I laughed and shook my head. “What makes you think it’s a girl?”
“I just know it’s a girl. It’s really weird, but last night…which, by the way, was incredible…” He winked. “When I placed my hand on your stomach, I didn’t know at the time you were pregnant, but for some reason, I just knew when the time came, it would be a girl.”
I grinned and placed my hand on my stomach. “I think it’s a boy.”
“Nope. I’ve noticed that you’ve been sick. It all clicked on the drive up here. Considering how you keep throwing up…it’s a girl.”
I laughed and gave him a little shove. “I’m telling you…it’s a boy.”
He reached for me and pulled me up against him. “Maybe it’s both!” he said with a wink.
My heart started pounding. “Oh dear god…don’t say that, Josh!”
He shook his head and laughed. “Shit! Better not say that…I’ll jinx us.”
From the flowers to the picnic, everything was just perfect. How did he do all of this? When did he do all of this?
When he placed his hand on my stomach, it just dropped. He looked into my eyes and gave me that panty-melting smile of his.
I giggled. “When did you do all of this?”
He laughed as he glanced around. “When I kicked Victoria out of my apartment, I called Ari. Once she told me where you might be, I asked her if she would do me a favor and call Jenny. I’d already talked to Jenny about this, so she knew what I wanted. I’m not as romantic as that bastard Gunner, but…” He started laughing.
I reached up and kissed him. When he let out a small moan, an ache grew between my legs. Then, I pulled back and gave him a confused look.
Wait. What does he mean he talked to Jenny about this? About what?
He smiled as he stood up. He walked over to where his iPod was connected to a speaker. He reached down and pushed play. Brad Paisley’s “She’s Everything” started to play, and I instantly felt tears building in my eyes.
“Dance with me, princess?”
I nodded as he helped me up and took me into his arms. We slowly started to dance, and he began singing the lyrics to me. I laughed when he changed the words from brown hair to blonde hair.
I couldn’t believe that just a few hours ago, he couldn’t even remember this spot, and now, we were dancing here, surrounded by beautiful flowers. I closed my eyes, and I just listened to him singing to me. I felt so happy that I could hardly breathe.
Breathe, princess.
I tried so hard to stop myself from sobbing. I could feel Josh’s breath on the side of my face as he sang to me.
Oh, Daddy…I think you would have loved him. I’d be lost without him in my life. Thank you for bringing him back to me.
The song came to an end, but we were still dancing. All I could hear was the sound of the river, and I thought back to the first time we’d made love. It was in this very spot. I smiled when I remembered how scared I had felt. I wasn’t sure how long we were in each other’s arms, dancing to the sound of the river, before Josh slowly pulled away.
As he stared at me, his eyes were filled with so much love that I had to suck in a breath of air. I’d never seen him look at me like that before.
“Heather…even when I couldn’t remember our love, I felt it in my heart. I knew that you were my only reason. I knew you were my every breath. I could never live this life without you. I wouldn’t want to live it without you. I want to wake up every morning to your beautiful face, and I want to fall asleep every night with you wrapped up in my arms. I want to watch your stomach grow with each child we have.”
Tears were rolling down my face, and I started crying harder the moment he mentioned having children together. My knees felt like they were about to give out on me.
“I want to make a porch swing and hang it up on the front porch of our house. I want us to sit in it every single night as we talk about how blessed we are to have each other’s love. I want to be with you every single moment of the day…and when I’m not with you…you will fill my every thought.”
I watched as he reached into his pocket. As he pulled out a ring box and slowly got down on one knee, my hand flew up to my mouth, and I started to cry even harder.
“Heather, if your daddy was still here, I would have asked him for your hand in marriage. I would have told him that I’d spend the rest of my life taking care of you and our children. I went to a church one day, and I sat down and had a talk with him. I’m pretty sure your dad somehow put the fear of God in me ’cause when I walked out of there, I went and asked Mark, Jeff, and Gunner for your hand in marriage, and each looked at me like I was nuts.”
I couldn’t help it, but I started to laugh. He flashed me that breathtaking smile of his. Dropping down onto my knees, I placed my hands on the sides of his face, and then I kissed him. I kissed him with so much passion that I was sure we would both melt on the spot. I leaned my forehead against his, like we always do, and I smiled.
“Um…baby, I wasn’t done yet,” he said.
“Oh…oh, I’m so sorry, Josh. I was just so moved that I had to kiss you!”
I went to stand up, but he grabbed me and kept me on my knees.
“Heather Lynn Lambert, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife and making me breakfast every morning for the rest of our lives?”
I let out a giggle. When he opened the box, I sucked in a breath of air as I saw the most beautiful diamond inside. Holy hell. Oh. My. God. My eyes snapped up to his face and then back down to the ring. When I looked back at him, he had a single tear rolling down his face.
I reached up and wiped it away. “Yes. Yes, I will make you breakfast every day for the rest of our lives.”
I’d never seen him smile so big. He pulled the ring out of the box and gently took my hand in his. Shaking my head, I looked down at the beautiful princess-cut diamond framed by sparkling round diamonds. It was stunning. The white gold band was covered in a ribbon of diamonds. As he placed it onto my finger, I noticed his hands were shaking.
Is he nervous? “Josh…this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s…it’s just breathtaking,” I said, staring into his green eyes.
With a smile, he placed his hands on each side of my face and pulled me in for a kiss. Right before my lips touched his, he said, “You have just made me the happiest man on earth, and now, I’m going to make mad, passionate love to you.”
I smiled back and giggled. “Okay!”
As he slowly started to sit back, he brought me with him until I was lying on top of him. He rolled us over and just stared into my eyes. He got up on his knees and started to unbutton my pants. My heart was pounding while every memory of us making love flooded my mind—the first time we’d ever made love in this very same spot, in the back of his Dodge truck after we’d left his friend’s wedding in Abilene, on the kitchen island in my house, incredible wall sex in the shower, inside the tent when we had gone camping at Guadalupe River State Park during a terrible thunderstorm…and the day in the rain when we’d conceived the child growing in my stomach. I would never forget that day…or this day…ever.
He slipped down my pants. Smiling, he placed his finger along the edge of my panties and slowly moved it along my stomach. I sucked in a breath of air. His touch was driving me insane. I needed more. I closed my eyes as my whole body began trembling.
“Josh…” I couldn’t even get anything else out of my mouth.
“I’m so sorry I forgot you,” he said.
My eyes flew open, and I looked straight into his. A tear was rolling down his face, and my heart broke into a million pieces. I started to sit up, but he stopped me. He leaned down and kissed me. In all the times we’d been together, I’d never felt such passion from him. Josh was always so sweet and slow in his lovemaking, but this…this felt like pure passion and lust.
“Jesus, Heather…I want you so badly.”
I grabbed his hair and pulled his lips back to mine. We kissed like we hadn’t seen each other in months. We barely stopped kissing to take off our shirts. He pulled my bra and panties off so fast that I didn’t even realize I was nak*d until I was watching him take off his jeans. He moved over me and tugged on my lower lip with his teeth. The moan he let out moved through my whole body, and I swore I was on the verge of coming.
“Oh. God. Josh, please…I want you so much. I just want to feel you inside me.”
“Not yet, baby,” Josh whispered against my skin.
The next thing I knew, his mouth was on my nipple, sucking and pulling, as I felt his hand sliding down the side of my body. The moment he touched my clit, he moaned, and I felt like I was about to come. I started to call out his name when he pulled his hand away.
“Oh my god, Josh! Why did you stop?”
Then, I felt his lips kissing the side of my left hip. As he slowly made his over to the other side, he barely touched around my cl*t with his thumb.
I’m going to die if he doesn’t make love to me soon. My hands were running through his hair, and I let out a moan as he started to kiss down the inside of my leg. Jesus H. Christ. Is he going to—
Before I even had a moment to think of what he was about to do, his mouth was on my clit. I screamed out his name as I grabbed on to his hair and arched my back. Then, I totally left this earth. I’d never in my life experienced such an intense and long orgasm. It felt like it would never stop. I almost needed it to stop, so I could breathe. Just as I was coming back down, he moved his mouth lower, placed his fingers on my clit, and let out a long deep moan.
Holy hell…not again. “Josh! Oh my god…Josh…I can’t…oh god, Josh!” All I could do was repeat his name.
By the time he was moving back up my body, I was panting and gasping for breath. He kissed my stomach and made his way up to my chest where he took my nipple in his mouth again. I must have been holding my breath because after he softly placed kisses on my neck, he leaned up to my ear.
“Breathe, princess,” he whispered.
“I’ve never—”
He let out a laugh. “I know, baby.”
“I want you inside me, Josh. Now!”
Before I could even say another word, he entered my body with a fast and hard thrust.
I can’t believe it… “Motherfucker! Not again!” I yelled as Josh was moving in and out of me hard and fast.
We both called out each other’s names, and then Josh told me how much he loved me while we both came together. I’d never experienced such passionate lovemaking in my life. It was…amazing.
Josh started to kiss around my face, and when he moved to my lips, I turned away quickly.
“Are you kidding me? I don’t think so!”
Josh smiled. “What? You don’t want to taste yourself?”
“Um…I think I’ll pass!”
He started to laugh, but then he looked at me as his smile faded just a little. “Fuck, Heather…that was the hottest f**king thing ever.”