“In a minute. Let me get that blindfold off first.” He reached behind her head to untie the knot and his lips caressed hers, brushing back and forth tenderly. She opened her mouth a crack and slipped out her tongue a tiny bit, meeting his touch, tasting his flavor. They stood wrapped together kissing tenderly, slowly, savouring each other until he pulled back and she sighed in contentment.

“You need to open your eyes.”

She looked around with delight. He’d arranged a blanket on the grassy bank of the river, a basket with food open to the side.

“I watched you. You were so busy helping everyone else, as usual, you never got anything to eat.” He led her to the blanket and sat, patting the spot next to him.

“I’m supposed to serve—”

“You’re supposed to be with me. I arranged it all in advance. Cari and Leo agreed to serve desserts. Jesse and Joel are working coffee, and the rest of the boys are doing cleanup.” He held out his hand. “You, on the other hand, I have assigned a different task. It ain’t going to be an easy one for you, Slick, I can tell you that now.”

She joined her hand with his and snuggled in close, feeling guilty that she wasn’t helping at the picnic yet ecstatic to be alone with Blake. “What’s my task?” she asked.

He reached over her to grab something from the basket, the heat from his body covering her, and she couldn’t stop from wiggling upward, letting their bodies touch. A groan broke from his lips as he sat back, desire clouding his eyes.

She gazed into the depths of his soul.

Blake breathed heavy for a minute, his chest heaving, his hands shaking as he handed her the sandwich. “I can see this task ain’t going to be easy for me neither. Holy hell, woman, you’re driving me insane.” He collapsed back on the blanket, covering his eyes with one arm.

Jaxi nibbled silently. The blood pounding through her body made the sound of the river fade until all she heard was the constant thump of her heartbeat and the echoing throb in her core.

“I need to tell you something.” He rolled on his side to stare at her. “I’m not sorry about teasing you until you caved, and I’m not sorry we made love, but I’m also not sorry you took over and made these past weeks special.”

He chuckled. “That’s the strangest ‘not apology’ I’ve ever heard. I’m not sorry either. About any of it.”

She handed him a can of pop from the basket. “I need to ask you something. You said we needed time to see the truth about each other, to see if what we felt was real or just an image.” His throat moved as he drank and Jaxi found herself having to swallow hard.

He made every inch of her tingle just sitting next to him.

“I did.” He lifted a hand to play with her ponytail.

She closed her eyes briefly to gather her thoughts. Facing him square on, she held his hands tightly in hers. “Blake, what I’ve seen is a man I trust. A man who has the respect of both the community and his family. Jesse went off to school a couple weeks ago after hugging you to pieces and giving me a chaste peck on the cheek. He’s got no bitterness brewing with either of us and I’m so grateful. That’s because of you, because of the way you talked to him and shared with him. The way you treated me when he was around to prove you were the best one for me.

“Even Travis—God, the way you opened yourself up to him? I had no idea, but somehow you figured out what he needed. You haven’t urged me to share his secrets, and you trusted me right when it was most important. You haven’t asked me to give up reaching out to the others. You’ve supported me around the house and in the community. Heck, even today, stealing me away and making me relax. That’s what you want me to do that’s supposed to be so tough, right?”

He grinned at her with his new cocky smile that made her heart melt and her panties wet all at the same time. “Well, you do seem to have a problem with the word no. Using it with others, that is. Did you notice I had to find seven people to replace you?”

She lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. “What I’ve also seen is a man who put his sexual desires on hold, even when tempted by a very naughty tease. Your strength of character and your…”

She couldn’t go on. Her throat was closing, and it all came down to one thing.

“I love you, Blake Coleman. I always have, but I know it more now than ever before.”

Blake brushed his thumb over her mouth and she kissed it. He moved in close and nestled her alongside him, the hard length of his muscular body heating her up. She relaxed back on the blanket and stared up as his strong features broke into a smile that reached his eyes.

“I’ve got a whole lot to say about you too, but I’ll start at the end. I love you.” He leaned down and kissed her again, this time harder, his tongue dipping into her mouth and stroking hers. His hand cradled her neck, directing the angle to mesh them closer, nibbling and tasting each other until they drew back breathless.

Blake grinned at her and continued. “You’re not a little girl, you’re all woman. Not just your body but your mind and your heart. The only person I’ve ever seen work as hard as you is my ma, but she’s nowhere near as good looking.” He winked and she swatted him teasingly. “It’s not just the energy you use when you serve others, but the way you pour in love. Everything you touch is better because you’ve been involved. It’s humbling to see how much you love others and realize you love me too.”

He kissed her nose, kissed her cheek, touched a finger to the moisture escaping from the corner of her eye.

“I could go on and on about how you care for my family so tenderly it makes me ache inside in the part of me that needs family to be number one. I can’t just love you, Jaxi, I’ve got to love my family. I’ve got so much more to learn there about how to really be there for them, but the way you fit in and belong with us all is incredible. So important.”

Her heart was full to overflowing. She closed her eyes to stop the tears from escaping.

His voice scratched. “Thank you for being stubborn enough to force me to see you belong with me.” He lifted her to a sitting position across from him and clasped her hands again. She stared into his eyes, and he took a deep breath.

“Jaxi, I want to—”

A series of giggles broke the intimacy of the moment, and Jaxi snorted in disbelief.

“Miss Jaxi? You gonna come hand out the awards for the colouring contest?” A trio of children traipsed over the ridge to surround Blake and Jaxi. One of them crawled into her lap, another into his. The oldest of the three glared at Blake in disapproval.

“You’ve been kissing her, haven’cha?” he complained.

Blake nodded slowly and solemnly. “I have.”

“Ughhhh. Doncha know girls got cooties?” he whispered in Blake’s direction.

“Children, come back. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know they were looking for you until a minute ago.” Cari tried to round up the strays and shoo them away, even as she checked the details of the setting with interest.

Blake laughed out loud as the tyke in his lap wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him. “Well, it’s fine, Cari. I forgot Miss Jaxi was supposed to hand out awards. I guess we need to go and do that right now.”

He rose to his feet and shifted the little girl to his hip, reaching a hand to Jaxi. Guilt at ruining his wonderful surprise rushed her, and she tried to make it better. “We don’t have to go, Blake.”

A chorus of disappointed cries rose from the children, and his playfully stern headshake brought more tears to her eyes.

“Of course we have to go. This is important, handing out prizes. Come on, kids, show me where we need to take Miss Jaxi.” He nodded at Cari, and she winked before moving to pick up the blanket and basket. He lowered his voice conspiratorially to the little boy waiting. “You see, I haven’t been in a colouring contest for a long time, and I can’t remember where they hold it.”

Jaxi ambled slowly, a child in her arms. Beside her Blake listened to the running monologue of the little waif, nodding and ahaing at appropriate times.

If this was what a family felt like…

Bring it on.

Chapter Twenty-One

Blake looked around the table with mixed emotions. Jesse and Joel had came home for a weekend visit. Ma and Dad were missing, out at the hospital for a check-up and X-rays for the afternoon. They had friends staying with them to drive them home in the evening. With their folks gone, Travis’s absence was expected, but there wasn’t much he could do at this point other than wait for his brother to come around. Blake turned to talk to Daniel about a new furniture order, the quiet conversation peaceful in the room. A soft touch brushed his groin, and he flicked a hand at it, thinking one of the cats had gotten into the house.

Jaxi’s foot rested in his lap.

He jerked up quick, checked to see if Daniel had noticed anything, then snuck his chair in a bit tighter before he looked her way.

She talked quietly to Jesse, not a single indication anything naughty was happening. Certainly not something like her bare foot rubbing back and forth over his crotch until it was damn near impossible to concentrate on the conversation he was pretending to hold with Daniel.

A hand waved in front of his face, and Daniel snickered. “You need more sleep. Jaxi asked if you wanted dessert.”

He turned a hot glare on her that made her gasp.

“I’d love some dessert. I’ll help serve.”

He shoved back from the table and marched around to haul her from her chair. He didn’t care it was clear he sported a hard-on he could hang a horseshoe from. She’d started the game.