Down to My Soul (Soul Series Book 2)(74)

RHYSON IS AS RELUCTANT TO LEAVE my body as I am to let him go, but he finally does, stroking one wide palm over my leg, over my knee, my hip, my arm. The leisurely exploration of lovers, tinged with love and possession. With the tip of my finger, I trace an invisible heart over his thigh thrown carelessly over me. I don’t care that it’s heavy. I only care that he’s mine.

The rain has finally come, ting-tinging the tin roof above us. The storm’s breeze breathes through the wind chimes over the door outside, teasing them to tinkle in the quiet country night.

“Let’s stay out here.” I look up from his chest, my fingers tracing the striking angles of his cheekbones and the full lips. “I don’t want to sleep on the couch.”

“You could sleep in your bed and I could sleep on the couch.” His laughing eyes and smirk tell me he knows good and gosh darn well I’m not sleeping without him the night before he goes back to LA. He just wants to hear me say it.

I sit up as if to go.

“Okay.” I swing my legs to the floor and start to rise. “Sounds good to me.”

He grabs my wrist, gentle and firm, one hand splaying across my hip.

“Look at you calling my bluff.” The husky laugh behind me skitters shivers over my spine. “You know you’re not getting out of here before morning.”

I smile at him over my shoulder before settling my back against his chest. Our thoughts meet in the silence. It’s amazing how perfect silence can be with the right person. His fingers trace my spine and over my shoulders.

“I had moonshine today,” he finally says.

I turn over so I can see the smile I hear in his voice.

“Mr. McClausky?”

“Yep.”

“And how was it?”

“It was hot going down and went straight to my head.” One palm cups the side of my face. “Reminded me of you.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Very funny. That stuff’s too strong for you city boys. A few more sips and I would have had to carry you home.”

“Oh, I would have loved seeing you trying to carry me.”

“I’d figure it out.” I drop a kiss on his lips, pulling back to grin when he would deepen the kiss. “So eager.”

I send my fingers exploring the line between his abs.

“What’s all that land for beyond the backyard?” He toys with my hair spilling onto his chest.

“That’s Mr. McClausky’s land.” I sigh. “For now, at least. I’m not sure he’ll be able to keep it. Property taxes. He’ll probably sell a good chunk of it off in the next year or so.”

“Would he sell it to us?”

I look up at him, my fingers stilling over the hard muscles under my hand. He’s looking down at me.

“What do you mean ‘to us’?”

“Us, you and me. We could build a place out there. I mean, we couldn’t live here year round, but we’d have a place close to Aunt Ruthie. We could include a home studio, so if either of us ever need to record, we wouldn’t even have to leave the house. And the kids could—”

“Kids?” The word pops out in a higher octave. My heart hiccups between beats.

“You do wanna bear my children, right?” He frowns a little, but I can tell he’s messing with me.

“Rhyson!” I sit up, twisting around to face him. “Stop acting like we’ve talked about all of this before. It’s . . . it’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal.”

“We have talked about it.” He shrugs. “Kind of. We kind of have. Maybe I’ve thought so much about it, it feels like we have.”

I’m blindsided by all of this. That he’s been thinking all of this. I mean, yeah, once or twice he’s alluded to our future, but this is so concrete. This is a plan.

“Can I tell you something without you freaking out?” He waits for me to nod a little dazedly, even though I’m halfway to freak out town already.

“I dream about our little girl.” He laughs and shakes his head. “I mean, I know it’s not actually our little girl, but it’s the same girl every time, and I know she’s ours. She’s so real that I miss her when I wake up.”

I’m almost afraid to ask questions in case this little girl becomes as real to me as she is to him. In case she starts haunting me, too.

“In your dream, what . . . what does she look like?”

He’s slow responding, taking me in, his eyes becoming more tender every second I wait for him to answer.

“Like you. She looks like you.” A self-conscious laugh accompanies the shrug of one shoulder. “And I guess me. She has my eyes, but they tilt like yours do. She has dark hair. I guess she’s whatever my imagination dreamed up a combination of the two of us would look like.”

I don’t know what to say. His words have stolen mine. They’re so sweet. He can be so sweet, his love like a warm blanket that enfolds me completely. Tears fill my eyes. He sits up, too.

“I know we just got back together, that we haven’t been together that long.” He takes my hand between his. “I hear all those excuses you and everyone else will give me. Just because it’s not the right time, doesn’t mean it’s not right. When the time is right, I want to make this permanent, Pep. What we feel now, what we feel every time we’re together, I’m never ever letting it go. You know that, right?”