Page 24 of Before You Can Blink (Rust Canyon #4)

Each crash of our bodies grew more violent than the last, the slap of skin meeting skin deafening.

“Jett!” My name came out as a desperate cry, a split second before she finally let go.

I pumped into her spasming pussy as many times I was able before heat crawled up my spine, and as much as it killed me, I knew I had to pull the ripcord .

I lifted Daisy off my cock, my tip barely clearing her entrance before I exploded, my cum painting everything from her puffy lower lips to her belly to her breasts.

When the endless spurts finally stopped, my chest heaved like I’d just run a marathon.

Okay, maybe it was more like a sprint, but who was counting?

Contented hums came in time with each of Daisy’s exhales. Pale skin tinted pink, she had this rosy glow about her, and it struck me that she’d never looked more beautiful.

It was nothing short of a damn miracle that she was mine.

December

We might still be stuck in this cabin, but at least this year we managed to put up a Christmas tree. The soft glow of the white lights strung through the branches illuminated the darkened room, with Aspen already asleep, hopefully dreaming sweet dreams about Santa’s visit later tonight.

A hand slid over my shoulder, and a glass of whiskey came into view. I accepted it gratefully, eager for it to help ease some of the aches and pains that seemed to constantly plague me.

Daisy rounded the edge of the couch as I took a sip, sinking down to curl into my side.

Against the top of her head, I asked, “None for you?”

The irony that now I was the one who required a nightcap to sleep soundly at night wasn’t lost on me.

Sighing, she let her body weight sag against me. “Can’t.”

That had me rearing back. “Can’t?”

She grabbed the hand slung around her waist and moved it so that it rested on her belly, repeating her words for emphasis. “Can’t. ”

Stunned speechless, I pulled away, searching her face for any signs that she was fucking with me right now.

Daisy’s lips twisted into a grimace. “Surprise?”

“But—” A disbelieving rush of air flew from my mouth. “But we haven’t—”

You had to have sex to get pregnant, and there wasn’t much of that going on these days.

Then it struck me. “The barn.”

“The barn,” she confirmed.

The timing made sense, but there was still something that didn’t add up. “With Aspen, I, uh . . .”

Her sigh transitioned into a wry laugh. “Pull and pray isn’t exactly a foolproof method of birth control, Jett.”

With a few words, she shattered the illusion that by not coming inside her, it kept us safe. “Since when?”

She cocked her head. “Um, since always?”

My eyes bulged. “And you’re just telling me now?”

My wife stared back at me like I’d lost my mind. “I thought you knew!” she whispered-shouted, mindful of our sleeping toddler.

Clearly not. Sex education was sorely lacking in these parts, where teens were merely told to abstain until marriage, and then after that, the more babies the better.

“Well, fuck.” I gripped the back of my neck. “Where the hell are we gonna put another baby?”

Scooching toward me slowly, like I was a horse about to spook, she placed a hand on my thigh. Her touch calmed me enough to have air filling my lungs, but my mind still raced, trying to figure out how to make this work.

Ha, that’s funny. Like you have much of a choice. Can’t put the genie back in the bottle on this one.

“They start out really little and don’t take up much space.”

“Space,” I scoffed. “Something we’re already short on.”

“Look at me,” Daisy commanded softly.

I couldn’t. Not when my head was on a swivel, my gaze ping-ponging off the walls of this tiny-ass cabin that felt like they were closing in on me. There’s no way we could fit four people in here.

“Jett.” Warm palms found my face, and Daisy climbed onto my lap, forcing me to focus on her. “We’ll make it work. We always do.”

I was so damn tired of “making it work,” seeing as that seemed to be all we were doing these days.

My chest rumbled with the force of my heavy exhale. “Okay.”

A corner of her lips tipped up. “You know, I was thinking, maybe it was meant to be. I’m due on August 12 th .”

“Fine day for a birthday.” It was mine, after all.

Her thumbs stroked the scruff lining my jaw. “I sure thought so.”

Giving her hip a squeeze, I asked, “You feelin’ all right?”

Daisy nodded. “So far, so good.”

That offered some small comfort after how sick she’d been while pregnant with Aspen. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

Looping both arms around her, I pulled Daisy to my chest, whispering against her temple, “Merry Christmas, Daze.”

“Merry Christmas, Jett.” She snuggled deeper into my hold.

Now that the shock was wearing off, I could admit that, while unexpected, Daisy had given me the greatest gifts I would ever receive—my children.

I only hoped that, someday, I could give them a reason to be proud of their father .

May

Spring was my favorite time on the ranch. Everywhere I looked, there were signs of new life.

Speaking of new life . . .

Walking from the barn to the cabin, I was treated to the sight of Daisy’s profile as she hung laundry on the line. The slight breeze had the flowy fabric of her dress clinging to the rounded bump of her stomach, where our second baby was growing.

It had taken me a minute to wrap my mind around the unexpected addition to our family, but then I realized I couldn’t imagine a life without Aspen brightening my days, and I would surely feel the same way about this little one once it arrived.

A smile touched my lips, knowing that kid had already won the genetic lottery, having Daisy for its mama. There wasn’t a better mother around, though I could admit I might be a tad biased in that opinion.

When she turned her back to me, focused on her task, it became easy to sneak up on her from behind. My hands automatically looped around her waist, settling on her belly, the swell of it firm beneath my palms.

Daisy sighed, the sheet she’d been pinning to the line quickly abandoned as she leaned against my chest.

I wasn’t sure what I’d done right in a past life to deserve this woman, but I wasn’t about to question it now.

My lips found the side of her neck, and I breathed in her clean scent. “Favorite part of my day is coming home to you.”

A contented sound that could’ve easily passed for a purr vibrated through her chest. And almost as if it was jealous of the attention its mama was getting, the little life growing inside her gave my hand a firm kick .

“Well, hello to you, too.” I chuckled.

Daisy’s hands came to rest over mine, shifting them over her belly to follow the movements of our baby. “He’s an active one.”

Rearing back in surprise, I asked, “He?”

One of her shoulders lifted. “Just a hunch I have. Everything’s been so different this time around, it’s got me thinking this one’s a boy.”

“Wouldn’t that be something,” I mused.

The image of Tanner Winfield and his boys came to mind, the three of them tagging along behind their dad, eager to help.

I could only begin to imagine the memories I would create on this ranch with my own son, working side by side until the day came for me to hand over the reins when I decided to retire.

Turning in my arms, Daisy peeked up at me as her teeth gnawed on the corner of her lip. “Jett, Layla called today.”

“Ah, they coming in soon to meet the baby?” The timing on finishing that house for the Atkinses couldn’t have been more perfect. They moved in exactly one day before Caroline gave birth to a healthy baby girl, whom they decided to name Penny.

My wife shook her head, blue eyes filling with tears that began to spill over. I was used to the pregnancy hormones making her cry at the drop of a hat, so I didn’t experience the rush of panic that usually flooded me at the sight.

Calmly, I brought my hands to her face to thumb away the moisture and explained, “It’s hard to get away right now. I’m sure they’ll visit when there’s a break in their schedule.”

“It’s not that,” she whispered hoarsely.

Head tilting to the side, I asked, “Then what is it?”

Her hand slid up my chest, coming to rest on the side of my face. “Jett, honey, I’m so sorry. ”

Paralyzing fear gripped my heart. Something was really wrong.

Stepping out of her hold, I demanded, “What happened, Daze?”

Lower lip wobbling, she said the words that would rock my world. “Murphy’s dead.”

All the air left my lungs, but on the tail end came a disbelieving “What?” Then I shook my head. “No. You’re wrong.”

“Jett.” Daisy reached for me, but I shrugged her off.

“No!” I roared.

The man who had first gotten me on the back of a bucking horse, the man who had sat beside me the day my dad died, the man who had become more than a mentor to me, becoming one of my best friends, couldn’t just be gone.

A heartbreaking mix of pity and sympathy stared back at me in my wife’s watery gaze, and my knees threatened to buckle as the truth sank in.

Chest going concave, I managed to rasp, “How?”

She sucked in a shaky inhale. “He fell during a ride. Snapped his neck when he hit the ground.”

My body went numb.

“It was quick. He didn’t suffer.”

That knowledge offered little comfort. Not when the truth that it just as easily could’ve been me—leaving Aspen fatherless and making it so that the baby in Daisy’s belly never existed—hit with enough force to knock me on my ass.

It was simply too much to bear.

Turning on my heel, I marched off, deaf to my wife calling out behind me.

I needed to be alone.

Hours later, Daisy found me drunk off my ass, collapsed against the side of the barn. She dropped to her knees in the grass beside me, guiding my head to rest atop the shelf created by her soft breasts.

I groaned. “Go home, Daze.”

“I’m not going anywhere while you’re hurting.” Fingers carved a soothing path through my hair.

“Aspen needs you,” I argued.

“She’s with your mom tonight, and I’m right where I need to be,” she countered.