When T.J. sat down beside her on the sofa, he put his arm around her and drew her close. “Are you having a good time?” he whispered close to her ear.
“It’s been a very nice evening,” she said, smiling. “I love how relaxed and informal it’s been. Thank you for including Seth and I in your family party.”
With his arm still around her shoulders, he reached out to take her hand in his. “This is the first one of our family New Year’s Eve parties that I’ve really looked forward to seeing the ball drop,” he admitted.
“Why?”
“Because that means I get to kiss you,” he said, his eyes filled with such promise it robbed her of breath. “And since there’s an hour’s difference between here and the east coast, I get to kiss you when it’s midnight here, as well.”
“I have a hard time believing this is the first time you’ve had a date on New Year’s Eve,” she said doubtfully.
“It’s the first one since the family started ringing in the New Year together,” he said, lifting her hand to his mouth to kiss the back of it.
The gesture made her feel warm all over. T.J. hadn’t made any attempt to hide their relationship or whatever it was that was going on between them. From the moment his family began to arrive earlier in the day, he had taken every opportunity to show her affection.
“All right, guys,” Nate said, standing up. “The ball has started dropping. On your mark, grab your girls...kiss!”
Heather might have laughed at the man’s countdown, but T.J.’s mouth immediately covered hers in a kiss that caused her head to spin. When he lifted his head, he smiled.
“Happy New Year, sweetheart. I have a feeling this is going to be the best year ever—for both of us.”
Looking into T.J.’s hypnotic hazel eyes, she hoped with all of her heart he was right.
Eight
The next morning, after the family finished the brunch Heather and his sisters-in-law had made, everyone took off to drive back to their ranches and T.J. breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced over to check on Seth, who was playing on the braided rug on the other side of his office desk. He loved his family—loved getting together with them—but for the first time since he’d started hosting the New Year’s Eve parties, he was glad to see them leave.
He’d spent a miserable night in the master suite, knowing that the woman he wanted in his bed was just down the hall. Even the cold shower he had suffered through when everyone went upstairs to their rooms hadn’t cooled off the burn he had for Heather.
He had asked her to sleep in his room, but she apparently wasn’t yet ready for his family to learn the extent of their relationship. He was pretty sure his family had already figured it out, but if Heather wasn’t ready for it to be common knowledge that they were sleeping together, he wasn’t going to push the issue.
“Did you send one of your men over to tend to my horses or should I go over to feed them and muck out the stalls?” Heather asked, walking into his office.
When she came around his desk, he turned his chair, took her by the hand and pulled her down onto his lap. “I sent Tommy Lee over there a couple of hours ago,” T.J. said, nodding. He gave her a peck on the lips. “When he came back he said everything looked fine.”
T.J. started to settle his mouth over hers to give her the kiss he knew they both wanted. But Seth chose that moment to get up from where he had been sitting to walk over to them.
“Mom-mom,” the little boy whined, rubbing his eyes.
“I think somebody is still tired from having such a big night,” she said, picking up Seth. She smiled. “I need to take him upstairs for a nap.”
“You want me to carry him up there for you?” T.J. asked, reaching up to stroke the little boy’s copper hair.
She shook her head. “You go ahead and finish whatever you were doing. I’ll probably only be a few minutes.”
T.J. couldn’t resist giving both of them a kiss on each of their cheeks. “I’ll be right here when you get back.”
As he watched Heather carry Seth from the room, T.J. couldn’t stop thinking about how quickly the two of them had become so important to him. From the time he had found them stranded on his side of the creek, all he’d been able to think about were ways to help them, to keep them with him.
He knew of only one way to do that permanently—with a ring, a preacher and a lifetime promise. Was he really thinking about taking that step this soon?
T.J frowned. Watching her with his family last night, he had come to the realization that he loved her—had probably loved her from the moment she stepped out of her car that night in his garage. And he couldn’t care more for Seth if the little boy had been his own child. But was he ready to make that commitment? He was almost positive Heather’s feelings for him went just as deep. Would she even consider becoming his wife?