My response, as noted, was decisive.
“I need stables, Johnny,” I pointed out, deciding to save the fact that I also might need rooms and use that if I needed to turn to another weapon in my arsenal for our argument.
“I got twenty-seven acres, Iz. I can build you stables and you got a lot more space to ride. When we were riding last weekend it felt like we barely left before we were home. We’ll need them and an outbuilding to put the ATVs, snow mobiles and bikes in, as well as a garage since you’re not parking your vehicle outside when it gets cold or rains. When that’s all cleared out, we can finish the downstairs with bedrooms for the kids we’re gonna have, and a family room so they can have their own space and do it all being far away so I can fuck you like you like it. We’ll redo up here so we got common area for the family and a master with a killer closet you can fill with your dresses and shoes and we got plenty of space for me to do you on the floor if I happen to see you get dressed, or undressed, however it happens.”
I was standing frozen, staring at the perfection of Johnny Gamble.
Johnny was not frozen.
Johnny was on a roll.
“You got three bedrooms and you want fifteen kids. I want two. I’m willing to compromise to bring that up to four, but four kids and two adults at the acres means we’ll be living on top of each other and that’s not what I wanna give my family. Plenty of room to put four bedrooms with two Jack and Jill baths downstairs and a family room. And just to say, spätzchen, it comes that time I start planting my babies in you, my sperm count cannot be eradicated by living in a place that has pink walls, flowered pillows and a fucking birdhouse with a pink roof on the coffee table in the family room.”
“Are we . . . are we . . . moving in together or getting married?” I asked breathlessly.
His heavy brows shot together in that ominous way he had.
“We’re moving in together then we’re getting married.”
I stopped breathing entirely.
“And, babe,” he stated warningly, “I already picked the ring. It’s kickass. Guy said cushion cut and called it a halo. I have no clue what that means but it fucking rocks. It’s also four carats. If you balk at that because someone could buy a truck with the cost of it, I’ll lose my fucking mind.”
Four carats.
An engagement ring that cost the same as a truck.
“And while we’re fighting,” Johnny carried on, “might as well share now that Margot’s already planning our wedding. When I went over there the other day because Dave needed a hand putting in that new farm sink Margot ordered off some website, she had bride magazines with about seven hundred Post-it notes sticking out of them on her kitchen table. She told me you were either gonna have the wedding she’d always wanted or the wedding she was determined you were gonna have. With Margot, my guess is it’s the last but they’d both be the same. So strap in, spätzchen, because it’s a guarantee any wedding Margot plans is gonna get outta hand.”
“You’re okay with four kids?” I whispered.
He flipped out a hand. “You wanna push that to five, I’ll consider it. But let’s make sure there are no Tobys in the bunch with the first four.”
“Your brother is wonderful, Johnny,” I said.
“Pretty much all women think that, Izzy, so you thinking it doesn’t surprise me.”
I really had nothing to say to that so I said nothing.
At this point, Johnny seemed to note my mood had changed and the irate way he was looking at me changed too.
“Iz?” he called.
“I like my birdhouse.”
“Iz,” he whispered, lips hitching at one side.
God, I loved the way he grinned.
“But if you don’t, I’ll put it in the yard sale it seems I’ll be having.”
“Your sister and Brooks can live there. They love it there,” Johnny told me.
“Yes,” I agreed.
“And this place was my dad’s.”
“I know, häschen.”
His face grew soft, and God, oh God, just that much more beautiful.
“You got a dream wedding you want, baby, I’ll intervene with Margot,” he told me gently.
“I have a feeling my dream wedding would be whatever Margot wants for me.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“Mom would love your water wheel,” I shared.
“Good,” he replied.
“She’d love you more.”
And his face grew even softer, and God, oh God, so much more beautiful.
“Good,” he whispered.
“Can I tackle you now?” I asked.
He smiled.
“Hit me, baby,” he invited.
I lunged.
And Johnny went down without a fight.
“Iz.”
I pulled him out of my mouth, wrapped my hand around him and stroked hard as I lifted up between his legs and looked at him laid out diagonal on his bed, his muscles flexing, his knees up, feet off the bed, long, powerful legs falling to the sides, his rock-hard cock flushed and distended, the veining I felt pulsing in my mouth I could feel doing that now in my hand.
“I wanna watch,” I whispered.
He lifted his head from the mattress, his hands moving, one shoving mine aside, his other going low to cup his balls, and he growled, “Then settle in for the show, baby.”
I settled in for the show, panting, restless, my palms sweaty and itching, wanting to touch him as I watched him jack off for me, massaging his balls, pulling at his cock, noises rolling up his chest, his hips lifting to thrust in his hand.
I gave a small cry right along with his low groan as he dug his dark head into the mattress, exposing the strong line of his jaw through his beard, the cords of his throat taut, and the creamy stream jetted from his cock up his chest.
He was milking himself when I could take no more.
I crawled up him and plastered myself to him, taking his head in my hands and driving my tongue in his mouth even through his labored breathing.
He recovered enough to kiss me back and force his arms out from where I’d trapped them between us. He latched onto me around my hips with one, holding me steady as his other hand dove between my legs, two fingers thrusting right in.
I moaned into his mouth as he gathered my wet, pulled his fingers out and circled my clit hard.
It took perhaps ten seconds before I sank my teeth in his lower lip, heard him grunt, felt his arm around my hips tighten, slide, his hand going down, in. He again coated his fingers with my wet and slid them up, gliding one into my ass.
I released him as my head shot back and I cried out as I came.
He worked my clit through my climax and kept stroking me tenderly, fucking my ass the same, as the jolts turned to shudders then to trembles and I collapsed on top of him, my face in the side of his neck.
Johnny slid his finger out, gliding that arm up my back and his hand between my legs traced around so he could wrap that arm around my waist.
I caught my breath against his skin.
After I was sated and settled on top of my man, he started trailing his fingers down and up the back of my thigh.
“When we get down to making babies, spätzchen, I’m thinking I’ll need my cum to find its way inside you, and I don’t mean you absorbing it through your skin,” he teased.
“You come inside me plenty,” I muttered, and he absolutely did.
One could say five months of togetherness had not affected the intensity of our attraction to each other.
In fact, one could say the exact opposite.
“When we get down to making babies, Iz, we’re gonna be serious about that and step up our game.”
That comment forced my face out of his neck so I could look down at him.
“More sex?” I asked, astonished.
He grinned. “Definitely. A lot more.”
“We have a lot of sex now.”
“I’m a guy who’s thorough when he does a job, Iz, but I’m thinkin??
? with that job, I’ll be meticulous.”
I rolled my eyes and let my head plop down again.
Johnny chuckled under me and kept stroking the back of my thigh.
We lay together for a lovely while before he said quietly, “Now we got that sorted, when you wanna move in?”
“Tomorrow?”
His arm around me went tight and his hand at my thigh quit stroking and gripped hard.
Johnny’s way of saying he liked my answer.
“Though I probably should talk to Addie,” I continued, “and sort some things out. So how about the weekend after next?”
He curled his hand around the inside of my upper thigh and held on as he replied, “Works for me. I’ll start making calls. Get some plans for stables drawn up.”
I lifted my head, looked into his eyes and began, “The cost of that, Johnny—”
His hand left my thigh and cupped my face, his thumb pressing against my lips.
“Never again,” he growled. “Don’t ever mention that again, Izzy. I’m not stupid with money and God knows you aren’t. I wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t do it or I didn’t want to do it, even if me wanting to do it is doing something that’s for you. But I like horses and you have horses that I like and I’ll want our kids raised around animals, including horses, so now’s the time. We get stables. And I’ll buy you shoes and give you a huge-ass diamond ring and build this mill into a house you love and you’ll know I’m doing it smart. You’ll know I’m doing it because I can afford it and because I want to. And I’ll know the days you had to make do, you had to eat shit, ended the night you met me. It’s not gonna be about four-dollar dining room chairs and taking someone else’s castoffs and making it into something that works anymore. And if you got trouble swallowing that, right now, know to your soul that I know to mine I was put on this earth to do exactly that for you. So I’m gonna do it and you, Izzy, you’re gonna let me.”
“I’ll want a garden,” I whispered, my voice thick with the emotion that was welling inside, put there with all Johnny just said to me, and he moved his thumb from my lips.
“We’ll pick the spot this weekend and I’ll turn over the dirt in spring.”
Of course he would.
“And I’m gonna be buying new wineglasses before I move in,” I shared. “Yours are nice and all, but they’re kinda . . . utilitarian.”
He grinned at me. “Go crazy.”
“I’d bring mine but they’re a little too . . . girlie for the mill.”
“I think the mill might shatter those glasses through angry vibes if you tried,” he joked.
I was not joking when I asked, “If you were put on this earth to take care of me, what was I put on this earth to do for you?”
His brows knit.
“To make me happy,” he said, like I wasn’t quite all there.
“Johnny—”
“To make me laugh.”
I shut my mouth.
“To help me make babies.”
I started to draw circles on his neck with my thumb and I did this in an effort to distract me from needing to cry.
“To give them a good mother because you learned from the best,” he went on.
Okay, now he was totally going to make me cry.
And yet, he wasn’t done.
“To give me a wife made of iron and steel and everything strong all bound up in feathers and kitten fur and everything soft. One I’ll always know loves me. One I’ll always know will never leave me. The going will get tough, and you’ll stick. We’ll fight, and you’ll stick. Our world could rock, Eliza, and there’s one thing I’m certain about, you’ll stick.”
The tear that fell from my eye dropped into his beard.
Johnny moved his thumb to my cheek to sweep the trail of wet it left behind away.
“Have I mentioned the sex kitten who lets me do what I want with her and doesn’t mind lying on me, covered in my cum?” he asked quietly.
I swallowed and replied huskily, “No, you hadn’t mentioned that yet.”
He gave me a gentle smile. “Well, there’s also that.” The smile ran away and he whispered, “He didn’t come back for you because he’s a mammoth asshole, not because you weren’t worth coming back for. And if it takes until you die, baby, and if it takes every dime I have, I’ll do everything I can so you die knowing just how fucking amazing you are and that’s worth anything and everything.”
I could take no more so I shoved my face in his neck.
Johnny slid his fingers in my hair and cupped the back of my head.
It took me some time, but when all he said had settled deep, I asked, “Did you buy the ring?”
“Oh no, spätzchen, doing that up big. You don’t get to know when and you don’t get to know how. It could be dinner and candlelight and champagne, and I might even be moved to get down on a knee. It could be we’re at the shack right after I come back from fishing, bringing up dinner you’re not gonna eat. It could be after I make you come and you’re all soft and wet and sweet for me. It could be over the eggs I make for your breakfast. It could be anytime, but you won’t know the time. I can just promise it’ll be the perfect time. A time I can be sure I’ll remember the look on your face so I can tell our kids the story of when their daddy gave their momma her ring. So right now you know you’re my world and I’m holding on to that for always, but you aren’t gonna know when I’m gonna ask you to marry me.”
“I’m all right with that,” I muttered.
His voice sounded amused when he replied, “Well, that’s good. Now you think we should hit the shower and then maybe eat some dinner?”
I lifted my head. “Can we take a bath instead?”
He looked in my eyes and continued to be the only thing he could be.
All that was Johnny.
“We can do whatever you want, Izzy.”
I smiled at him.
And he smiled back at me.
Then we got out of bed and took a bath.
I moved in with Johnny a week and two days later.
Addie and Brooks stayed at my place rent free for the next month, and the month after that, when her attorney that Johnny paid trounced Perry, she started paying the mortgage.
Perry was awarded one weekend a month of visitation.
He came and got Brooks twice and then never came again.
He also paid child support twice and never paid it again.
During this time, Addie very poorly hid she was falling in love with Toby.
For his part, Toby very poorly hid that he was falling in love with Addie.
Brooks, however, didn’t bother hiding he’d gone head over heels for both the Gamble men.
And just to say, all that was very fun to watch play out.
Deanna and Margot thought so too.
Though Johnny didn’t agree with us.
Johnny didn’t get down on a knee.
But there was champagne and roses on his dining room table and the steaks he made with the garlic and herb cheese I loved so much.
He’d duped me.
First, he cooked all the time. He cooked because he was home first and said he was hungry.
But I knew he did it for me.
Steaks were special but he was a good cook so everything he made was fantastic.
Also, when I moved in, he found out I hit Macy’s Flower Shop every Friday. So he started to have flowers delivered every Thursday.
That was Johnny Gamble.
Yes.
That was my Johnny.
They’d broken ground on the stables that day. The day he proposed. We’d approved plans within a week of him finding a contractor he wanted to go with. They didn’t have a lot of time before there was a danger the ground might freeze so Johnny was paying for double the manpower so I could have Serengeti and Amaretto with me.
I didn’t say a word.
I should have known when I came home and there was a pink shoebox sitting on the island that contained the pair of tie-strap, suede Alexand
re Birman sandals I’d been rhapsodizing about on the laptop when Deanna was over the week before.
He was trying to throw me off the scent by being doubly generous.
It worked.
After I put my new wineglass down and was about to pick up my fork and knife to resume eating my steak, he’d murmured, “Give me your hand, spätzchen.”
I’d looked at him and reached out my right hand.
“Other one, Izzy.”
My breath caught and I gave him my left.
He was right.
The ring was extraordinary.
I loved it.
So much, we didn’t finish dinner.
That night, the night of the ring, I didn’t know what woke me.
But I woke.
I realized I was alone in the bed instantly.
I turned.
Johnny was outside, bathed in moonlight, wearing sweatpants and a half-zip sweatshirt with a high collar.
He was standing at the railing, staring through the dark at the creek.
I pulled back the covers and walked down the hall to the bathroom and into the closet with three dogs trailing me (Toby had given Addie and Brooks a rescue, half ridgeback, half we didn’t know. See? Poorly hiding the falling-in-love thing).
I yanked on a pair of Johnny’s thick socks, moved to a different drawer and tugged another of his sweatshirts over my head to cover his tee I was already wearing.
Then me and our dogs headed back out, down the hall, to the door.
We also headed out of it to see Johnny looking our way, frowning.
“Eliza, your legs.”
It was cold, for certain.
I assumed.
I didn’t feel it.
It was then I discovered his ring held magical powers.
It warmed me through and through.
I just walked up to him, fit myself to him and wrapped my arms around him, feeling the alien feeling of my ring shifting on my finger due to the weight of the stone.
I liked that feeling.
He just did the wrapping his arms around me part.
“Why can’t you sleep?” I mumbled into his chest.
“I’m too happy.”
I didn’t know what his answer would be but that was not an answer I’d ever expect.
My head tipped back. “What?”