Page 178 of Cowboy Daddies

“Babygirl, you’re crying,” he said, slowly lifting my veil.

“I’m just so happy I can’t hold it all,” I said and reached up to lift his so I could see his eyes. “You were very brave.”

He grinned and shook his head. “I was scared shitless. I’m afraid my denim might be tarnished, pixie.”

“Oh, Daddy, I sure hope so.” I ran my fingertips over that denim as I said, “You know what I like even more than denim, Daddy?” I asked, loving the way his pupils were beginning to dilate.

“What is that, pixie?”

Having reached my destination, I hooked my thumbs into his belt. “Leather.”

This time it wasn’t only his pupils that grew, not just the color of his irises darkening into the blue-violet of a storm cloud, but the bulge beneath that lovely denim. I squealed as he bent and scooped me up into his arms and I giggled when he strode past Luther and Kate with a simple, “Time to play.”

“Tell me your story,” he said as he took the stone path we’d laid.

“I am the little girl who first met you in these woods. I am Livvy who was so very blessed to have Grammie O who taught me so much. An incredible woman named Olivia who handed down not only her name, but her heart as she taught me how to love. I am the woman who came home to find you.”

“And who are you?” he asked as he climbed the strong, sturdy steps of the porch.

“I am Lincoln’s.”

“And who am I?” he asked as we entered the house filled with sunlight and promise and all the love it could hold.

“You are mine. The man I love. Lincoln Waters, you are the keeper of my heart and soul. You are my very own Cowboy Daddy.”

The End