check it out?” I suggested dryly. “Now.”
Lincoln laughed, and Winter blushed, poking me in the side. I winked at her, and she melted into my side. “I can take a hint.” Lincoln pushed away from the door and stood up straight. “Hopefully, your husband will allow me to talk to you more at the Christmas tree lighting. Think he’ll be over his Neanderthal attitude by then?”
I snorted, knowing that would never happen. It would be fun to see it happen to him one day.
“I’m sure he’ll have learned a few manners by then,” Winter quipped as she bumped her hip into me playfully.
Lincoln snickered, then doffed a pretend hat at Winter. “Until next time, sweetheart.” He said the last word with a mischievous smirk. I shook my head and returned his look with a threatening one of my own. He was perilously close to getting his ass kicked, but I refrained from doing anything violent in front of my sweet, gentle wife.
Lincoln strolled back into the pub, letting the heavy door slam shut behind him.
“He seems nice,” Winter giggled.
“He’s a jackass,” I muttered.
I curled my arm in, bringing her front flush with mine, and closed the circle with my other arm. Lincoln would never, ever poach a woman, but I was still irritated and feeling possessive. I took Winter’s mouth in a deep kiss, reminding both of us who she belonged to.
When I finally let her up for air, I grinned at the dazed expression on her face. I loved that I could do that to her—make her forget everyone and everything except what I made her feel. She certainly did that to me often enough.
Winter’s passion-glazed eyes began to clear, and she searched my face as she took a deep breath. “Why?”
“Why?” I parroted. Was she asking me why I thought Lincoln was a jackass? After I’d just kissed the hell out of her? If that was the case, then I wasn’t doing my job right.
She cleared her throat and glanced away for a second, but her eyes came right back to meet mine, full of determination. It was sexy as hell to see my sweet wife exhibiting courage and showing that she had an admirable backbone.
“Why me? Why do you want to stay married? And when did you arbitrarily make that decision for me?”
I smiled, and she shook her head, pushing against my chest and trying to shove me away. I didn’t budge an inch. “Oh no, don’t go trying to distract me with your beautiful, megawatt smile, mister.”
Damn, she was adorable. “I knew the second I saw those gorgeous blue eyes gazing up at me that you were mine. I keep and protect what’s mine. That means you aren’t going anywhere. You’re staying. I’m keeping you. Getting married just gave me another way to make sure it happened. Knocking you up helps with that too, but the truth is, I want to see you round with our baby. The idea is sexy as fuck to me, and it makes me want to take you again, right here against the wall, and up our chances.”
Winter had stopped struggling as soon as I spoke, and her mouth had slowly formed a cute little O.
When she said nothing for a full minute, my cheeks flushed a little. Had I said too much?
“You really do only talk to me, don’t you?” she asked suddenly.
I laughed and hugged her close. “Like I said…”
Winter chuckled, but something in her expression wasn’t sitting right with me. “Are you unhappy with what I’ve said?”
She blinked a few times, her eyes filling with confusion. “What? Why would any of the sweet things you’ve said upset me?”
I shrugged. What the fuck did I know about women?
A sigh slipped from her lips, and she rested her head on my chest, her ear directly over my heart. “I’m just wondering if you’ll wake up tomorrow and regret tying yourself to someone you don’t love.”
Well, shit. I really was a bumbling idiot.
With one finger, I raised Winter’s chin so that our eyes met. “Sugar, when I said I knew you were mine, I meant...what I should have said was, from the very first moment, I knew I loved you.”
Winter gasped, and I kissed her softly as I held her head to my chest. “It beats for you, Winter. It races at the feel of your touch, it pounds with excitement when you’re near, and it is currently frozen in fear.”
Her eyes had become glassy, and she sniffed, then frowned when