She turned then, and smiled when our gazes met. “I can see why you love it here so much. It’s simply beautiful.”

I nodded and walked to her, taking her hand. “You’re beautiful.”

Rosiness swept over her cheeks.

“You must know how beautiful you are, Lacey.”

“Not like Nieves.”

“Nieves is nothing compared to you.” I knelt down, picked another blue flower, and placed this one behind her other ear. “You look like a garden nymph, with your hair down around your shoulders. You should be wearing a wreath of baby’s breath on your head and a long flowing skirt over those amazing hips.”

“You think I look like a hippie?”

“No, not a hippie.” Hadn’t she heard me? “A garden nymph. Or a goddess of the woods.”

“That’s sweet.” She giggled. “But you don’t look like a god of the woods. You look like a dark god. A god of war or something like that.”

“Do I? You think I look evil?”

“No. Not at all.” She giggled again. “But your tan skin and your nearly black hair, and then those piercing green eyes that stare at me as if they’re dissolving my clothes with some kind of laser ray but could also stare down anything in the universe. You’re so strong, Rock. You look like you could overcome anything in your way.”

“You see all that in me? Because I have dark hair?”

“It’s not just your hair, silly. It’s your looks, yes, but it’s all of you. Your personality, your demeanor, the way you make me want to do anything to please you.” She blushed again. “I shouldn’t have said that last part.”

My heart raced, and my cock hardened. But more than either of those, emotion burst through me like holiday carols.

I felt good.

More than good.

I felt…happy.

Damn.

Even in the face of the shitstorm that had currently overtaken my life, I fucking felt happy.

Not that I hadn’t been content before. I loved my life here. Working outdoors, riding, hunting, sitting by my fire on a chilly evening.

I’d been content since I’d arrived in Montana all those years ago.

But happiness, true happiness, had eluded me.

Until now.

Now, when I had to leave my home and do a job I hated, deal with my family, worry over my little sister…I’d found happiness.

I never thought another person could be the key to happiness.

Indeed, I still didn’t think that. It wasn’t Lacey so much as Lacey and me together. The two of us. That made me happy. I’d been worried about Riley, and I’d hardly touched Lacey since we arrived here, yet still I felt complete in a strange and content way, just because of her presence.

Damn.