She knew Ace wasn’t a big reader, but he’d done it to make her happy. And then he’d proposed to her, told her everything a girl would want to hear from the man she loved, and of course she’d said yes.
But she wasn’t in a rush to get married, even if they didn’t need to wait. She wanted their wedding to be perfect, to be everything that they both deserved. So, she was planning it, trying to make it something that would help replace Ace’s bad memories with good ones. It was something she was looking forward to immensely.
Ace set the beer bottle down and pulled her close, leaned down to bury his face in the crook of her neck, and inhaled deeply. “I love the way you smell,” he said in that deep voice of his that made her toes curl. He placed a hand on her belly and rubbed it around in circles. “Is it wrong for me to say I can’t wait until my baby grows right here, Poppy?”
She shivered from the intensity those words evoked in her. Leaning back, she looked up at his face, reached her hand up and brushed his short dark hair off of his forehead. “Is it wrong to admit I desperately want that?” she said softly.
He made this low, growly noise. “After the wedding I’m going to fill you with my baby, Poppy.” He cupped her cheek with his hand. “I’ve never wanted anything more than for you to be mine, my woman, my wife, and the mother of my children.” He leaned down and captured her lips with his.
“I’m yours … only yours,” she said and smiled against his lips. “You’re stuck with me.”
He chuckled, pulled her in for a hug, and held her tight. “And you won’t regret it, Lauren. You’ll never regret being with me.”
And she knew that without a doubt.
Epilogue Two
Several years later
Lauren stood by the window and smiled as she watched Ace chase after their son. Kurtis’s little legs weren’t taking him very far, but the big grin on his face proved that the toddler didn’t care. Her son was the spitting image of Ace, his head filled with dark hair, his eyes a light blue. Even at a young age his features were the same as his hard as nails father.
Daisy, their newborn daughter, chose that moment to cry. Her wail was sweet, tiny, and had Lauren smiling. Walking over to the swing, she lifted the little girl out, held her tiny body close to hers, and started rocking her. Lauren ran her fingers through her daughter’s light reddish hair.
She knew it would turn out to be her own strawberry blonde color the older she got. Her daughter opened her big, blue-colored eyes, eyes so much like Ace’s that it warmed Lauren’s heart.
Lauren was so happy she could give this to Ace, give him the happiness he so deserved. Daisy continued to wail despite everything Lauren did, and so she sat in the chair by the window to nurse her daughter. She fed Daisy as she stared out the window, watching her son and husband.
Over the last few years a lot had changed. Lauren now ran the bookstore full-time, and Ace had been promoted. He was helping recruit larger companies for the contractor.
They’d purchased land two years ago when she found out she was pregnant, and Ace, Toby, and even a lot of the guys Ace worked with, helped to build the house they currently lived in. This was her dream, too, and she was living it with the man she loved and the children he gave her.
She looked down at Daisy, who still nursed. Lauren heard the door open and close, heard her little boy’s feet pattering across the floor a second before he slammed into her and wrapped his arms around her leg. Ace came in, his face beaming with pride and happiness, and scooped Daisy out of her arms as soon as the little girl was done feeding.
Lauren picked up Kurtis and placed him on her hip. Ace walked up to her, pulled her close with his free arm, and for a moment the four of them were close enough together they were one. Ace leaned down and gave Kurtis a kiss on the forehead.
“Have I told you how much I love you?” Ace said.