Page 19 of His Little Pumpkin (Alphas Fall Hard Collection #2)

ELDON

* Three Years Later *

I enter the house quietly, listening closely. There’s soft clicking coming from the spare bedroom that has become Laura’s office. It’s also a reading room where we hang out together now and then.

Laura likes to keep up with her freelancing work a few afternoons a week so she still has her own money. Not that I generally let her spend a penny of it. It was even difficult to stop myself from paying for the lip balm she picked up at the drugstore last week, but she waved me off.

I know she squirrels her money away in a savings account, and I get why. Having her own money gives her a feeling of security, reassuring her she’ll never be broke or between homes again, even though it’s been clear from the start that we’re together forever.

I putter around in the kitchen for a bit, not wanting to disturb Laura while she’s in the middle of a project. About ten minutes later, she comes out of her office and hugs me from behind.

“So,” I say, slowly turning to wrap my arms around her. “Our two-year wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple of months…”

Laura blinks in surprise. “Wow. Really? That was fast.” She grins, stretching out to give me a quick kiss. “But good. Fast and good. Ugh, you know what I mean.”

“I do. But our honeymoon only lasted a week. I was thinking… We could take off for another week? Call it honeymoon part two?”

“I dunno… That’s a lot of frozen meals for the guys,” she laughs.

Before our wedding, I prepared a bunch of meals ahead of time, leaving detailed instructions on how everything was to be reheated that even ranch hands who had never cooked a day in their life could follow.

I also hired a sweet older lady from down the road to bring pastries in the mornings and check on the kitchen to make sure nothing had exploded.

“But the men loved having their cheeks pinched by Mrs. Abernathy,” I chuckle. “Honestly, I think her blueberry scones are better than mine.”

“Fair. Okay, where do you want to go?” she asks. Last time we drove through the Irish countryside, stopping in at every unique restaurant and pub.

As I snuggle Laura against me, I’m happy to note that she’s back to what seems to be a normal healthy weight for her.

I can’t be sure, but I think she’s put on at least ten to fifteen pounds since we met.

We don’t have a scale, but the bottom of her ass is now beautifully rounded and filling out her old jeans perfectly, and her boobs are even more luscious, if that’s possible.

I just adore seeing Laura so healthy and comfortable in her own skin. As I suspected right from the start, being a homebody agrees with her: she’s always making little improvements around the house – a shelf rearranged here, a closet painted and organized there.

“If we want to go somewhere with gentle hiking,” I begin, “we could take a trip to Wolfe Mountain. A whole bunch of my extended family lives there. My great-grandfather is Adler Wolfe – he founded a town called Old Hemlock Valley. We can also drive around the area a bit. Day trips to Cedarville and West Stoneburg, that sort of thing.”

My hand slips down to caress her stomach. “We talked about trying for a child soon. Maybe we could…” I trail off, not sure how to word it. I can’t tell her that the thought of my girl being pregnant turns my cock to stone, or that I know I won’t be able to keep my hands off her the entire time.

Laura’s eyes fly wide as she stares up at me. “Oh my goodness! You want our baby to be conceived in your hometown?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Good mountain people. Fresh air, clean water. I mean, no more wholesome than it is here. But it’s kind of…”

She reaches up to cup my face between her palms. “Your other home. I get it. Of course. I’d love to go.” There’s a saucy twinkle in her eyes. “That is sweetly sentimental of you. I can’t guarantee that certain things will happen while we’re there, but I’m eager to try as hard as possible.”

Then she bursts out in one of her sputtering loud laughs that tells me something has struck her as funny. “Unless…” She gasps through her giggles. “Unless we have to stay with your family. You know we can’t be quiet when we?—”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already emailed the inn,” I chuckle.

Her cheek rests against my chest. “A baby,” she sighs. “Our baby.”

“I was already taking a look at the ranch kitchen. If we move the table over a bit, there’d be room for a cradle.

Then a playpen later. I read something that said women can get a bit nutty if they don’t have a day off from the baby sometimes.

So I can make sure I have a really light cooking shift a couple of days a week and take over on baby duty, so you can stay home by yourself. ”

She tilts her chin up, staring at me in disbelief.

“What?”

Tears of joy sparkle in her eyes. “Just when I’ve decided you’re this great big lug of a ranch guy, you say something unbelievably thoughtful like that. It’s…a really good sign.”

I lift her hand to kiss her finger above and below her wedding rings. “You really need more signs, pumpkin?”

She stretches up to kiss me. “You’re right. We don’t. Okay, you make the plans. I’ll start taking prenatal vitamins. Let’s make a baby on Wolfe Mountain.” She giggles softly as she glides her fingers across the back of my neck. “I’m excited to see your other home.”

“ You are my home, pumpkin.” I kiss the top of her hair. “Forever.”

You’ll meet Jackson in Her New Bodyguard: Jackson .

Meet more hot and rugged mountain men in the Wolfe Mountain Man series. Check out a preview of Rescued by the Surly Woodsman …