“That would be them,” Reese tells her.
The six of us gather in the living room and spend the next twenty minutes or so catching up. It’s not until Reese’s mom asks about our flights tomorrow that we find our opening.
“You fly out tomorrow, right?” Eve asks.
“Actually,” Reese glances at me, “we moved our flights to Friday morning.”
“Yeah, we had something come up tomorrow that we had to take care of.”
“What’s that?” Dad asks, just like I was hoping one of them would.
I look over at Reese, and she’s smiling from ear to ear. My girl is happy. Her smile is contagious. Reaching over, I entangle her fingers with mine. “Reese and I bought a house.”
The room is silent.
“Did you say that you bought a house?” Garrett asks.
“We did.” I’m sure to include Reese in this, because what’s mine is hers. She doesn’t know it yet, but the house is in both of our names.
“Wow,” my dad murmurs. “Where?”
“Indianapolis. About twenty minutes from the stadium.”
“You’re moving?” Eve asks Reese.
“Yeah. Today was my last day at my job. Cooper…” She swallows hard as her emotions get the best of her. “Cooper started a foundation. The Latham Reeves Foundation.” She goes on to tell them all about the foundation. She starts at the beginning, telling them the frustrations with her job, and how I listened and created a solution. She’s giving me all the credit, but it’s her and her love of helping others… her big heart that she shares with those kids that created this foundation.
By the time she’s finished retelling the story, both of our mothers are in tears, and our fathers both wear looks of pride on their faces. “So, we bought a house. Reese is moving to Indy to run the foundation.”
“Can we see the house?” Mom asks.
“It’s gorgeous,” Reese says, pulling out her phone. “I can’t believe this is where we’re going to be living.” She passes her phone around, and they each take turns flipping through the pictures.
“You’ve done well for yourself, son. I’m proud of you,” Dad says.
My chest swells with pride at his words. Sure, I’m good at football, and the money that provides us is going to let us live a life most can only dream of. That’s great, but I know it’s more than that. He knows Reese is my heart, and he’s proud of me for not giving up. For fighting for her. For us.
I nod, accepting his words. However, I keep mine to myself. I don’t tell him that I would give it all up for her. If that’s what it took for me to spend the rest of my life with her, I’d do it. No questions, no hesitation. I’m glad that’s not how it turned out, don’t get me wrong, but there is nothing in my life more important than Reese.
“We fell in love with it. It’s big enough to start our family and still have room for the four of you when you come to visit.”
“Family?” they all four say at the same time.
I dropped that little nugget of information that I know they were all dying to ask but weren’t for whatever reason. They’ve stayed out of our romantic relationship, but it’s time they know what’s going on. I’ve told them all that I love her, and this was my plan, but it’s time for them to know the plan has been set in motion. Next stop, our engagement and our own wedding.
I look over at Eve and Garrett. Here goes nothing. “I know we’ve talked about this before,” I say, keeping my eyes trained on them. Reese squeezes my hand, I’m sure to get my attention, but I don’t break their gaze. “I love her. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I would like your blessing to do so,” I say formally.
Garrett looks over at Eve, and something passes between them. “You’re already a part of our family. We’d be honored to officially call you our son.”
Our parents gather around us, giving us hugs and congratulations. We talk a little while longer with plans for them to come and see the house when we get back from the wedding. We’re barely in the truck with our seat belts on when Reese smacks my arm.
“Ouch.” I pretend that she hurt me. She didn’t. “What was that for?” I ask, but I already know the answer.
“That—” She points toward the house. “You just did that.”
“I did.” I fight my grin.
“In front of me and all of them.”
“They’re our parents.”
“I know that.”
“They’re going to be there when we say our vows. This is nothing new.”
“You’re acting like we’re getting married soon.”
“I want to.”
“Coop,” she breathes.
“Don’t worry, tonight wasn’t my proposal.” She sighs in relief. “Although, you might want to practice your yes.”
“What?”
“It’s coming, baby. I’m going to ask you one day soon. So you need to work on your yes.”
She bites down on her lip to keep from laughing. “What am I going to do with you?” she asks with a shake of her head.
“Marry me, have my babies, grow old with me.”
Her smile is huge. “I think we can work something out.”
Chapter 20
Reese
“Wow.” That’s the first thing that comes to mind as Cooper pulls our rental to a stop outside Nixon and Tessa’s house. “I’ve seen pictures, but it doesn’t do this place justice.” It’s similar to ours with a full-brick two-story wrap. Their brick is a dark red, and since red is Tessa’s favorite color, I’m sure that’s part of what made her fall in love with this place.
“Kind of like our place,” Cooper says, peering out the window.
“They are similar. I wonder if they have a huge shower,” I say and can feel my face heat. Yesterday after the closing, we went and bought an air mattress before swinging by the condo and grabbing our bags for our flight, our toiletries, and the blankets from Cooper’s bed. We ordered Chinese and stopped to pick it up on the way. We spent the rest of the day in our new home. We set up camp in the master bedroom and ate sitting on the island that’s the size of my entire kitchen in my apartment.
Anyway, the shower… Cooper insisted we try it out last night, and try it out we did. What started out as soft intimate caresses turned into my back against the wall, with the water raining down on us as he took me hard and fast. Shower sex is definitely on the to-be-repeated-as-soon-as-possible list.
“Just think, babe, that’s how we can start every day,” he says, reading my mind.
“Promise?”
His reply is to lean in and press his lips to mine. I open for him just like I always do when he deepens the kiss. I allow myself to get lost in him. He’s mine now. I can do that. And I do every chance I get. When a loud knock comes at the window, Cooper groans and pulls away. “I love you,” he says softly before turning and rolling down the window. “Can I help you?” he asks Nixon and Tessa.
“Get your ass out of the car, Reeves,” Nixon demands. I can hear the humor in his voice, or maybe that’s excitement for seeing his friend.