Hard as Stone(193)
Jake chuckled deeply as he shook his head at the woman in his bed. “You still don’t get it, do you? Darlin’, I spent a fuckload of years doing bad shit for good reasons in the name of my job. I’m proud of what I accomplished, but that doesn’t mean that I liked the man I had to be. Here, in this little town with you and Heaven and the rest of your crazy family, I found the man I wanna be. I’m a Daddy now. I’m a respectable property and small business owner. And I’m gonna be a husband in no more than about six weeks so you best get on that shit,” he finished with a stubborn set of his jaw
Harmony’s jaw dropped as her eyes widened. “I-is that your way of proposing, Jacob Stone?” she asked when she could finally move her stunned lips.
“Proposing would indicate I made a request that you could refuse if you took a notion. I ain’t doing that shit. I’m goin’ with makin’ an irrefutable statement instead. You listening? Here it is. You’re marryin’ me, Harmony McKinnon, and makin’ a completely honest man out of me. We’re not doing that half-assed livin’ in sin bullshit for any longer than the six weeks it takes you to plan our wedding which I know you can do because you’re a kickass wedding planner. We’re doing this shit up right and proper, and I’m not given you a chance to say no to me.” Jake was unrelenting as he continued, laying it all out for her. “Tanner’s dead, so that means I can formally adopt Heaven now without any problems. She’s callin’ me Daddy, and I love it, but she’s gonna wear my last name just like you do. I’ll tell Abel tomorrow that he needs to get started on that shit, too,” he mused aloud as his woman gaped at him. “And you and our girl are moving in here starting now. I bought this house for all of us and this is where we’re gonna be staying. You’ll start every day in my bed under my roof, and you’re gonna end it that night in the same position. I love you – so deep that I can feel you inside me every time I take a breath, Harmony. I’m not letting go of that feeling and I’m not gonna let you avoid it either.”
Harmony opened and closed her mouth, trying to find her words as Jacob leaned over her, bracing one arm on either side of her head.
“Say you get all this, Harmony. Say you want it, too,” Jake demanded, his lips hovering just above hers.
“Y-yes,” she whispered a split second before his mouth covered hers, his tongue forcing its way between her lips to tangle with hers. Sinking her fingers into his hair, she moaned into his kiss, meeting every stroke of his tongue with one of her own, relishing the feel of her smooth lips dominating hers. She wasn’t sure how long they exchanged deep, wet kisses, but when he lifted his head, his lips were lifted in a self-satisfied smile. “I can’t believe you just bossed your way into marrying me, adopting my daughter and moving us in here.”
“What you call bossy, I call assertive.” Reaching one long arm toward the nightstand, he jerked the drawer open and rooted around inside. “I did forget something, though.”
Harmony raised one eyebrow. “Your vow to keep me barefoot and pregnant as much as you possibly can, Tarzan?”
“That goes without saying. Although, for a while, I think it just needs to be the three of us. I want Heaven to understand that no matter how many kids we have, she’s always gonna be my child, too. My first child. We add another baby in right away, she might not get that,” Jake replied, never missing a beat as he found what he was searching for, palmed it and pushed the drawer closed.
“I think you just made me fall in love with you a little more,” Harmony confessed huskily. She adored how much he loved her daughter. Well, their daughter, now.
“I’m glad, babe, but this is what I forgot,” he muttered, shifting on his side and lifting her left hand in his before sliding a platinum band down her slim ring finger.
Harmony gasped when she saw the size of the diamond winking on her finger. A simple but elegant emerald cut and at least two carats, the ring made a statement no one would ever miss. She was taken. Very, very taken by Jacob Stone.
“You like it?” he asked gruffly, watching her face closely. “I don’t know jackshit about rings, but that one made me think of you.”
“It’s beautiful,” she choked, still staring down at her hand. “Perfect, Jake,” she whispered, lifting her hand to touch his face. “You’re perfect.”
“Oh, I’m a long way from that, babe,” Jake denied, turning his head to kiss the inside of her palm. “But I am yours. Have been since the day you walked up to my table in the diner, looked at me with those pretty eyes I can’t help gettin’ lost in, and told me you’d stick with calling me Jake. I think I fell in love with you in that moment and I’ve been sinking deeper every day since.”