A Rancher's Desire (13 page)

His expression told her that he was more than a little confused but he didn’t say anything.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days.”

“I could tell,” he said, softly rubbing his thumb between her eyebrows.

Smiling, she took his hand and kissed the back of it. “Do you know what I realized?”

Julian shook his head.

“I realized that before you ever opened your mouth to say the words, I already knew you loved me.” Aiyanna caught his gaze, held it and forgot everyone else for the moment. “This whole time you’ve been
showing
me. Every single thing you did, you did it unselfishly and just for me.” She linked their fingers. “You hunted me down
in my office
just to see me face to face when anyone else would’ve simply called.” Julian grinned and Aiyanna could hear scattered chuckles. “You wouldn’t lay a finger on me for a
month
just so I would know without a doubt that I was more than just another conquest to you. You do your best to make me smile when I’m snarling, make me laugh when I’m about to set something on fire, and you make me feel like I’m your whole world some days.”

He cupped her cheek. “That’s because you are.”

Aiyanna resisted the urge to cry. Not now, maybe later. She had something she needed to ask. “I understood your need to hear me tell you that I love you but I didn’t
get
it until now. The words were important because I haven’t exactly taken leaps and bounds to
show
you how much you mean to me.”

Shaking his head again, Julian said, “You don’t have to. I know—”

She placed her fingertips over his mouth. “Just let me get this out before I lose my nerve okay?”

He nodded.

“And I kept thinking, what could I possibly do to finally show him that he’ll never, ever have to worry about losing me?” Holding out one hand, she waited for Lalani to place a small velvet box in her palm. “And finally, I had an epiphany.” She watched him gulp as she let go of his other hand to open the small box. “The only thing that came to mind would be giving myself to you for the rest of our lives because I
know
I’ll never
ever
find anyone who makes me as happy as you do.” Taking the diamond encrusted platinum band out, Aiyanna asked the question that she was dying to know the answer to. “Julian Alejandro Almanza, will you marry me?”

He was laughing before she even finished, his eyes twinkling as he stared at her. “This is so backwards.”

“No, this is
me
showing
you
how much I love you. So what’s your answer, Cowboy? I don’t have all night and I’m sure I can find plenty of men this side of the east coast to—” Before she could get the rest of her statement out, Julian had her off her feet, his lips pressed to hers in front of God and family, once again telling her without words everything she needed to know.

Epilogue

Three years later…

“Oh God, Oh God, Oh God…”

Julian relished in every chant that left his wife’s mouth as he pulled his hips back and tunneled his cock deep into the awaiting warmth beneath him. His strokes were slow, measured. He was determined to draw out her pleasure as long as possible, despite the fact that he felt like his balls would explode if he didn’t come soon.

“Julian…please…” Her nails raked down his back, causing him to shudder. If she did that again, he would be done. Instead of telling her that, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head.

Aiyanna tried getting out of his grasp but he wasn’t letting go; too focused on every expression that crossed her beautiful face.
His wife.
It was a chant that had reverberated through his head and heart from the moment he’d first seen her walking down the aisle towards him today. Every step she took would forever be engrained in his memory.
His wife.

She had chosen
him.
Julian had never felt more whole than the moment it was announced that she was now Mrs. Almanza. And now he would spend the rest of the night showing her exactly how much he needed her.

“You’re…torturing…me…” Aiyanna panted beneath him.

He chuckled low but didn’t pick his pace up any; deciding that this time she wouldn’t have her way.

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” she tried to reason.

Julian quirked a brow and kept up his slow, steady thrusting. Her pussy felt
amazing
clenching around him.

“You give me what I want, now,” Leaning up, Aiyanna nipped his chin. “And all this week, you can have every one of your raunchy sex fantasies fulfilled.”

Mouth twitching, he retorted, “I’ll take your request into consideration.”

That just wasn’t the answer Aiyanna wanted to hear which inevitably meant she had to take things into her own hands. Grinning wickedly, she pressed her lips to Julian’s ear and whispered exactly what she would let him do to her…in Spanish. She knew those impromptu lessons that he’d been giving her over the past few years or so would come in handy.

When he paused and stared down at her for a moment, mouth slightly agape, she knew she had him. It was confirmed when he said, “Okay, you win.”

Julian gripped her hips and rolled over so that she was on top. In one swift thrust, he pushed his hips up and brought her down, bumping right against her spot while simultaneously rubbing her clit. That was enough to cause her to explode and she felt it when he emptied himself inside of her.

Aiyanna dropped forward, resting on his chest, and feeling every hammering beat of his heart. It was comforting.

“Do you know how much I love you?” she asked softly as she closed her eyes.

He ran one large palm down her back as he kissed the top of her head. “Yes.”

That one word was spoken with so much conviction that it brought tears to her eyes. “Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

Arms tightening around her, Julian simply replied, “Never.”

And that was the last word Aiyanna heard leave his lips before she drifted off. She didn’t need anything else to make this day perfect, having gotten everything she could ever want was more than enough.

Julian
was more than enough. And the fact that he knew and understood that, could finally see himself the same way Aiyanna saw him, made her happier than she’d ever been.

Nikki

Nikki Winter

When Nikki wrote her first story in the tenth grade, she knew without a doubt she was destined for greatness. Now if she could just convince everyone else…

Buckling down, she’s taken the time to polish what she refers to as her “writing superiority.” She hopes that the tales she has created grab the readers’ attention, and make them devoted
slaves to her will
fans. If you want to let her know just how absolutely, positively awesome she is, you can always e-mail her at
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