Colter Gamblers: Gambling On A Heart Part 29

"I've always had this dream that you and I would have a bunch of kids and fill that big house my great-great-great grandfather built. We'd live here and bring the Cartwright legacy full circle. We'd raise cattle and kids and dogs and horses and live happily ever after."

She blushed. When she spoke, her voice cracked. "Me, too. I love Oak Springs, but it's not my house, not my home. I've always dreamed of living here and having a family with you."

Zack smiled. "I'm not running for reelection. In fact, I'm resigning as sheriff. Dawn can take over until the election in November. She'll make a fantastic sheriff. I'm a cowboy, not a cop. What about you?"

"I want to finish my degree, but I'm thinking that becoming a physician's a.s.sistant might be more realistic. I'll still be able to treat people and work as a medical provider."

"If that's what you want, you know I'll support you the whole way."

"Who knows if I'd be a good doctor?"

He chuckled and laid her down on the old quilt. "Bulls.h.i.t. You are one of the kindest, most compa.s.sionate people I've ever met."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know what my ultimate dream is?"

He ran his hand down her side. Her breathing kicked up a notch. "Nope."

"I'd much rather be a cowboy's wife someday."

His body fit perfectly in the cradle of hers. She lifted his Stetson off his head. After tossing it to the side, she threaded her fingers through his hair. He kissed her, but with a gentle teasing of lips brushing lips. When his erection pressed against her, she licked along the seam of his mouth, and he let her explore his mouth.

The heat built and pa.s.sion caught fire. He took over the kiss and plunged into her mouth in direct imitation of what he wanted to do with her. She moaned and found the b.u.t.tons of his shirt. When her hands pushed the open halves away, brushing his chest, he shrugged out of the shirt without breaking the kiss. Her hands touched him everywhere, and he eased out of the kiss as he lifted away her t-shirt.

She'd forgone a bra, and her nipples stood taut. He took one of them into his mouth and suckled until she clutched at his back, her nails biting deliciously into his skin. She arched into him as he moved to the other one, while his fingers teased and plucked at the moist pebbly nipple he'd left, alternating between sucking, nibbling and caressing. Her breathing quickened and her moans became more insistent. She wrapped her legs around his waist. The torture of her thrusting and rubbing herself against his hard-on nearly had him giving up and finish undressing both of them and burying himself inside her. However, he was determined to have this, to give her this.

"Zack...Oh...I'm..." The words were lost as she shattered beneath him.

When she opened eyes full of wonder, he smiled down into her face. "I knew I could make you come by playing with your b.r.e.a.s.t.s."

She laughed and shifted against him, eliciting a groan from him. "I think it's time we get naked, don't you?"

"In a second. But first..." He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the engagement ring. "I think this belongs to you."

She furrowed her brow, and he kissed her nose. When he pulled back, he held the ring before her face.

She gasped. "My ring." Then her face flushed a deeper red. This time from embarra.s.sment, not pa.s.sion. "I mean. The ring you"

He knew Logan had shown the ring to her, but he hadn't known she'd always considered it hers. "What do you say we change your last name?"

"I just got my last name back." She laid her left hand on his cheek and grinned. "I could opt to keep it."

"True."

He took her hand from his face and slid the diamond ring he'd bought for her fourteen years ago onto her finger. As he peered into her luminous eyes swimming in unshed tears of joy, he huskily asked, "Tracy Caroline Quinn, will you marry me? Become this cowboy's wife?"

"Yes," she breathed and pulled him to her and kissed him so deeply it took his breath away. When she finally pulled away, she rasped, "I think we're both a little overdressed."

He toed off his boots and shucked his jeans, and then helped pull off her boots and jeans. After he sheathed himself with a condom, she lay back pulling him over her again. As he kissed her, he pressed into her one inch at a time. She moaned and then broke the kiss. Her eyes opened and she gasped as he seated himself completely inside her.

"Oh, G.o.d. Zack..." She met him thrust for pa.s.sionate thrust, and he couldn't remember anything except that he loved this woman.

Always had. Always would.

Sara Walter Ellwood.

Although Sara Walter Ellwood has long ago left the farm for the glamour of the big town, she draws on her experiences growing up on a small hobby farm in West Central Pennsylvania to write her stories. She's been married to her college sweetheart for nearly 20 years, and they have two teenagers and one very spoiled rescue cat named Penny. She longs to visit the places she writes about and jokes she's a cowgirl at heart stuck in Pennsylvania suburbia.

She also writes paranormal romantic suspense under the pen name of Cera duBois.

Heartstrings.

Colton Gamblers Series.

Gambling On A Secret.

Gambling On A Heart.

end.