Shameless(95)

She’s mine, *.

“He peed on my stuff again,” I gripe.

She gasps, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’re a very bad boy. I don’t know what to do with you.”

I take the raccoon out of her hands—holding him at arm’s length, mind you—and set the little bastard on the ground where he scampers off to harass the goats.

Reaching for Katherine, I just hold her for a moment before I whisper, “I’ve been a bad boy too.”

She laughs, and I squeeze her tighter.

We stroll back to the house hand-in-hand and head into the kitchen where Mrs. Mac is giving Izzy a snack. Our neighbor raises an eyebrow. “So are you two lovebirds official now or what?”

I laugh. “Yup. We’re official.”

“Thank goodness.” She motions toward the other room in a less than covert way and chirps, “Well, I see you have things to do around here, so I’ll be getting outta your hair.”

As soon as the front door closes, Kat laughs. “What in the world was that about?”

“A surprise,” I call out as I get a box out of the office. It jerks in my arms, and I steady it and hold the gift out to Kat, who grins.

She’s reaching for the lid when it pops open, and a furry face meows at her.

“Valentine!” she squeals and grabs her favorite kitten. “You got him back for me?”

“Yeah. I felt bad about giving them away. I figured, what the hell? It’s one kitten. Besides, Bandit needs a buddy.”

She squishes me in a hug, and I laugh and wrap my arms around her, careful not to hurt the furball.

Once she’s done smothering Valentine, I sit her at the table next to Izzy’s high chair and take a deep breath before I hand her a jewelry box.

I rub my chin with the back of my knuckles. “I brought this with me to Corpus, but then decided to wait until we got home. And then I wanted to give it to you last night by the Christmas tree, but we got naked instead.”

“Naked!” Izzy yells. “Naked, naked, naked.”

Dammit.

“Brady Shepherd.” Kat folds her arms. “You are a naughty boy.”

I lean close and whisper into her ear. “I might need to be punished later.”

She gives me a playful smack, and I laugh.

Motioning toward the square box, I tell her to open it.

Slowly, she pulls off the lid, and her face lights with a smile.

“A hummingbird! Brady, I love it.” She leans over to kiss me and then holds out her arm. “Put it on me?”

I clasp the bracelet on her wrist where a little hummingbird dangles between two garnets. They’re birthstones for her January birthday.

“It’s beautiful. I love it." She pauses a moment. “Hey, um, did you open the gift I left you?” she asks, barely above a whisper.

I drag her chair closer and nuzzle against her neck. “I loved it so much, I didn’t think I could survive one more f*cking minute without dragging your ass home.” I nip her ear as I lace our fingers together. She looks a little dazed as she smiles up at me. I like knowing I make her just as crazy as she makes me. “By the way, tomorrow night, we’re going out to celebrate your birthday.”

Her grin widens. “How do you know about my birthday?”

“I learned a lot of things from your driver’s license.” Like the fact that her birthday is tomorrow.

“So… we’re going out, out? Like on an actual date?”

“Like an actual date. Seeing how you are my actual girlfriend, I thought it might be nice.”

She bounces in her seat. “Really?”

“Yes, really. I hear there’s a great restaurant in the Tower of Americas in San Antonio. You can see the whole city from up there. I made reservations. Izzy is staying with the Macs, and we can take our time.”

She jumps into my lap, wrapping me in a hug, and I push my nose into her hair.

“Love you, Brady.”

“Love you, too, Kit Kat.” And I plan to show her just how much.





Epilogue





KATHERINE

- Eight months later -



Oh, dear Lord, I’m tired. We harvested the last of our lavender crop today. My hands are sore, my legs ache, and my feet feel like they might fall off, but I’ve never felt more satisfied. Seeing those wheelbarrows full of our first harvest—Brady’s and mine—was amazing.

I’m ready to collapse into bed when two strong arms wrap around me.

“Hmm.” I lean back against Brady. His damp chest fits against my back. “You smell good.”

“Wish we could’ve taken that shower together,” he growls in my ear.

I chuckle. As amazing as it’s been to have my family in town to help with the lavender, it’s definitely put a damper on our sexy times.

“It’s better if my dad doesn’t kill you,” I tease.

Really, my dad loves Brady. He took one look at all of the improvements Brady made on the farm this spring, and I swear he swooned a little. But we do go out of our way to not flaunt our living arrangement in his face.

Brady groans. “Why did we decide to have everyone over tonight?”

“Because my family is heading back to Corpus the day after tomorrow. What time are your parents coming over this evening?”