When he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, Peyton threw a pillow at him. “I’m done sleeping without you next to me, Brodie. Get. In. Bed!”
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Yes. I asked my parents before we left, and they’re fine with it.” She smirked.
“That isn’t what I meant, smart ass. What about the baby?”
“It’s okay with her too.”
“Peyton…”
“If you don’t get in bed by the time I count to three, I’ll get out and make you.”
“Okay, but if you’re at all uncomfortable, just say so, and I’ll sleep on the couch.” He toed off his boots, and laid next to her.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting in bed. Isn’t that what you told me to do?”
“No clothes allowed in bed, Brodie.”
“Oh, yeah?” Brodie lifted the blanket Peyton had covering her up to her shoulders. “You’re naked. Have I told you that’s my favorite?”
She smiled. “It’s my favorite too, Brodie. Now lose the clothes and get in bed.”
He climbed back out of bed, and pulled his shirt over his head.
“Brodie!” She gasped, noticing how battered and bruised his body still looked.
“It looks worse than it feels, sweetheart.” He rested his body next to hers, and wiped her tears away. “All I need to heal is feeling your body next to mine.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You aren’t going to. I’m more worried about hurting you and the baby.”
Peyton moved into his arms, and rested her head near his heart. “I’m sorry I’m so tired.” She sighed.
“Sleep, sweetheart.” He closed his eyes, and felt her breathing even out. He couldn’t control his body’s natural reaction to having her naked and pressed against him, but within minutes, he felt himself drifting off to sleep too.
Peyton opened her eyes and looked at the clock. It was just before ten in the morning, and Brodie was still sound asleep next to her. She’d slept fourteen hours straight, and wondered if he had too. The blanket had fallen away from his body, and rested just above his pelvis.
Even with the scars and marks from the injuries he suffered in the crash, his body was still beautiful. Careful not to wake him, Peyton got on her knees and then climbed over so she straddled his waist. She leaned forward, and rested her body against him. She was kissing the soft area between his neck and shoulder when his hands gripped her hair and brought her mouth to his.
His hands held her close, as his mouth ravaged hers. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he groaned, “but God, Peyton, I can’t hold back.”
“You won’t hurt me.” She pressed her mouth to his, kissing him harder.
Brodie gently moved her off of him, and pushed her down on the mattress. “Let me look at you,” he breathed, moving the sheet and blanket away. “Are you cold?”
Peyton shook her head.
Brodie started at her shoulder and kissed his way across her body. He lifted one of her breasts, and closed his mouth over its pebbled nipple, nipping at it. When Peyton gasped, Brodie lifted his head.
“They’re very sensitive. Part of pregnancy,” she explained.
“I’m be gentle, then.” Brodie laved her with his tongue, rather than nipping. Peyton’s back arched, and her hands held him close.
“Don’t stop,” she murmured.
“Never, sweetheart.” His lips trailed down her body to where her tummy protruded, his peppered kisses driving her mad. He shifted further down her body, stopping at the apex between her legs.
“Can I kiss you here, Peyton?” He ran his fingers over her swollen sex.
“Yes,” she pleaded, trying to bring his mouth closer to her.
Brodie tried to be gentle, running his tongue softly through her delicate folds, but couldn’t ignore Peyton’s pleas for him to go deeper, harder. He settled between her legs, and brought his mouth down to her again, while his hands slid up her body, each grasping her full breasts. Her hands, that had been holding him so tightly to her, moved up to cover his. When he gently kneaded her fullness, her fingers urged him to be rougher. Brodie heard her cry and felt the wetness of her climax at the same time.
“Brodie.” She reached for him, pulling him up her body until his hardness rested where his mouth had just been.
“Peyton?”
Instead of answering, she pushed him to his back and covered him with the warmth of her mouth. He couldn’t last when her tongue swirled around him. “Peyton—” he groaned, trying to stop her, but she refused to cease her torment. Moments later his body jerked against her, but she still wouldn’t relent. She stilled when he came, running his hands over her skin. “Jesus, that was good, sweetheart.”
Brodie let his eyes drift closed, but woke when he felt her shudder against him. “Everything okay?” he asked before he realized she was crying. He gently eased both of them, so he was sitting against the headboard and could see her face. “What is it, Peyton?”
She shook her head, and tried again to hide her face from his view. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. His fingers came under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
“Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head again and tried to move away from his grasp.
“You’re killin’ me, Peyton. Please tell me what’s wrong.”
She wiggled away, but didn’t get up. Instead she turned her body around, so she was facing him. Brodie held his breath, and waited.
“It’s just that…I never thought…I mean I never realized that I could feel this way.”
“What way, Peyton?”
“I thought I loved Lang, and I thought I loved Kade, but…I don’t think I ever really did. Ya know?”
He nodded, although he had no idea where she was going with this.
She took a deep, deep breath, drawing so much air into her lungs that when her naked breasts rose with it. It was all he could do not to pull her close to him and ravage her body. Instead, he closed his fists and kept them tucked next to his body.
“Brodie…”
“Yes, sweetheart? Please, whatever it is, just say it.”
“I love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody, except my kids, of course. I didn’t even know that I could love someone as much as I love you. Ya know?”
This time he did know, because he felt the same way. He had no idea feelings like these were possible. “I do know, because I love you, Peyton.”
The worry he saw etched in her forehead fell away, replaced by the smile he loved so much.
Peyton rolled off the bed and took a robe from the hook on the back of her bedroom door. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of bed.
“Whoa, slow down there, cowgirl. Where’re we going?”
“I’m starving. Here, put this on. And don’t worry, he never wore it.”
“Who, Kade?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Don’t care, honestly.” Brodie tightened the sash on the terrycloth robe. “Wouldn’t have cared if he had.” He was here, and Kade wasn’t. And if it had bothered him even in the slightest, knowing that Peyton loved him was all that mattered to him now.
Peyton was halfway down the hallway, when Brodie caught up to her. “You’re supposed to be waiting for me to bring you breakfast, sweetheart.”
“I can walk around, Brodie, I just can’t overdo it.”
Brodie reached his arm around her and lifted her into his arms. “Not on my watch. You need to go somewhere, I’ll be the one taking you there.”
“Oh!” She gasped. “I almost forgot. I have an appointment today with the obstetrician.”
“What time?”
“Uh, eleven.” Peyton started to laugh when she looked at the clock. They had twenty minutes to get dressed, and get to the office, which was only a few minutes away.
Brodie carried her back to the bedroom, where they both threw on the clothes they wo
re the day before, not that he had any choice. He hadn’t given any thought to stopping at his house the night before to get any of his stuff.
“Mind a drive to my place after your appointment?”
“Only if you promise to feed me first.” She grinned.
Brodie thought his heart would explode. What had his sister said yesterday? That Peyton was glowing? She was. She was beaming, and happy, and it was in part because of him.
“I love you.” She smiled, standing on her toes to reach up and kiss him. “We better go. You aren’t going to believe this, Brodie.”
He sat in stunned silence, watching the screen, and seeing their baby, his baby, move inside of Peyton.
“She’s thriving,” the doctor told them both. “Growing right on schedule.”
“Can he hear her heartbeat?” Peyton asked once the doctor finished the ultrasound.
“Of course.” He smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
Brodie came over to where Peyton rested on the exam table, still too stunned to speak. He took both her hands in his, and stared into her eyes.
“What?”
Brodie shook his head, smiling, but unable to find the words to describe how he felt, seeing their baby.
“I know.” Peyton smiled back at him. “I told you, didn’t I? Unbelievable, right?”
Brodie nodded and tried to blink his tears away before Peyton realized he was crying.
“Wait until you hear her heartbeat.”
The doctor came back in, and showed Brodie how the fetal doppler worked.
“It’ll sound like whooshing,” Peyton added. “It’s the best sound ever. Right, Doc?”
“Especially the first time you hear it.” He smiled.
Peyton pulled her shirt up, and Brodie closed his eyes, wanting to focus only on sound. His eyes flooded again, as Peyton predicted, when he heard the sound she’d described.
Peyton held Brodie’s hand tightly in hers. “I think I know how you felt when you were rescued.”
“You do?” He was having a hard time speaking.
“I dreamt this. You and me, seeing our baby, hearing her heartbeat. Never, for one minute, did I think it would happen. Now that it is, I keep hoping that I’m not dreaming. I don’t want this to be a dream, Brodie, I want it to be real.”
“Me too, sweetheart. And you’re right, it’s exactly how I felt. Even now, I pray I’m not dreaming.”
The doctor asked Brodie to step out while he examined Peyton, but she asked if he could stay. “I want you to hold my hand,” she explained.
“That was amazing.” Brodie repeated several times over breakfast. They were at the Ollalieberry Diner on Moonstone Beach Drive, which reminded Peyton there was something she wanted to ask him.
“How did you know about the rock?”
Brodie had just put a heaping forkful of berry-laden pancakes in his mouth. “What rock?” he asked between bites.
“That morning. You were sitting on the same rock where Kade and I would watch the sun set.”
He shook his head. “No idea. Just a coincidence I guess.”
Peyton doubted it was. There had been too many things that happened since the morning she and Brodie walked into Louie’s Market at essentially the same time. More and more she believed that Kade truly had a hand in bringing his brother to her, and then making sure he came back to her.
Brodie leaned back and rubbed his belly. “I haven’t had a meal that good since we were at Big Sky.”
“Seriously?”
Brodie leaned forward and gripped her hand. “Food tastes better when you’re happy.”
She laughed, but agreed.
“You ready to head out?”
“Sure, but can we swing by Stave on our way?”
Brodie leveled his eyes at her in a mock scowl.
“He said I could go back to work.”
“He said you could think about going back to work, and he told you to take it easy. I believe his recommendation was one or two days a week.”
“I’ll take it easy, I promise, but I miss it.”
Brodie brought her fingers to his lips and kissed each one. “I liked the idea of keeping you in bed days on end, waiting for me to do your bidding.”
“We can still do that, on the days that I’m not at Stave. I like the idea of you doing my bidding.” Peyton wiggled her eyebrows. “Especially now that we’ve been given the greenlight for…” she looked around to see if anyone could hear her, and then whispered, “Sex.”
Brodie laughed out loud, and then reached over to cup her neck with his hand. He drew her close and kissed her, the same way he would’ve if they’d been alone.
“Jeez, Peyton,” Helen, the waitress who had worked at the Ollalieberry Diner since Peyton was a teenager, admonished them. “Get a room, girl.”
Brodie stopped on the way over the pass to Butler Ranch, and took the dirt road up where they could see the view of Morro Bay. Instead of getting out of the truck, they sat inside and looked out at one of the best views in all of California.
“I loved you then,” he murmured. “Even then, I knew.”
“I think I did too. I just fought it harder than you did.”
“And later, when I told you I wanted to make you mine, I knew I wanted to spend my life with you, Peyton. Does that sound crazy?”
“It doesn’t to me. I felt the same way you did. Except I had too much history believing I made bad choices when it came to men. When I finally found the right one, I didn’t trust myself.”
“Should we get going? I know you still want to go to Stave, and I’d like to have a little more time alone with you before Alex brings the boys home.”
“I don’t even know where they are. Alex didn’t say, did she? All she said was they were having a slumber party. Maybe they’re at the ranch. And if they are, who’s at Stave?”
“We’ll soon find out.”
They were quiet the rest of the way to the ranch. When Brodie pulled in, they saw Alex’s car parked near Maddox’s house. “Guess that answers one question. Do you want to go see them while I pack up some stuff?”
“No, that’s okay. I’d rather come with you. I’ve never seen where you live.”
“I don’t live there anymore, sweetheart,” Brodie pulled her close and brought his lips to hers.
“Damn, Brodie, you can kiss,” she put the back of her hand against her forehead. Those women who call you ‘Brodie-the-Booty’ must not know how good you are with those lips.”
“And they never will, darlin’.” Brodie opened the door and turned on the light in the kitchen. “I apologize if it’s a mess—wait, what the hell?” Brodie stopped before Peyton could get in the door.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sorry.” He moved forward so she could come inside. “I can’t believe this.” Brodie ran his hand over the box that sat on the kitchen table.
“What is that?”
“It’s Kade’s box.”
Peyton gasped, and sat in a chair near the table. “Where did it come from?”
“The woman who owned the house I rented in Argentina must’ve sent it.”
“You took it to Argentina with you?”
“Yeah.” Brodie’s hands still rested on the top of the box, he had no idea what he should do with it. He told her that if she ever wanted it, she should let him know. Should he take it upstairs and store it? Should he get rid of it? He had no idea what she’d want.
“Let’s open it together.” Peyton stood and rested her hands on his.
“Are you sure?”
“Would it bother you?”
“No, but…”
“It isn’t a secret, Brodie. You knew your brother and I were together. You know I loved him, but you also know I love you, more than I loved him.”
“I don’t want to intrude on your privacy.”
“But I want you to. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, Brodie. I don’t want you to hide things from me, not even to protect me, the way Kade did.�
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“Peyton—”
“What, Brodie? You have that same look on your face. That look of regret.” Peyton started to back away from him, but he grabbed her arm, and pulled her up against him.
“There is something I didn’t tell you, but only because I forgot, not because I meant to keep it from you.”
She tried again to pull away from him.
“It’s about Lang and the petition. Your dad’s lawyer is trying to get the petition denied, or at least to get the judge who signed it to recuse himself.”
“Why?”
“Because he has a connection to Lang.”
“I knew it. I knew he’d find a way to work the system against me and for him. He’s a lying, cheating bastard.”
“He isn’t going to win, Peyton. I promise you. If we can’t get the petition denied now, we’ll keep at it until we do.”
“What else?”
“What do you mean?”
“What else didn’t you tell me?”
“That was it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Yesterday, your dad asked to talk to me privately while you were outside talking with Skye. He told me, and then he asked me not to tell you until we knew more. I told him I couldn’t, that I wouldn’t keep things from you.”
Peyton threw her arms around his neck, and kissed him. “And when I said that, it reminded you.”
“Yes, and I’m sorry. I had every intention of telling you.”
“I know, Brodie. Now let’s open it, and get it over with.”
There wasn’t much in it that Peyton didn’t expect there to be. Kade had saved the letters she wrote to him, and there were photos of him with her and her boys. Near the bottom of the box there was a case that held the Legion of Merit Bronze Star that he’d been given for exceptionally meritorious conduct. “Your mom should have this,” she said, running her fingers over the clear box.
“If that’s what you want, Peyton.”
Below it were other awards Kade had been given, along with his diplomas, and newspaper articles written about him through the years. She was about to put the rest of the contents back in the box, when Brodie stopped her.
The Promise (Butler Ranch Book 1) Page 23
