Page 119 of The Last Dance You Saved

“You are my dream, Tennessee. Home and family. That’s all I want.”

I closed my eyes, the words hitting so deep inside me that I knew they’d be there forever, twined into my veins, lodged into my soul.

“I love you.” I said it softly, a promise in each syllable.

“I won’t let it go, won’t let you go, ever again,” he said.

I nodded and then rolled him over on his back, straddled him, and set out to prove just what those words meant to me.

? ? ?

When my eyelids fluttered open the second time, Rafe’s fingers were on me again, but this time, he was dancing something cold and smooth along the exposed skin. When he saw I was awake, he ran the object over the swell of my breast, up my neck, and coasted it over my lips. It took me several long heartbeats to realize it was a ring, and not just any ring, but my great-grandmother’s ring. The one Mama had given to Ryder, who’d offered it to his ex before she’d disappeared with it and their child. The ring had been returned to us because of Gia, and I was confused as to how and why Rafe had it now.

I tugged at his hand. “Where did you get this?”

“Your mama.”

I frowned.

“She said the ring found its way home after many trials and tribulations—or something like that. All I really heard was that she wanted it to be yours when I made you mine.”

“She did?” My breath caught. She’d seen my love for Rafe, but she would never have given him the ring if she hadn’t seen he loved me back. What exactly had happened when he’d gone to the ranch? I suddenly wished I’d been there. Seen it. Heard what they’d talked about that had made Mama so sure this, the love blooming in the room between Rafe and me, was true and real.

“Marry me, Tennessee. Make a few Hatley-Marquess-Harringtons with me who will have to choose which name to go by once they’re old enough to do so. Spend the rest of our days wandering hills and valleys, listening to waterfalls as the moon sets and the sun rises. Give me all your todays and tomorrows, and I’ll give you mine.”

I leaned in and kissed him, softly, embedding my love for him into every press of our lips. “I like the sound of that an awful lot, Slick.”

That full, wide grin with the dimple appeared on his face as he lifted my hand and slid the ring onto my finger where it fit almost perfectly. I swore I heard the gleeful laughter of the wee folk and, over it, the sigh of the wind and the moon and the sun as they whispered that everything had finally and truly been set right.

Rafe’s lips skimmed mine, almost sweetly, before pushing me on my back and hovering over me with a gleam in his eye full of as much mischief as passion. “You like the sound of it enough to start making one right now?” When my brows creased in confusion, he smiled. “Let’s make a baby, Sadie. Right now. Today. Let’s make one so we know we started our family the same day we started our new lives.”

I laughed. “I don’t think that’s quite how it works, Rafe. You can’t just decide it’ll happen today, even if we did try.”

He leaned in, warm breath coating my ear and making me shiver delightfully as he whispered, “Wanna make a bet?”

? ? ?