My breath caught.
A thundering roar filled my ears, and a cooling spray brushed my skin. We stood on an overhang of rocks that jutted over the lake. Just to the right of us was a rushing waterfall fed from a stream running from the mountain.
It poured over the cliffs and pounded into the lake twenty feet below. Farther away, the cliffs rose in height, fifty or sixty feet high, three more rivulets cascading over the side.
“Whats you fink?” Hope framed Frankie’s features when she grinned up at me.
“I think this might be the most beautiful spot I’ve ever seen.”
“Me, too! You fink Milo likes it? I fink he does. Look at him sniffin’.”
I laughed. “I’m sure Milo loves it. How could he not?”
She tugged at his leash, taking him from my hold. She took off with him down another trail that wound down closer to the lake.
“Be careful, Frankie Leigh,” Rex warned, that voice hitting me from behind. “Stay up here away from the water.”
“’kay, Daddy. I knows all the rules. You don’t have to keep tellin’ me. Sheesh.”
I laughed again. But the sound was stolen when I shifted to look over my shoulder to where Rex stood.
He was watching me.
That gaze piercing.
Penetrating.
Hungry.
He slowly edged forward, shards of loosened rock crunching beneath his boots. Power radiated from each predatory step.
Chills flashed across my flesh when he edged up behind me, erupting like a storm, a current of electricity. His callused palms just grazed the surface of my arms from the caps of my shoulders gliding all the way down to my hands.
He laced our fingers together, wound his arms around my waist, and pulled my back against his chest. His hold possessive where he had our hands fisted at my shaking belly.
Leaning down, he planted a soft kiss at the side of my jaw, right over my pulse point that thrummed like the wild, before he released a contented breath and hooked his chin over my shoulder.
Bliss.
It was the first time he’d pulled me into a full embrace out in the open.
Where Frankie could see.
Frankie blushed through a giggle. “You two a huggin’? Grammy said Daddy gots it bad. You gots it bad, Daddy?”
He told his mom about me?
“Guess I do, Frankie Leigh.” His voice was gruff when he inclined his mouth to my ear. “Daddy gots it so bad.”
Shivers rolled.
Wave after wave.
“Come here,” he said. He guided me down to sit on the rocks and situated me between his legs so we could still keep an eye on Frankie. Then his arms were back around me, his nose in my hair. Frankie and Milo played, running around, darting from each other, tumbling on the soft earth beneath the trees.
“Thank you for asking me to come with you two. It means a lot to me.”
I chanced peeking back at him, my head rocking against the thunder beating from his chest.
“Don’t think you have the first idea what it means to me that you’re here, Rynna.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead.
Tender.
So tender it sent a tumble of emotion spiraling through my body. They crashed through me like the river that rushed just in the distance.
“I’ve never done this before,” he admitted.
“Bring someone out here with you and Frankie?”
One small nod, but it seemed a lifetime’s admission. “Yeah. Not even my mom.”
“Because it’s your secret.” It was almost a tease. All except for the affection packed in it.
Those eyes slid to Frankie, who tossed a stick for Milo, before he returned his attention to me. “Yeah, it’s our secret. Something shared just between Frankie and me. Because she’s my life.” He hesitated. “Want you to be a part of that now, Rynna.”
My life.
Everything pressed down. So much joy. “I want that, too,” I barely forced out around the emotion that clogged my lungs.
He threaded our fingers together on both hands, hugging me closer, our fists solid where my heart hammered at the confines of my chest. I could feel him gulp for air, the heavy bob of his thick, strong throat. His words were gravel. “Did you ever dream of it? Want it? Being a mother? Because it’s a lot, Rynna, what I’m asking of you. I understand that, and I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for.”
I slowly shifted, the hard rocks cutting into my knees, his piercing eyes spearing the rest of the way into me.
Hope and fear radiated back.
“Always, Rex. I always wanted to be a mother. To have a family. And it might have looked different in my mind. But this . . .” I glanced back at Frankie. “You and Frankie are the most wonderful things to ever come into my life. No. I didn’t expect you. Not at all. But now that I have you? I’m not letting either of you go.”