Born to Be My Baby Bonus Chapter
The sun sank low behind Canyon Creek Mountain, turning the sky into a kaleidoscope of colors. The lodge gleamed under the soft light, its windows glowing like embers. Laughter drifted down from the wedding barn where a local couple was celebrating their vows—one of many weddings Maggie had hosted here already.
Maggie smiled as she stood on the stone pathway between the lodge and the barn, wrapped in Ben’s old flannel shirt, watching the string lights flicker across the property. This view, this peace—it was everything she’d ever wanted.
She heard his footsteps before she felt him. “There you are,” Ben murmured, wrapping his arms around her from behind. “I was about to send out a search party.”
She laughed softly, leaning back against his chest. “A search party? What would you tell them? The manager of the Lodge at Canyon Creek has gone missing?”
“No,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “The woman who owns my heart has vanished, and I can’t function without her.”
Her heart melted. “You’ve gotten smoother since you left Seattle.”
He nuzzled her neck. “You bring it out of me.”
They stood there for a long moment, listening to the distant hum of music and the mountain wind through the pines. Ben had stayed in Canyon Creek, with her, building a small office in Maggie’s spare bedroom, where he ran his new computer software company, splitting his time between coding, helping tend to the lodge and sunsets. He’d never looked happier.
“You know,” Maggie said, turning to face him, “a few months ago I couldn’t have imagined this.”
Ben brushed a strand of hair from her face. “A few months ago, you were ready to throw me out of the lodge.”
“Correction,” she teased, “I was ready to bury you behind the barn.”
He chuckled. “Romantic.”
Maggie smiled, her eyes shining. “And now look at us.”
He kissed her gently. “Yeah. Now look at us. An old couple.”
She laughed. “We’re not that old.”
Ben slipped his hand into hers. “Dance with me.”
“Here?” she asked, glancing around the outdoor area.
“Here,” he said simply.
He pulled her close, one hand splayed against the small of her back, the other guiding her hand to his chest. She felt the steady thump of his heart beneath her palm.
They swayed in silence, moving to a song only they could hear.
“Remember the first time we danced?” she asked softly.
“How could I forget?”
“Hank’s Place,” they both said in unison with a laugh.
Ben smiled down at her. “It was our honeymoon, remember.”
“You mean the honeymoon for the fake wedding Aunt Sally performed to sell you CFO’s fiancée on booking the wedding barn?”
Ben chuckled, both of them remembering the day. He’d totally surprised Maggie with a kiss that left them both wanting for more when Aunt Sally had declared them husband and wife.
“That’s the one,” he said. “You told me at Hank’s Place that you wanted to spend your honeymoon on a tropical island.”
“And I still do,” she said.
“Come,” he said, leading her to one of the cabins close to the main lodge.
“We can’t stay in the cabin. It might be booked.”
“It’s not. I checked before I came out to find you.”
The night grew darker. Stars pricked the sky. The wedding from the barn faded into the hush of the mountains.
Ben opened the door to the cabin and ushered her inside. Maggie heard the crackling of wood.
“There’s a fire,” she said, surprised.
“Okay, so maybe I snuck out here and lit one in hopes I’d find you.”
She grinned.
Ben closed the door and slid the flannel shirt from her shoulders, his fingers brushing the bare skin at her collarbone. “You’re cold,” he murmured.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, but her voice trembled.
“Let me warm you up.”
Maggie turned, feeling his hands find her hips.
“You work too hard,” Ben said, his breath hot against her ear.
“So do you,” she murmured, tilting her head back as his lips traced her neck.
“Yeah, but I have better reasons now.” His hands slid around to her stomach, pulling her tight against him.
She laughed softly. “You mean me?”
“Always you.”
The heat between them grew, slow and inevitable, the kind that didn’t need words. Maggie turned in his arms and kissed him—soft at first, then deeper, hungrier.
Ben’s hands tangled in her hair, his control slipping as she pressed closer. “You’re supposed to be resting,” he muttered against her lips.
“I’m multitasking,” she teased.
He grinned, that crooked, devastating smile that always ramped up her heart. “God, you drive me crazy.”
She tugged at his shirt. “Prove it.”
He lifted her easily, setting her on the edge of the sofa near the fire. The warmth licked at her skin as he kissed her again, slower this time—exploring, savoring.
The room faded away until there was only the crackle of the fire, the soft sighs between them, the weight of everything they’d lost and finally found again.
“Ben,” she whispered, when his mouth trailed to her throat.
He looked up, eyes dark with want. “Yeah?”
“Don’t stop.”
He didn’t.
Later, when the fire burned low and the world was quiet again, Maggie lay tangled in the throw blanket, her head resting on Ben’s chest. His heartbeat was steady beneath her ear.
“Do you ever think your dad would’ve believed this?” she asked.
Ben smiled faintly. “That his eldest son would give up a million-dollar company to run a mountain lodge with the girl next door?”
“The girl you said never noticed you,” she reminded him.
“Yeah,” he said, his fingers tracing circles on her arm. “He’d probably call me an idiot for not making a move on you in high school. Then he’d tell me I finally got something right.”
Maggie smiled. “He’d be proud of you, Ben.”
He looked at her, eyes softening. “I think he’d be proud of both of us.”
They lay there in silence, listening to the fire crackle, the wind against the windows, the heartbeat of the lodge around them.
Finally, they’d both found what they’d been looking for in the quiet stillness of the world around them.
Home.