“No, Sylvie, it’s not okay,” he answered.
I scrunched up my nose.
He grinned.
I stopped scrunching my nose and grinned back.
Then I pressed closer. “I wish I could do something,” I said quietly and I did. Really, really badly.
“You can’t, baby,” he said quietly back. “My lot in life.”
“Not forever,” I told him and his eyes held mine before they drifted beyond me.
“Seems like it’ll be.”
“No way,” I told him firmly and his gaze came back so I went on. “When I turn eighteen, we’re out of here. We’re going to get in your truck and go. Drive until we hit a place we both like and then stop and build a life without your Mom. Without my Dad. We’re going to buy a house and have babies and no one will know us. No one will know I’m Sylvia Bissenette, A Bissenette of The Bissenette’s and no one will know you have anything to do with Winona Creed. We’ll just be Creed and Sylvie. Just you and just me.”
Creed’s head tipped to the side slightly and his eyes were soft but lit with a bright light when he asked gently, “You want babies?”
“Two. A girl and a boy,” I replied immediately.
“Got it planned,” he muttered, his eyes still soft but bright, his lips curled up at the edges.
“Yep.” I grinned.
“Names?”
“Kara, the girl. Brand, the boy.”
His lip curl faded and the soft went out of his eyes but the bright went brighter.
“Brand?” he whispered.
“For your Daddy,” I whispered back.
He stared at me, that bright in his eyes shining through me, shining deep and feeling sweet, like it wasn’t autumn and there wasn’t a nip in the air but it was summer and the sun was shining, warming me through.
“Make it tough,” he muttered.
“What?” I asked.
“You make it tough not to kiss you,” he explained and my belly curled.
I liked that too.
I bit my lip.
Creed grinned at me and teased, “So, the hope is, you’re namin’ your boy Brand, you intend for me to be the Daddy.”
That was such a stupid question, I released my lip, narrowed my eyes at him and slapped his arm.
He burst out laughing, lifted up off his elbows and his arms curled around me. He fell back twisting so he was now lying mostly on my side.
I liked lying on him.
I liked this a whole lot better.
Therefore, I lost my exasperation, lifted a hand and slid the hair away that had fallen over his forehead. The minute I dropped my hand, the hair fell right back and I couldn’t help but smile.