environment and future generations, so we should conserve as much water as we can.” Her tone was playful, mocking seriousness.
“Of course. For the environment.”
Stevie’s smile grew as the truck came to a stop beside her sedan. “Last one to the shower stands in back!” Before I could get the key from the ignition, she was flying up the walkway and inside the house.
I stopped at the bathroom entrance and picked up her dirty clothes, dropping them three feet to the left. Inside the laundry basket. It was one of her weird quirks I had learned to deal with, because she dealt with mine. “Save some hot water for me.”
“I can guarantee lukewarm if you don’t hurry.”
Only hot water would scrub away hay and the scent of a barn, so I undressed quickly, dropping my dirty clothes in the hamper and closing the lid down tight. “Don’t be a water hog,” I told her and stepped inside.
Heat flared in her eyes when she looked at me and I felt the temperature rise in my body, but we were both too damn exhausted to do much of anything, especially shower sex. “Turn, and I’ll get your back,” she said with a playful smile, and I knew she was as tired as I was when she only washed my back, maybe enjoying a few gratuitous rubs in the process. “All the dirt and hay has been removed.”
After she let me wash away all traces of Badgley Farm from her hair, we both dressed in pajamas and made our way back downstairs. Toward the food. “Cold dinner all right with you?”
She turned at the oven with a card in her hand. “Maxine or one of her people left it warming in the oven.”
“Perfect,” I practically growled at the idea of having warm food after such a long day and an even longer night. “I’ll get the drinks.”
Fifteen minutes later, we were seated on the terrace with only all the stars in the sky for illumination, the delicious smell of the food invading our nostrils as soft music played inside the kitchen. “Are you ready to tell me what this special dinner is about?”
I nodded, not ready—but if I waited until I was ready, it might never happen. “Sure. Yeah. Absolutely.”
“Cool,” she said, not trying to hide her humor.
“I love you, Stevie. I enjoy sharing my life with you. Even my crazy family. But I’m ready for more. A lot more, and I’m ready for it with you.” It wasn’t what I planned on saying, but it was what came out of my mouth. “I love what we have, it’s better than I ever thought things could be. But I want you to be my wife, Stevie. Will you marry me?”
She looked back at me with a blank look on her face, frozen in shock.
Nate
A sleeveless damn shirt—that was what Eddy had requested I wear as her number two for the Not Your Mama’s Casserole cook-off. I thought I’d be clever and wear my Search & Rescue T-shirt a size too small, but the damn woman had proceeded to cut the sleeves off with a wicked smile. The humidity was already ridiculous so I didn’t mind much, but the spiked lemonade and her homemade malt vinegar potato chips made all the ogling worth it. “Smells good in here, Eddy. Did you remember to taste it?”
Her grin was full-on mischief as she shook her head. “Not yet.” She reached for one of the dozen or so tasting spoons she’d brought and dipped it into the four-cheese sauce she’d been whipping up for the past few minutes. “Needs more salt.”
“A little at a time,” I reminded her and ate my chips. “Want some lemonade?”
“Not yet. I need to get most of the cooking done before I start boozing it up. Makes my lips loose and my limbs looser, and definitely not in a good way.” She wiggled her eyebrows and I worked hard to stifle a groan. Hell, I hoped Mikki and I were as active as Eddy when we were her age.
“Your wife has that glow about her,” Eddy said, completely out of the blue. “Must be the horny trimester. That’s what all my friends called it,” she laughed. “The truth was, I was horny throughout both of my pregnancies.”
“Eddy,” I groaned and went to plug my ears, but my fingers were covered in salt and malt vinegar. “Please, woman.”
“No time to play coy now, young man. I’ve known you your entire life and I remember