“Next time trust me enough to talk to me about it. Don’t shut me out, Sage. Tell me what’s buggin’ you and we’ll work through it together,” he said.
“Is there going to be a next time? You are leaving.”
“I think I’ll stick around for a while.” He grinned. “You don’t like to milk cows and you are too softhearted to put the animals outside. And I’d hate to think those two perfectly fine houses will be sitting empty.”
“I love you,” she said softly.
Creed’s kiss was long, hard, and lingering. She tried to melt her body into his and become one with him but that damn throw was in the way. She tugged it out from between them and tossed it on the floor.
She pulled back. “It’s crazy. I know it is. We’ve known each other less than three weeks.”
“Soul mates know.” His kiss was more demanding, somehow hotter and sweeter at the same time.
“Did you?” she mumbled as his lips left hers and worked their way down to the hollow of her neck.
“I knew before you did.”
She pushed him back and stared into his eyes. They had gone all soft and dreamy like she loved. “When did you know?”
* * *
He couldn’t very well tell her that he’d finally seen the big picture in a jewelry store with his ex-girlfriend. That he’d figured out he was a lucky man because Macy didn’t marry him because he had been given the time and opportunity to meet Sage, his true soul mate.
“When doesn’t matter, Sage. I love you. I think I always have. I just had to look a long time before I found you.”
“So this is it? We are in a relationship?”
“I am. Are you?” he asked.
“God, I can’t even think with your hands touching my skin,” she said.
“Want me to stop so you can think about it all day?”
“Hell no! Please don’t stop. Wait!”
He pulled his hands free and sat up. “For what?”
“What are we going to do when Grand comes home? We can’t sleep together in this house with her in the other room, and I don’t ever want to spend another night without you.”
“I guess we’ll clean out the bunkhouse for us or for Miz Ada.” He chuckled.
“It’s not funny. I can’t imagine telling her good night and her knowing I’m sleeping with you.”
“Are you proposing to me, Sage?” Creed asked.
She blushed redder than the shiny bulbs on the Christmas tree. “One baby step at a time, cowboy. I’m damn sure not proposing. I’ve just got one little toe in the commitment pool.”
“Good, because I would have said no.” He laced his fingers in hers and stood up, pulling her toward the bedroom.
“Why? Am I just relationship material and not bride material?” She didn’t hesitate when he headed toward the bedroom.
“No, ma’am, but when there’s a proposal, I’ll do it,” he told her.
She stopped in her tracks and pointed at the puppies. “Creed! Look!”
He looked down and that damned ugly mutt was smiling. And all three puppies were looking up with their little eyes opened up wide.
“Their eyes are open. Stop! We’ve got to look at them.”
Creed was fully aroused and ready to make love to Sage. Tomorrow morning, he’d make breakfast and they’d share it in bed before they had another round of wonderful sex. Then they’d have dinner and go back to the bedroom. Things really were looking wonderful.
They’d just declared their love for each other. It should be a spectacular day. He wished he had a bottle of champagne to celebrate or even a six-pack of beer. But they had been angry with each other when they went to Walmart and neither of them even thought about buying beer or even a bottle of wine.
She dropped his hand and plopped down on the floor beside Noel.
Creed loved Sage.
He had admitted it to himself.
Rings were stuffed down into his luggage, which was in the truck.
He had told her.
Now she wanted to play with three bluetick hounds?
He chuckled and sat down beside her. “Look, Elvis can see now.”
“Just like us,” Creed said.
Her eyebrows knit together. “What does that mean?”
“I love you, Sage.”
“Oh, I get it.” She leaned forward to collect the kiss coming her way. “Symbolic, ain’t it? They open their eyes on the day their house is finished and the day that we finally open ours.”
Creed wanted to rush out to the truck and bring in the velvet box. He wanted to propose to her right there in the middle of the living room floor with wiggling puppies around them and the lights of the Christmas tree sparkling behind them.
But he couldn’t.
Not until the ranch was paid for and his property. He didn’t want her to ever think for one single minute that he’d used her precious love that way.
“So are you ready to put these critters outside? It’ll only take ten minutes to put the electrical cord through a hole into the house.”
She laid Elvis back down beside his mother and took his hand. “That can wait. I want you to take me to bed, Creed.”
She reached out a hand and he helped her to her feet. She led the way to the bedroom and shut the door behind them.
* * *
Sage unbuttoned his shirt and slid it from his shoulders. She wasn’t in a hurry. They had all day to put the icing on their declarations of love. And she didn’t care if the M-word wasn’t mentioned for several months. She already knew how she would answer when it did come into play.
His hands trembled as he pulled her sweatshirt up over her head, taking the nightshirt with it. She rolled up on her toes so that their eyes were level and sunk into the depths of his soul.
“Merry Christmas to me,” she singsonged.
“Ditto,” he rasped.
She unfastened his belt buckle and zipper and slipped her hand inside. He groaned. “I don’t want foreplay. I want to feel you, Creed. Make love to me.”
She stepped back and
