by J. H. Croix
With a bemused smile, she shrugged. “Okay.”
Moments later, I was driving back to the lodge. “We need a house.”
When I slid my eyes sideways to glance at Ash, her mouth was open, and she was staring at me like I was crazy.
“Wha-at?”
“We need a house,” I repeated. “I mean, we could make it work in one of the cabins, but that’s pretty tight. I can build our house. Let’s talk to Jackson about options.”
Ash sputtered. “Now we’re building a house. I can’t believe this.”
“I’m pretty sure having a baby is more monumental than building a house,” I offered.
Ash started laughing so hard that she was wiping tears away from her eyes, and I was concerned.
“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to make you cry. Again.”
She shook her head as she swiped at her tears. “Those aren’t sad tears. It’s all, um, a bit much. How did we get from neither of us not wanting any expectations to having a baby and building a house?”
I reached over the console between the seats and caught her hand, giving it a squeeze. I didn’t let go because I needed to touch her. “I don’t know about you, but I just needed enough time and sense to figure it out. That’s all. You’re mine, Ash girl. And we’re having a baby, and it’s all good.”
She smiled over at me as I slowed to exit off the highway. “Do you think we can do this?”
“I know we can do this.”
My heart gave a rounding kick in emphasis. I felt filled to the brim with feeling, all of it good.
After we got back to the lodge, I was holding Ash’s hand as we walked across the parking lot toward the staff kitchen. I stopped and gave her hand a little tug. She turned immediately, her brows lifting in question.
“Mind letting Jackson know we talked? Then I can go ahead and get it over with.”
“Get what over with?”
“In case he wants to hit me. I’d rather deal with it today.”
Ash’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head wildly. “He doesn’t get to hit you. I went into this with my eyes wide open.”
I shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Whether or not he knew we were talking about him, at that moment, Jackson came striding through the trees on the opposite side of the parking lot. When he saw us, his stride slowed briefly before he picked it up again and crossed to stand in front of us. “Well?”
Ash tightened her fingers where they were laced with mine and lifted her chin. “Mack told me y’all talked. We’re fine. In fact, we’re great. You do not need to be all overprotective and threaten to kick his ass. Or worse yet, to actually kick his ass.”
Jackson’s alert gaze bounced from Ash to me. “Glad to hear it. For what it’s worth, just because you don’t want me to be pissed off at Mack doesn’t mean I won’t be.”
Ash let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. “You are such a man.”
I almost laughed because Ash had recently made that comment to me.
“Is that supposed to be an insult?” Jackson countered. “Because, in case you missed it, I am a man.”
Ash huffed again. “Whatever.”
She moved to begin walking again when Jackson asked, “Mind if I have a minute with Mack?”
Ash’s hair rippled over her shoulders as she turned back. “As long as you’re not gonna be an asshole.”
Jackson gave her a long look, but he remained silent.
I squeezed her hand. “Babe, it’s fine. I’ll see you in a few.”
As soon as the door to the staff kitchen closed, Jackson hooked a thumb in one of his pockets. “I’m not going to kick your ass. Not here.”
I shrugged. “If it’ll make you feel better, go right ahead,” I offered.
Jackson chuckled. “As long as Ash is happy, I’m good. If you hurt her”—his voice went low—“we’ll revisit this.”
“I won’t hurt her. I love her.”
Jackson studied me before nodding firmly. “I believe you. But love is never easy.”
After a beat, he closed the distance between us and clapped me on the shoulder in something of a half hug. “Now, go tell Ash I didn’t kick your ass.”
When I walked into the kitchen a moment later, I looked across the room to see Ash standing by the windows, looking out at the mountains. The sun was dropping in the sky. The blue haze above the mountains was shot through with silvery-gold light and shades of pink and lavender.
It was beautiful, but my focus was on Ash. Her brown hair fell in tousled waves over her shoulders. She wore jeans and a T-shirt, nothing remarkable. Yet she was so gorgeous—to me—that my breath seized in my lungs for a moment. On a rushing exhale, my heart kicked up a racket inside my chest.
Although I distantly heard the hum of voices around me, my entire lens narrowed to Ash as I crossed the room to her. When I slipped my arms around her waist from behind, she jumped a little. A smile curved on her cheek when she angled her head back and saw me.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said softly.
“Who else would it be?”
Biting her lip, she shrugged. “No one.” She spun in my arms, her eyes coasting over my face. “I don’t see any bruises.”
I chuckled. “Nah. Jackson didn’t hit me. If I don’t keep you happy, though, he might.”
Ash dipped her head and pressed her lips to the corner of my collarbone. “No worries on that account.”
My skin felt lit by a flame at that tiny spot with heat zinging through me. Sliding a hand to cup her nape, I bent low to kiss her. Just a quick kiss. But then, Ash’s tongue snuck out to play with mine. I almost forgot where we were until a voice intruded. “Seriously? Y’all need to take this outside.”
Lifting my head, I glanced sideways to find Dawson with a sly grin standing by the coffeemaker a few feet away.
“No way,” Ash said firmly. “I’m starving, and I’m not missing dinner.”
With her hand held in mine, we had dinner together with our friends without trying to play it cool for once. It was the best feeling ever. Ash was mine, I was hers, and I wanted the whole world to know it.
Epilogue
Ash
Over a year later
I splashed cold water on my face and blotted it with a towel. As I lowered it, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My ponytail was falling down on one side, and I hadn’t noticed the blob of oatmeal on my shoulder before.
Laughing softly, I shrugged. Babies were messy. Reaching into the shower for a washcloth, I wiped the oatmeal off my shoulder and then tossed it in the hamper. There was no sense in changing my shirt. Not yet. Apparently, I’d been walking around with oatmeal as a part of my outfit for most of the day.
Walking out of the bathroom, I began, “I have a new fashion statement. Oatmeal is the thing…” My words slowed and quieted when I caught sight of Mack and our baby girl.
Mack was sacked out on the couch with Molly cradled in the crook of his elbow. Her pacifier had fallen out and was resting on his chest. My breath caught for a minute, and emotion hit me in a rush.
Tired though I was—and I was more tired than I had ever been lately—I savored the way joy would crash through me periodically every day.
Don’t get me wrong. I was never going to be a mother who glorified what it was like to have a baby who only let me sleep every night for roughly two hours at a time. I wasn’t counting the hours of lost sleep because that would be too depressing. I was pretty sure the longest uninterrupted chunk of sleep I’d had was three hours in the almost year that had passed since Molly came into our world. I’d become the queen of catnaps.
But this—seeing the man I loved with all of my heart holding our little girl who also occupied every corner of my heart—was the best thing ever. There were lots of best things ever lately.
Those splashes of light and joy made up for being tired, and sometimes frustrated, and most of the time feeling like I was stumbling through every minute of every day. Not for the first time did
I wish there was an official instruction manual for being a mother.
Tiptoeing across the room, I lifted the pacifier off Mack’s chest silently, resisting the urge to press a kiss to his cheek and Molly’s. No one needed to wake up. Sleep was more precious than gold these days.
Mack had built the house we were living in now. We were only a mile or so down the road from the farmhouse where I’d grown up. Seeing as Jackson and I had jointly inherited the farm, there was more than enough land to choose from. We’d picked a spot near a small pond with a pretty view of the valley.
I stole time for a shower while Mack and Molly were sleeping and changed my shirt after all. A little later, Mack came walking in the kitchen with Molly wiggling in his arms. She had Mack’s eyes and his hair. While we both had brown hair, his was a shade darker than mine.
The moment Molly saw me, she let out a squeal and bounced up and down on his arm. Crossing the kitchen, he handed her over, leaning down to plant one of his dangerous kisses on me.
When he pulled away, I was a little breathless. “You can’t do that,” I whispered.
“Why not?”
“Because you get me hot and bothered, and we can’t do anything about it,” I protested.
I was instantly distracted when Molly curled her fist around my hair, which was down at the moment. She made a gurgling sound, and I turned my attention to her. “Hey, sweetie. Did you have a nice nap with Daddy?”
“Smells good,” Mack commented as Molly gurgled her reply to me. “What’s in the oven?”
“Lasagna. I thought we needed something filling,” I explained.
Without me needing to ask, Mack fetched a prepared bottle from the refrigerator and heated it in the microwave. We were slowly weaning Molly from nursing. Every bottle contained my breast milk, although I couldn’t wait to stop pumping. Aside from lack of sleep, pumping breast milk was my least favorite part of being a mother.
Mack was the best kind of dad and partner. I never had to ask for much of anything for help. Take now, for instance. As soon as the bottle was heated, he lifted Molly from my arms and sat down at the kitchen table to feed her.
After Molly guzzled her bottle of breast milk, she conked out again. She’d spent the morning at the vet clinic being oohed and aahed over and was conveniently exhausted. When Mack returned to the kitchen after putting her in her crib, I was starting an evening pot of coffee.
He came up behind me, curling his hands on either side of the counter by my hips and dropping his head into the curve of my neck. A full-body shiver raced through me when he dusted kisses lightly behind my ear and along my neck.
“Mmm. You smell good,” he murmured.
“Definitely better than dried oatmeal,” I returned with a small laugh as I spun to face him in the cage of his arms.
One of his brows hitched up in question. “While you were napping, I discovered I’d been walking around all day with oatmeal on my shoulder. She had oatmeal for breakfast, so… Maybe we should get into oatmeal more.”
“Like a fetish?” The slow stretch of a smile across his face sent my belly into a spin, and butterflies twirled inside.
I giggled and leaned up to press a kiss on his jaw. “She’s asleep.”
“I know. I was thinking we could really go crazy,” he said, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. Let’s take a nap.”
Reaching behind me, I turned off the coffee I’d just started. “Lead the way,” I said, dead serious.
Minutes later, still fully clothed, I fell asleep with Mack’s arms hugging me close to his side. We were too tired to even undress and get under the covers.
It was pure bliss.
Mack
A few months later or so
“Dude, you’ve got to see this.” I scrolled through my phone to the video I wanted and hit play before handing it across the table.
Dawson reached for it. He dutifully nodded and then looked up. “Molly is walking like a champ. That’s cool. Hasn’t she been walking for a few months now?”
“That’s not just cool; it’s amazing. She’s a master,” I protested.
Jackson, who was entering from the back door where the offices were, started laughing as he heard my comment. “Everything Molly does is amazing, according to Mack.”
“Well, it is.”
Dawson flashed a grin as he leaned forward to snag a cookie from the tray in the center of the table. “Just think, it wasn’t that long ago that you didn’t even know what to do with her.”
I rolled my eyes. “I figured it out.”
Jackson slid onto the bench at the other end. “Like you were a pro at first,” he teased Dawson.
By chance, Evie had gotten pregnant only a few months after Ash, so Dawson followed me into fatherhood. Shay had a baby right around the same time too, which meant Jackson was right there with us on the learning curve of parenting. It still amazed me that I’d become a father first among our friends.
A little while later, I had Molly on my lap and Ash sitting beside me. As I looked around the table filled with our friends and family, I marveled that I’d ever wanted to stay away from Stolen Hearts Valley. Despite my winding path home, I was relieved I’d finally faced the ghosts that had chased me away. I would always miss my sister, but I could still have all the blessings that I denied myself for a few years.
Ash and Molly were so much of my life now that it was hard to ever imagine I’d lived without them.
Later that night, after I read Molly her bedtime story and she was down for the count, I closed the door quietly behind her and made a beeline for the bathroom.
For the past month, Molly had finally begun sleeping through the night. It was freaking awesome. I’d heard the shower start and knew Ash was in there. I needed a shower. Actually, what I needed was Ash. Shucking off my clothes, I tossed them in the hamper and stepped into the steam-filled shower.
Bubbles were sliding over Ash’s curves, and her skin was rosy pink from the hot water. Stepping behind her, I slid my hands down her sides as the water rained over us.
“Can I borrow the soap?” I murmured right before I nipped at the back of her neck. My arousal was hard and insistent and conveniently resting in the slippery cleft of her bottom.
Ash giggled before handing it over her shoulder. “Oh, I didn’t mean that soap. I meant the soap on you.”
I slid my hands around her belly, bringing one up to tease her breasts while the other dipped down between her thighs to find her hot, slick, and ready. Just for me.
When I heard her soft moan as I slid one finger and then another inside her, I spun her around quickly. “I don’t think I can wait.”
“Please don’t,” Ash gasped when she reached between us, giving me a firm stroke with her palm.
Lifting her against me and using the wall for an assist, I sank home inside her. That was what Ash was to me—home.
Pleasure with Ash was always too much and never enough. My release crashed through me before I could savor her as much as I wanted. But then, I needed a lifetime to wring every drop out of what we had together.
After we dried off and were lounging in bed, Ash walked her fingers across my chest. The light from a lamp by the bed caught on her wedding band.
All that time I never thought I’d get serious with anyone. The minute I fell, I was all in. I asked Ash to marry me only weeks after she told me she was pregnant. I had to be patient because she had more baggage than me around the idea of a wedding. But it had happened, and here we were.
“Sooooo,” she began, “what do you think?”
“About what?”
“It’s been over a year, and we made it through the worst of Molly not sleeping. Are you bored yet?”
I lifted a hand to brush a wayward lock of hair off her cheek. “Babe, I’d happily be bored with you forever.”
Ash’s giggle spun around my heart, and we fell asleep.
Thank you for reading Steal My Heart - I
hope you loved Ash & Mack’s story!
Want more small town romance with alpha heroes & smart, sassy heroines? Crash Into You kicks off the Dare With Me Series.
The first time Flynn meets Daphne, she ends up covered in mud. Flynn thinks this princess needs to find the first plane out of Alaska, but Daphne needs a fresh start like nobody’s business, and she’s not going anywhere.
Flynn is a hot, broody, rescue-y kind of guy. He’s so alpha, Daphne wants nothing more than to take him down a notch. She does manage to bring him to his knees, although she didn’t expect it to make her melt at the same time.
Flynn & Daphne’s story is emotional, powerful & hot enough to singe the pages.
Keep reading for a sneak peek!
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Excerpt: Crash Into You
Daphne
A moose lumbered across the road in front of me, and I came to an abrupt stop, the SUV jerking when I slammed my foot on the brakes. “Holy shit!”
No one was in the SUV with me to hear my irreverent reaction. Although I’d done some research and knew wildlife was abundant in Alaska, it was still rather startling.
While the moose appeared to be moving slowly, its long stride covered the ground at a deceptively quick pace. Inside of a few seconds, the animal had crossed the road into a field abloom in fuchsia flowers. Its rump disappeared into a cluster of evergreen trees. I gave my head a small shake and realized I was stopped in the middle of a highway. It wasn’t exactly busy, but nonetheless, it was a highway.
Laughing to myself, I eased off the brake and put my foot on the gas pedal again. Alaska’s roads weren’t crowded. As I glanced to the side while picking up speed, my breath caught at the ocean glinting under the sunshine splashing across its surface.
