon and lift the lid to reveal a gleaming silver necklace. The pendant is a silver heart-shaped lock with “Tiffany’s” engraved on it, and a little skeleton key dangles beside it. “It’s gorgeous, Wes. I love it. But why did you get me a gift on your birthday?”
He carefully extracts it from the box and makes a twirling motion with one of his fingers until I turn around. I feel the cool metal slink against my skin when he brings it around my neck to clasp it. I turn back around, and he places a hand on the tree behind me on each side of my head, caging me in. “I couldn’t let Sawyer get all the glory today. It’s a special day for us, too.”
“Us? Like I said, it’s your birthday. You shouldn’t be getting gifts for me.”