She pulled his head back by fisting his hair gently. “I have everything I want, Tate. I have you.”
Somehow, he didn’t see himself as a very big prize. “What else?”
Studying his face for a moment, she finally answered, “Well, I did just turn thirty. I’d like to have a baby sometime in the next few years. I think I’ll probably need your help and your consent since we’ll be married.”
Tate’s heart went into double time. A baby? He hadn’t thought that far ahead, but he could imagine Lara ripe with their child, rocking a daughter or son to sleep. Playing. Laughing. Loving. It would be amazing.
“I’d love that. A girl with your beautiful eyes and smile would be incredible.”
“A boy with your eyes and your cute little dimple,” she corrected.
“One of each?” It sounded like a good compromise to him.
“Babies don’t exactly come made to order,” she teased, squeezing his fingers as her laughing eyes smiled at him.
“I’m a Colter. We never give up.” Hell, he’d give her as many babies as she wanted to have, and he’d love every one of them fiercely. “Dad tried until he finally gave Mom her girl.”
“I’m not quite sure if I want to try as many times as your mom did for a girl, but we’ll see. So I take it I have your agreement?”
“Yep. And you know I’m going to help just as much as you’d like.” He’d help several times a day if she wanted to get pregnant. In fact, he’d help even if she didn’t want to get pregnant.
“I think I’m going to need to practice until you’re ready. A lot.”
Lara snorted with laughter and pulled him back down to kiss her.
He obliged very willingly. This was one mission where Tate knew he’d have absolutely no reservations.
“What if she changed her mind? What if she doesn’t show up? Maybe she figured out that I’m really an asshole?” Tate Colter looked at Travis Harrison with a panicked expression as they stood in the small wedding chapel in Vegas.
Travis crossed his arms in front of him and lifted a brow at Tate. “Colter, she already knows you’re an asshole. I told her. But for some unknown reason, she still wants to marry you. She’ll be here.” Travis pulled back the sleeve of his custom-made suit to look at his watch. “For Christ’s sake, it’s only just noon.”
Tate looked at his watch again. “It’s one minute after,” he corrected Travis gruffly.
“She’s with Ally, and I’m pretty certain my wife isn’t going to run away. I got over that awhile back. She loves me,” Travis said arrogantly.
“Lara loves me, too,” Tate said cockily, trying to shake off his nerves. He should have stayed with Lara just in case she got cold feet. Instead, he’d gotten ready with Travis, and Lara went with Ally to get a new dress.
Even though they were marrying in Vegas, Tate still wanted to make sure that their wedding day was special. He was dressed in a tuxedo, and Travis wore a suit. Luckily, Travis and Ally had been available to come and stand up for him and Lara. He’d thought about his brothers, but it was appropriate that Travis be his best man. He’d saved Lara’s life, and Lara had wanted to meet him. He doubted his brothers would mind. None of them were in town this weekend anyway, so he could use that as an excuse. Plus, they all hated weddings just as much as he did.
Except…I really don’t hate this one because it’s my wedding to Lara.
In fact, he was really, really eager for it to actually start.
Another minute passed and Tate started to sweat.
Where in the hell are they? How long did it take to buy a dress?
“Maybe I should call her,” Tate told Travis as he looked at the smiling chaplain, who didn’t look as if he was in any type of hurry. And he probably wasn’t. He was being very well paid for his services.
“No, you do not need to call her. Ally would have called me if there was a problem,” Travis answered nonchalantly. “Lara isn’t going anywhere. It’s pretty evident that she’s crazy about you. Relax.”
Easier said than done. Tate felt like pulling his hair out.
He and Lara had only been living together for a couple of weeks. Had he done anything wrong? Okay. Yeah. He forgot to put the toilet seat down…occasionally, but he was getting better. Hell, he’d even learned to make a decent sandwich.
He thought that Lara would enjoy Vegas, and she had. They’d arrived several days earlier to see the sights and Lara loved the slot machines. But the thing she loved the best were the buffets. Tate grimaced when he thought about all of the buffets they’d found…some of them decent, but most of them absolutely disgusting. The only awesome buffet he could think of was the breakfast buffet served at the resort. It was quality food prepared by an excellent chef. Apparently, Lara didn’t notice the difference and was entranced just by the large quantity of food. But he’d had so much fun watching Lara flitting from dish to dish that he didn’t mind going. She’d stuffed herself until she could barely get up and walk, and every day she swore she wasn’t going to do it again. The next day, she’d be seeking out another all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.
Christ…she was adorable. Lara was his heart, and she was going to be his.
If she would just get here!
Rationally, he didn’t think that she was going anywhere. She did love him. He knew she did, but he wasn’t going to be happy until they had said their vows.
He looked at Travis and wanted to punch his friend’s smirking expression.
“You’ll get over this irrational fear eventually.” Travis sounded amused. “In time, you’ll only start worrying about her ten times a day instead of twenty.”
“Are you at ten yet?” Tate asked hopefully.
“Nope. But I’m working on fifteen,” Travis answered sheepishly. “It’s not easy loving somebody that much, but it’s worth every minute of worry you’ll ever have. Trust me.”
“Are you worried now?” ’Cause honestly, Tate felt pretty terrified.
“No. Ally told me they might be a little late. When Lara found out that you were wearing a tux, she wanted to look nicer.”
“She looks beautiful in anything,” Tate replied emphatically.
“She’s a woman,” Travis answered, as if that explained everything.
“A female who can almost kick my ass,” Tate said proudly.