Page 100 of Derecho

She was nervous. I could feel it in the way her hand kept holding mine tighter the closer we got to the house.

“Lainey.” I stopped walking, my cane sinking a bit in the dirt as I turned to her. “I don’t expect anything else to happen tonight.”

“But in the barn…”

“What happened in the barn was damn near the best moment of my fucking life, aside from when you moved in and when Reid was born.”

Her eyes dropped to my pants, her teeth raking across her bottom lip. “But you didn’t…I didn’t take care of you. That’s not fair.”

My finger was under her chin in an instant, gently tipping her face toward mine. “If you think I ever would do that only to get something in return, then you don’t know me at all. I wanted you to feel good. I wanted to show you how much you meant to me. I’m happier than I’ve ever been with everything that’s already happened tonight. And the fact that we’re going to go into our home and snuggle together in bed…fuck. That’s the perfect end to this night.”

I leaned down and kissed her again, keeping it PG since I was pretty sure Ma was staring out the window at us. Lainey’s eyes drifted to the window and she groaned, her head landing on my shoulder.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was looking out the window?”

I laughed. “I fear she sees all, no matter what. Come on. Let’s see how Reid did.”

“My dress,” she hissed, pulling me to a stop. “You bit my nipple, and now my top is all wet.”

“Here.” I slipped my hand out of her hold, reaching for the bottom of my shirt.

“Don’t you dare take your shirt off,” she groaned. “You walk in there shirtless, and your mom will know exactly what we were doing in that barn.”

“Baby, trust me. My family already knows.”

“Oh, God.” Her face went red under the moonlight, and I laughed again. I watched as her arms crossed over her chest and she stomped toward the house.

“Well hey there, lovebirds.” Ma smiled as we walked in. “How was your walk?”

“It was just what Lainey needed, wasn’t it, sweetheart?” I teased, closing the door behind us.

She swatted me in the stomach.

“Well, I am so happy to hear that. Now, everything was great up at our house and Reid’s been absolutely wonderful since we got here. He went down about ten minutes ago, so hopefully you two will have a little bit of time to yourselves before he wakes up again. Lainey, he took four ounces, and I paced the bottle just like you showed me. It’s a neat little trick I wish I had known about when Jessie was a baby. She had such bad reflux⁠—”

“Ma,” I groaned.

Her eyes sparkled. “Right. Right. Well, I’m gonna get outta here. I do love a good walk in the moonlight.”

“Where’s Dad? I can walk you home,” I offered.

“He’s on the back porch, honey. I wouldn’t let him whittle in here. He’s working on something for Reid, but won’t tell me what! Says it’s his grandson’s first present from him, and it needs to be perfect.”

Lainey’s hand pressed over her heart before she stepped away from me, wrapping Ma in a tight hug.

“Thank you for everything, Dolly.”

“Of course, sugar. Love you and that little one to pieces. Lachlan.” She smiled as she let go of Lainey, handing the baby monitor to her.

“I love you, too, Ma.”

“So proud of you. Of the both of you. Have a fun night.” My face went up in flames as Lainey’s laugh wound around the room.

As soon as the back door closed, Lainey pounced.

“Bedroom, handsome. Now.”

She whispered the words, flames dancing in her eyes, but she might as well have shouted them with how much urgency was dripping in them.