“No fair. You’re going to push me right over.”

Her laugh was breathless.

A challenge.

“Oh, so it’s like that? Well all right then.” The hand at her shoulder pulled her back as he let go of her hip, circling around to her clit. The sound she made pulled him closer to climax.

She tried to push back against him. To take him deeper and faster, but the hand he kept at her shoulder controlled her movements. He leaned in, kissing her shoulder. “Uh, uh, uh. I’m in charge here.”

She nearly melted into a puddle.

She ached. His words had stoked the fire turned raging inferno. He made her feel so beautiful. So desired. Powerful. In the month they’d been apart, she’d been so damned sad and empty. This had been why. She hadn’t realized it until that moment when he touched her like she was precious. When he met her with his own need, as he took hers and gave her what she demanded. He filled her up with so much.

Tears pricked her lashes as she accepted the enormity of what it meant to love someone. Of the way it made her vulnerable as she let herself get lost in him. Tangled up in the JoeandBeth of it all.

She flew apart with a cry. A cry he echoed just moments later as he pushed deep and stayed deep.

“Don’t you ever leave again. You hear me, Joseph?”

They fell to her mattress, his arms around her, holding her close.

“I hear you, Beth. I hear you. I love you and I’m sure as hell not letting you go ever again. I need you too much.”

Chapter Sixteen

Buck ran, his little legs a blur. He grabbed the ball in his mouth and headed back to where Meg giggled and clapped her hands.

Beth, standing against Joe’s chest, snorted, amused. “He’s gonna get her nice and tired.”

“Good for everyone.” Joe kissed the top of Beth’s head.

“Oh you mean so your son sleeps better too?”

He laughed. “Our son now.”

“Did you hear that, Buck? I’m your new mommy.”

Meg thought that was hilarious, and Buck danced over, licking Beth’s hands, barking up a storm.

“I vote you bring Buck to all family dinners from now on.” Matt spoke from where he’d been sitting on the porch with Tate. “He’s kept them running all day long. Lots of tired kids will sleep well.”

“Well, but now Nicholas is begging for a dog.” Maggie snorted. “We were going to the breeder until Beth suggested we try the animal shelter.”

“Oh good! Buck was abandoned. Imagine anyone just tossing away a dog as fabulous as he is.”

They talked dogs as Beth wandered over to where her sisters sat with Lily and the Chase wives. Polly came out of the house with a tray of hot chocolate and joined them.

“Lily, you’re getting married in less than a month.” Beth snickered. “And you’ll be a Murphy.”

“God help you,” Anne said, grinning.

“Nathan told me yesterday he wanted to start trying to get pregnant right away. I admit I’ve been wondering. Holding off on deciding because I wanted Chris to be back on track. But he told me a few days back that he hoped I had a whole passel of kids so he could spoil them.”

Nathan had not only been Lily’s fiancé, but in a lot of ways he’d stepped in as a father figure to Lily’s brother. It had made Nathan a better man, and certainly helped Chris as his own father was sort of a dick.

“Also, I agreed to start looking for a house. Chris will come with us, of course. I told him he would always have a place with me. This way my mom will have her house when she comes home, but Nathan and I can have a house of our own.”

That was a huge step, Beth knew. For everyone involved. She also knew Nathan would feel a lot better in a house that was theirs. He’d be at home in a way he never could be at Lily’s mom’s place.

“Joe asked me to move in with him.”

Everyone got quiet, looking her way. Smiles and grins broke out as a flurry of oh my gods and congratulations sounded.

“When?” Lily demanded. The only person Beth had told was Tate, who she called at five that morning, knowing she’d already be up with Lil Beth.

“Last night at dinner. He just blurted it out. Said we needed to find a place with a big backyard for Buck. He said he wanted to come home to our place every night and know I was there. He wants to make a home with me.”

A home.

That’s what had done it. She’d made one for herself of course. But with him? With the man she loved in the same town with her family, with her best friends and all the people she loved best in the world?

She’d said yes and wrapped herself around him like a monkey right there in the restaurant.

“He’s the one?” Polly asked, taking Beth’s hands.

Beth nodded. “Oh yes. He makes everything better. Even dumb stuff like folding laundry and cleaning the bathtub.” The latter mainly because he lured her with sex after. But she’d keep that to herself.

“Does he deserve you? I know how hard you fought for him, so clearly you deserve him. But you’re special. Not just beautiful on the outside, but on the inside too. We can’t have you giving yourself to a man if he’s not worthy of you. Edward told me this just the other day. Polly, make sure our Beth understands how special she is, and how that Joe Harris best be good enough or he’ll have me to answer to.”

“He did?” Edward Chase, a lot like her brothers, made her realize it was entirely possible to be a wonderful husband and father. The way he still looked at Polly, even after nearly four decades of marriage, blew her away. He not only loved her, he loved her ways. Made room for her in his life in a way that was natural and amazing and filled Beth with envy.