Page 132 of Rocky Mountain Devil

She laughed. “I heard that. So I’m not going to be wearing anything for long?”

“Not if I have my way.”

The look in his eyes was familiar, and so was the picnic blanket he’d laid on the ground near the tree where she’d sat so long ago.

“Why, Coleman. You got something dirty on your mind?”

“Not dirty at all,” he protested. He tugged her into his arms and held her close as he smiled down on her. “Making love to my bride is the nearest thing to heaven there is on earth.”

“Smooth talker,” she teased.

“Come here.” He brought her to the blanket, lying beside her. The sun filtered through the trees, dappling the ground in a moving kaleidoscope of gold and tan.

They’d come straight from her parents’. Her father had performed the ceremony for them, standing in the backyard under the flowering apple tree. She’d seen tears in her father’s eyes, but he’d smiled and given his blessing, along with the rest of the family.

She and Rafe had a couple hours before they needed to return to enjoy their wedding dinner. Her family and his would gather at the Angel homestead. They’d both wanted a small gathering—they’d party with friends and the rest of the Coleman clan on Friday at Traders.

But now they kissed and touched and fooled around rather innocently for the longest time before things heated up to the point Laurel got worried.

“Public place,” she reminded him. “That feels good, but Rafe,baby, you’ve got to stop.”

He stroked his fingers along the insides of her legs, over her sex, slipping under the edge of her panties. “No one is going to interrupt us. I put up the warning markers, and a couple of my cousins are watching the side paths as a favour.”

Laurel flushed, shocked far more than she thought possible. “Your cousins know we’re having sex?”

Rafe threw back his head and laughed so hard his body shook. He pulled her over him, still chuckling. “Sitko, we just got married. I’m pretty sure everyone in town assumes we’re about to have sex.”

He had a point. “I guess…”

He stilled her worries by giving her something else to think about. Or not think about as he rolled her under him and got them both naked.

It was deliciously dirty to have him over her, sunshine on his strong body. Rafe kissed and teased and touched until she shook with pleasure. Sliding in deep and connecting them physically as he whispered how much he loved her.

Pressing his forehead to hers as he came—shared pleasure she couldn’t get enough of.

She’d wanted a lifetime with him, and now she had it.

Laurel stretched beside him, her white-blonde hair tousled on the blanket. Rafe stroked a strand off her face, her blue eyes capturing his.

“I was so scared that day,” she said softly.

He waited.

“My first day of school. Everyone else had started a week earlier, and they all seemed to have already found their friends. I was one second away from crying.”

“You sure didn’t look it.”

She stared up at him. “I was praying as hard as I could that God would give me a friend. And not just someone to be with so I wouldn’t be scared, but aforeverfriend.”

Rafe lowered himself to the blanket and curled an arm around her. Unable to speak—her expression so bright she was nearly glowing.

“I believed like a childyouwere the answer to that prayer, and you really were.”

“Even with all the trouble we’ve gotten into over the years?” he teased.

“That proved you could keep up with me,” she said, cupping his cheek. “And now—Nowyou’re the answer to my grown-up prayers, and dreams, and wishes, and while I don’t know all the answers, I sure know this one thing—I love you, baby.”

There was nothing he could offer in return except what was pouring out of his heart. “If anyone was an answer to prayer, it was you—I love you, Sitko.”

She laughed against his mouth between the teasing kisses that followed. “That’s not my name anymore. Say it,” she whispered.

“Pussycat—ouch.” She’d nipped his lip, and he chuckled. “Sweet cheeks?”

“Say it…”

Their tongues stroked together, and he was ready for another round, rolling her under him to the blanket.

He stared into her eyes. “My all. My everything. Mylove.”

Laurel nodded with satisfaction. “That’ll do.”