And his face grew even softer, and God, oh God, so much more beautiful.

“Good,” he whispered.

“Can I tackle you now?” I asked.

He smiled.

“Hit me, baby,” he invited.

I lunged.

And Johnny went down without a fight.

“Iz.”

I pulled him out of my mouth, wrapped my hand around him and stroked hard as I lifted up between his legs and looked at him laid out diagonal on his bed, his muscles flexing, his knees up, feet off the bed, long, powerful legs falling to the sides, his rock-hard cock flushed and distended, the veining I felt pulsing in my mouth I could feel doing that now in my hand.

“I wanna watch,” I whispered.

He lifted his head from the mattress, his hands moving, one shoving mine aside, his other going low to cup his balls, and he growled, “Then settle in for the show, baby.”

I settled in for the show, panting, restless, my palms sweaty and itching, wanting to touch him as I watched him jack off for me, massaging his balls, pulling at his cock, noises rolling up his chest, his hips lifting to thrust in his hand.

I gave a small cry right along with his low groan as he dug his dark head into the mattress, exposing the strong line of his jaw through his beard, the cords of his throat taut, and the creamy stream jetted from his cock up his chest.

He was milking himself when I could take no more.

I crawled up him and plastered myself to him, taking his head in my hands and driving my tongue in his mouth even through his labored breathing.

He recovered enough to kiss me back and force his arms out from where I’d trapped them between us. He latched onto me around my hips with one, holding me steady as his other hand dove between my legs, two fingers thrusting right in.

I moaned into his mouth as he gathered my wet, pulled his fingers out and circled my clit hard.

It took perhaps ten seconds before I sank my teeth in his lower lip, heard him grunt, felt his arm around my hips tighten, slide, his hand going down, in. He again coated his fingers with my wet and slid them up, gliding one into my ass.

I released him as my head shot back and I cried out as I came.

He worked my clit through my climax and kept stroking me tenderly, fucking my ass the same, as the jolts turned to shudders then to trembles and I collapsed on top of him, my face in the side of his neck.

Johnny slid his finger out, gliding that arm up my back and his hand between my legs traced around so he could wrap that arm around my waist.

I caught my breath against his skin.

After I was sated and settled on top of my man, he started trailing his fingers down and up the back of my thigh.

“When we get down to making babies, spätzchen, I’m thinking I’ll need my cum to find its way inside you, and I don’t mean you absorbing it through your skin,” he teased.

“You come inside me plenty,” I muttered, and he absolutely did.

One could say five months of togetherness had not affected the intensity of our attraction to each other.

In fact, one could say the exact opposite.

“When we get down to making babies, Iz, we’re gonna be serious about that and step up our game.”

That comment forced my face out of his neck so I could look down at him.

“More sex?” I asked, astonished.

He grinned. “Definitely. A lot more.”

“We have a lot of sex now.”

“I’m a guy who’s thorough when he does a job, Iz, but I’m thinkin’ with that job, I’ll be meticulous.”

I rolled my eyes and let my head plop down again.

Johnny chuckled under me and kept stroking the back of my thigh.

We lay together for a lovely while before he said quietly, “Now we got that sorted, when you wanna move in?”

“Tomorrow?”

His arm around me went tight and his hand at my thigh quit stroking and gripped hard.

Johnny’s way of saying he liked my answer.

“Though I probably should talk to Addie,” I continued, “and sort some things out. So how about the weekend after next?”

He curled his hand around the inside of my upper thigh and held on as he replied, “Works for me. I’ll start making calls. Get some plans for stables drawn up.”

I lifted my head, looked into his eyes and began, “The cost of that, Johnny—”

His hand left my thigh and cupped my face, his thumb pressing against my lips.

“Never again,” he growled. “Don’t ever mention that again, Izzy. I’m not stupid with money and God knows you aren’t. I wouldn’t do it if I couldn’t do it or I didn’t want to do it, even if me wanting to do it is doing something that’s for you. But I like horses and you have horses that I like and I’ll want our kids raised around animals, including horses, so now’s the time. We get stables. And I’ll buy you shoes and give you a huge-ass diamond ring and build this mill into a house you love and you’ll know I’m doing it smart. You’ll know I’m doing it because I can afford it and because I want to. And I’ll know the days you had to make do, you had to eat shit, ended the night you met me. It’s not gonna be about four-dollar dining room chairs and taking someone else’s castoffs and making it into something that works anymore. And if you got trouble swallowing that, right now, know to your soul that I know to mine I was put on this earth to do exactly that for you. So I’m gonna do it and you, Izzy, you’re gonna let me.”

“I’ll want a garden,” I whispered, my voice thick with the emotion that was welling inside, put there with all Johnny just said to me, and he moved his thumb from my lips.

“We’ll pick the spot this weekend and I’ll turn over the dirt in spring.”

Of course he would.

“And I’m gonna be buying new wineglasses before I move in,” I shared. “Yours are nice and all, but they’re kinda . . . utilitarian.”

He grinned at me. “Go crazy.”

“I’d bring mine but they’re a little too . . . girlie for the mill.”

“I think the mill might shatter those glasses through angry vibes if you tried,” he joked.

I was not joking when I asked, “If you were put on this earth to take care of me, what was I put on this earth to do for you?”

His brows knit.

“To make me happy,” he said, like I wasn’t quite all there.

“Johnny—”

“To make me laugh.”

I shut my mouth.

“To help me make babies.”

I started to draw circles on his neck with my thumb and I did this in an effort to distract me from needing to cry.

“To give them a good mother because you learned from the best,” he went on.

Okay, now he was totally going to make me cry.

And yet, he wasn’t done.

“To give me a wife made of iron and steel and everything strong all bound up in feathers and kitten fur and everything soft. One I’ll always know loves me. One I’ll always know will never leave me. The going will get tough, and you’ll stick. We’ll fight, and you’ll stick. Our world could rock, Eliza, and there’s one thing I’m certain about, you’ll stick.”

The tear that fell from my eye dropped into his beard.

Johnny moved his thumb to my cheek to sweep the trail of wet it left behind away.

“Have I mentioned the sex kitten who lets me do what I want with her and doesn’t mind lying on me, covered in my cum?” he asked quietly.