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Then, his hands were gone.

I was ashamed to admit that I actually staggered a little bit at the loss of them.

“You are now married,” Warden Tenn said.

“I’m not sure if I should say congratulations,” Magnolia said, “or what. But either way, yay for both of you!”

“Yay,” I managed weakly, still feeling the throbbing aftereffects of my arousal. Lala, who apparently was finished being a wedding photographer now, climbed up my leg and burrowed into my pocket.

“Do you still want some toast?” Oaken’s voice was thick and rough.

“What?”

“Toast,” he repeated. “Do you still want to have some?”

“Um.” Had I ever asked for toast? “No, thanks. I’m pretty full from Magnolia’s lunch.” When I turned to squint at him in the bright afternoon light, I found him holding up the metal ring once more.

“An exchange of rings,” he said solemnly, his eyes searing me from beyond the metal circle in the air.

“I don’t have one for you,” I warned, taking the big ring from him.

“Doesn’t matter,” he murmured. “This is enough.” His shining gaze fell to my mouth, and then he abruptly turned away. “I have many chores to catch up on.”

“Oh! Yeah. Of course.” The guy was basically like a rancher out here, right? He probably had a shit-ton of tasks to complete on a daily basis, and so far he had spent most of the last several hours dealing with me instead.

“Stay within the fenced-in areas of the property when you’re alone,” he said, turning to look at me over his shoulder. “Magnolia knows where everything is if you need anything.”

“I sure do!” Magnolia said, grabbing my hand.

“OK. Great. Yeah,” I rambled. Being around Oaken was still doing things to my speaking abilities. Though my speaking abilities didn’t seem to be coming back anytime soon now that Oaken was apparently leaving. He strode away, and I let myself take in the shape of my new husband as he did so. His long, black hair swished between hard, massively broad shoulders. His torso tapered into a wide but lean waist, and his tail was slung over an ingenious little hook on the back of his belt, so that it didn’t drag along in the dirt and grass behind him as he went.

And below that tail…

Was possibly the best butt I’d seen this side of the galaxy.

Or in any galaxy, really.

What the hell was Oaken talking about booty-cakes for when the man was stacked with his own damn bakery back there? Seriously, did being an alien mountain cowboy somehow automatically give you fantastic fucking glutes? Did the man do hundreds of squats with a bail of hay on his back during his downtime?

Inquiring minds needed to know!

I wrenched my gaze lower, but then I was staring at his impressively thick thighs, and below that were boulder-like calves that disappeared into a pair of leather boots that I suddenly found absurdly and inconveniently hot.

“Want me to show you around a bit?”

Magnolia’s kind voice at my side nearly had me jumping out of my skin. I felt like I’d been caught doing something dirty, even though as far as anyone else knew, I was simply watching my new husband walk away.

“Yes, please,” I said.

Anything to distract me from the work of art that is Oaken’s posterior chain…

Magnolia grinned and squeezed my hand. It made me aware of the fact that I still held Oaken’s ring in my other. I held it up for closer inspection, running my thumb along the smooth curve of metal. The metal was a dark silver-grey colour. It had a nice heft to it, and the curve of the circle was nearly perfect. Someone had spent a lot of time making it.

I had a feeling thatOakenhad spent a lot of time making it.

I could picture him now, bent over hot metal, his black brows furrowed with concentration as he worked. Trying to make the perfect ring for some long wished-for wife.

It didn’t feel right that I should have it.