“You talk to me.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t outgoing. I wasn’t looking to party or get drunk. I loved MMA, which is why your dad and I are close. I would hang out there after school, or with Laura. I got by in school, but I knew from the moment I joined JROTC, I wanted to join the military. When I was in that class, I felt a sense of belonging. I excelled at it. I joined Raiders and the drill team, and it kept me busy.”
He entwines our fingers together, and my heart pumps quicker. I love when he touches me. “What about you? Book nerd or cheerleader?”
“Why does it have to be one or the other?”
“So, what, you were both?” He quirks a single brow.
“I was a straight-A student… and a cheerleader.”
“Ahh.” He nods, smirking. “So, you were smart and sexy in high school. I bet you were named homecoming queen, weren’t you?” He chuckles, but when I divert my eyes, his laughter rises. “You were, weren’t you?”
“Ian was a football player—the quarterback—and homecoming king.” I roll my eyes, feeling kind of embarrassed. “Kind of cliché, I guess.” Ryan spent his high school years preparing to join the military, to make our country better. I spent it shaking my pom-poms and sneaking out to hang out with my football star boyfriend.
“Hey,” he says, tucking a piece of stray hair behind my ear. “It’s not cliché.” He leans forward and presses his lips to mine. “I hope our son has your brains and personality. I hope he has plenty of friends and is involved in school like you were.”
My heart stutters in my chest at his praise. “I hope he’s protective and strong like you.”
“You’re strong too,” he says. “The way you moved forward after Ian died. That takes strength.”
“Well, you’re smart too,” I volley, making him smile. “Not anyone can get a degree in mechanical engineering.”
“No matter who he is, or what he does, we’ll be there for him… supporting him… together. Because, you’re right, he’s a part of both of us.”
I nod in agreement, a lump of guilt forming in my throat. “I really am sorry I didn’t tell you right away that I was pregnant. You could’ve missed out on his birth, his first couple weeks of life, if not months, and it would’ve been my fault.”
“I’ve already forgiven you,” he says, curling his fingers in the back of my hair and bringing my face toward his. “It was a weird situation and you made the decision you felt was best at the time. In the end, it all worked out.”
The waitress steps up to our table, setting our plates in front of us. After asking if we need anything else, she disappears. We eat our meal while making light conversation, including making plans to go to the beach house soon. When the food is gone, the waitress clears our plates and asks if we would like dessert. Before I can answer, Ryan orders us a chocolate cake to share.
“While we wait, I have something I would like to ask you,” he says.
When I give him my full attention, I notice he looks kind of… nervous. I’m about to ask him what’s wrong, when he slides off his chair and gets down on one knee.
“I might’ve been drunk last night when I asked you to marry me, but I wasn’t when I bought this ring,” he says, pulling a small, black box out of his jacket pocket. “I bought it shortly after you gave birth to RJ, but I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask. Obviously, last night, after I’d been drinking wasn’t the right time.” One side of his mouth tips into a boyish grin.
I release a nervous laugh as he opens the box and a beautiful diamond engagement ring glints in the light. One large square diamond sits in the center with several smaller diamonds forming an infinity on either side. It reminds me of the ring he gave me when he was overseas.
He plucks the ring out and sets the box on the table. “The first time I married I was young and didn’t understand what it fully meant to be married. I was helping out a friend. I don’t regret it because at the time, it was what we both needed. I loved her, but it was different than the way I love you. Until you, I didn’t know there were different kinds of love.” His indigo eyes meet mine. “I know when you married Ian it was supposed to be forever…”
I clutch my hands to my chest, willing myself not to cry.
“And if I could bring him back, I would. Just so you would never spend a single day being heartbroken.”
Tears well up in my eyes as I listen to his admission.
“But I can’t,” he continues. “And while I hate what happened to him, I’ll always be thankful, that through something so heartbreaking and tragic, you came into my life. Those two weeks on the beach with you changed everything for me. My heart had never felt so damn full.”
I can feel my broken heart heal. With every word he speaks, he’s slowly healing me. Piece by piece, word by word, he’s putting it back together.
“And then you did something I wasn’t expecting,” he says. “You gave me our son, and the love in my heart spilled over. I’m in love with you, Micaela, and all I want in this world is to spend my life with you. Will you marry me?”
I don’t have to think about it. Everything he said, I was thinking—feeling. There’s nothing I want more than to spend my life with Ryan. To be loved and cherished and adored by him.
“Yes,” I choke out. “Yes, I will marry you.”
The most breathtaking grin spreads across his face, as he pushes the ring onto the third finger on my left hand. Then he stands and takes me into his arms, lifting and twirling me in a circle, kissing me hard.
The waitress returns with our cake, but Ryan asks her to box it up, so we can eat it at home. I can see the glint in his eyes—he wants to celebrate our engagement in private, and I’m totally onboard with that.
We’re barely through the door of the limo before Ryan and I are attacking each other. I pull my dress up to my hips at the same time he unbuttons, unzips, and yanks his pants halfway down his muscular thighs. His dick juts out, swollen and ready. Neither of us wastes any time, guiding me onto his hard length.
“Jesus fuck,” he groans. “I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life buried deep inside you.” His mouth crashes against mine, devouring me as he fucks me from the bottom. His thumb massages my clit, giving it the perfect amount of pressure to set me off. We both come at nearly the same time, hard and fast, clinging to one another like we’re each other’s life lines.
When our breathing has calmed down, Ryan lifts me so I’m back on the bench. Taking a wet napkin, he wipes up my center so I’m not dripping with his cum. After he cleans himself up, he presses the intercom and tells the driver he can take us home. It’s then I remember where we are…
“It’s a privacy window,” Ryan says, answering the question I haven’t yet voiced. “He couldn’t hear anything.”
“Can we go get RJ?” I ask, looking up at him as I snuggle against his side.
“Damn, woman, so it’s like that, huh? You have your way with me and then throw me to the side?” He smirks playfully, and my insides warm.
“Yeah, it’s only eight thirty,” he says, glancing at his watch. “We can go get him. Are Lexi and Georgia spending the night?”