Someone to Love(81)

“Let’s do this.” I pull Lady Luck Tonight out of the stall and saddle her up. I help Kenny climb onboard and she gives a solid yank to the reins.

“Whoa.” I jump off the stall, landing behind her. Kenny hands me the leather straps, and I teach her how to use them as we make our way out of the barn.

“We’re going to kill this poor thing,” she whimpers with her body pressed against mine. Our hips move in time, slow and circular.

“She can handle it.” I bury a kiss in Kenny’s hair, close my eyes, and soak in the glory of the moment. “She’s sturdy and stout. She’s got the endurance of a Mack truck. Plus, we’re heading out less than a mile.”

We make our way past the corral, and the chaparrals press themselves against the sky like felt. Kenny scoots to the back of the saddle as far as she can, and I wrap my arms around her. I pepper her with kisses as we disappear down the bridle trail laden with bare maples. The evergreens loom, large and daunting, like nefarious shadows that refuse to give their secrets.

“I’ve never done anything like this.” Kenny touches her fingers to my cheek, and I kiss them. “You really know how to pull the magic from the air.”

And there it is. Magic. Kenny feels it, and so do I.

Lady Luck pulls in just shy of the meadow by the frozen pond. A spray of dappled light filters through the centurion Oak. Plumes of ethereal sunshine rise in vapors, transforming the snow-covered landscape into something just this side of a fairytale.

I hop down and help Kenny slip into my arms before leading us over to the boulders that skirt the area.

Kenny pulls me in gently by the neck and loves me with her lingering kisses.

God, I want her right here in the frozen tundra of the Alexander estate. I envision us laid out like silhouette cutouts, her hair sprayed out like ebony wings.

I drop to my knees, and she follows me down.

I pinch my lips at the oversight. “You weren’t supposed to do that.” I can’t hide the smile anymore. Joy has bubbled to the surface like hope unstoppable.

“Was I supposed to do this?” She unbuttons my jeans and looks up at me with a dare.

I pull the ring from my pocket before we have my hard-on splitting the difference between us as a lasting matrimonial memory.

“I love you, Kenny.” I draw in a ragged breath. “You saved me. You taught me to breathe and showed me how to appreciate the beauty in every single moment. I never want to be without you.” I lick my lips, and the glacial breeze bites over them. “Kenny, I beg of you from the bottom of my heart—please, be my wife.” I hold out the ring like an offering. My cheek slides up on the side, and I hold my breath as her eyes widen with disbelief. I give an apprehensive smile. “Marry me—yes, or no?”





17


Kendall

Perfect Love





“Cruise!” I can’t stop staring at the beautiful ring he holds between us as we kneel in this frozen version of heaven. Everything in me surges. An explosion of brand new feelings go off inside me like fireworks, so potent and viral, they put excitement and wonder to shame.

Through the eye of this ring is a portal, a bright shiny path to a future with Cruise. It comes with a promise, backed by love, and everything in me sighs with relief because the very thing I decried as a fallacy, materialized in the only person I have ever wanted. And now, he held something tangible for me to have and to hold, from this day on.

“Yes!” It drills from my lungs, loud and capricious—crisp as the air that sings it back to me in an echo.

“Yes?” He looks unsure as if maybe he dreamed it.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!” I lunge into him with a swarm of wild kisses, salted with tears. I have never felt so whole, so happy and overwhelmed all at the same time.

“Yes.” Cruise closes his eyes a moment. He picks up my left hand and slips the ring on my finger. It glows against my skin. The diamond shimmers in the reserve of light like a star encased in a seam of moonlight. “It was my grandmother’s ring. I hope you don’t mind.”

“God, no. It’s beautiful. I’m touched it belonged to her.” I shiver into him. “And it fits. That’s a miracle.”

“You could trade it in, or we could get you something different for the wedding. I just thought it’d look gorgeous on you, and I was right.” His gaze never dips from mine.

“I don’t want anything different. This is perfect. You’re perfect.”

Cruise melts a kiss over my lips and runs his hands up the back of my sweater, warm and strong. The same arms that will love me tomorrow and the day after that until eternity unravels like a spool.

My coat acts like a blanket as I pull Cruise down to the snow. His face is alarmingly attractive against the backdrop of a sodden sky, and my stomach melts at the sight of him—at the thought of knowing he’ll always be mine. He kneads his hands over my body as if he were a sculptor, working my jeans down, anxious to have me. He dusts his fingers over my belly, slips his hand between my thighs, and his dimples dig in like twin shadows. Cruise watches from above as I writhe from his touch—he supervises with a heated intensity as he sets me on fire from the inside. This erotic bliss, this inflamed burst of ecstasy is the threshold to a new era in our lives. He relaxes over me and pushes in with his hips, slow and sweet, meeting me right there in my fevered delirium.