Jay put his hand on my shoulder. “Hold up. Did you say groomsmen? Like, bachelor party?” He held his hands up. “I’m in. Go for it. I’m ready to get Delaney pregnant yesterday so maybe popping the question like you’re about to do with help that along.”
Remy looked at Jay. “You are fucking crazy, you know that right? I don’t know any other twenty-seven-year-old that is begging to get his girlfriend pregnant.”
Jay rubbed his hands together. “Well, what's the fun in being like everyone else?”
“I’m in on the groomsmen thing, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get Frankie to marry me. You know how hard it was to get her to start dating me? I’ll just stick with where we are right now.” Brooks slapped me on the shoulder. “Go get her, man.”
I looked at Remy. “I’m doing this. If you throw a fit, I’ll make sure you never touch my daughter again.”
Remy’s jaw dropped. “You’ve only been dating Mave for like a month. How in the hell are you going to marry her? I’m just looking out for your best interest, Roc. Would you have wanted me to marry Harlyn a month after dating her?”
“I didn’t know you were dating Harlyn ‘til two months after you started dating her. You want to go into that?” I growled.
Remy held up his hands. “You know what, you’re a grown man. You know what is best for you.”
“Wise choice,” I growled.
“What are you guys doing?” Delaney called.
“Dad, would you stop torturing, Remy,” Harlyn scoffed.
I gripped the ring box in my hand. “Here we go,” I whispered.
“Roc. Do you have the grill going?” Mave walked out of the house with a platter of raw burger patties in one hand and a bowl of potato chips in the other.
I dropped down on one knee, and she stopped in her tracks.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Harlyn, take the food from her.”
Mave with hands full of food was not how I saw this going.
Harlyn squeezed in and grabbed the food.
I cleared my throat. “Mave Clark. I love you. You tell me all of the time that I don’t and to just shut up. Well, I’m not going to shut up about it. I know what I want and you know that I take what I want.”
“Stop,” she whispered.
“Not gonna stop, Mave. I’m never going to stop loving you.”
“Get up.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Roc, you can’t do this.”
“She is really committed to being oblivious, isn’t she?” Frankie whispered loudly.
For fuck’s sake. Of course Mave would make this difficult. “My legs hurt, Mave.”
“Then get up,” she shouted.
“Not until you tell me you love me and you’ll marry me. I promise to spend the rest of my days proving to you just how much I love you.”
She shook her head. “You’re absolutely crazy. We’ve barely been dating.”
“I know what I want.” Mave. Mave was what I wanted. “Marry me.”
“I snore.”
I smiled wide. “I know. If I put my hand over your mouth, you stop.”
She gasped. “That’s rude.”
“But it works. Marry me,” I repeated.
“No.”
I shifted on my knee and grimaced. “Really hurting here, Doc.”
“For God’s sake, yes. I’ll marry you, you stubborn man!”
I surged up on my feet and lifted her up into my arms.
“I thought your legs hurt!” she shouted.
I smiled wide. “Nope. Never better, Doc.”
She slapped me on the chest. “I can’t believe you just tricked me into marrying you.”
“Just taking what I want, Doc. Remember, that’s one of the things you like about me.”
She sighed and rested her forehead against mine. “There’s really no use in fighting you, is there?” Tears shone in her eyes and she sniffled. “And for the record, I loved you a long time ago so you weren’t the first. I was first,” she insisted.
I threw my head back laughing and held her close. “Prove it,” I whispered in her ear.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed a long, sweet kiss to my lips. “Challenge accepted. How does the rest of your life with me sound?”
“I think that sounds just about right, Doc.”
“Then let’s do this.”
Epilogue
Roc
“I can’t believe we did that.”
I looked down at Mave. “We’ve done that before. Numerous times.”
Her head was resting on my chest, and she slapped me on the arm. “I mean get married, not have sex.”
“Oh that. I can believe it. Been wanting to do it for the past six months but you made me wait.”
A breeze floated through our bungalow, and I draped the sheet over us.
I had made Mave cash the damn check I had sent to her and book a vacation in Maui. A vacation in Maui where we got married with all of our friends surrounding us.
“I waited six months to make sure the race season was over so I wouldn’t have to drag you away from the car and the race crew.”
That was exactly what she had done even though I had told her I would go whenever she wanted. “We could have flown out that day I proposed if you wanted.”
“Right,” she drawled. “We would have spent our honeymoon with you glued to the TV watching the race or on the phone talking to Frankie. Waiting six months was more than worth it.”
Mave sighed and relaxed into me.
Her naked body was pressed against mine because I had just fucked the newly married Mave Krinston.
It. Was. Amazing.
“Have you talked to Harlyn?”
I grunted. “No. I was busy with you.”
“I mean before,” she waved her hand in the air, “this.”
“A little bit.”
Mave tipped her head back. “He’s asking her tonight.”
“I know.”
She reached up and cupped my cheek. “You know it’s what she wants. She loves him.”
She did, but it didn’t make it any easier to know my only daughter was going to get married. “He better love her more than she loves him or I’m going to break his neck.”
“You know he does.”
He did. That was the only reason I had said yes when he asked me if he could marry Harlyn. He had also agreed that if he broke her heart, I had permission to run him over with the racecar ten times. Going three hundred miles an hour.
“Can we not talk about Remy when you’re naked in bed with me?” I ran my hand down her hip. “You’re ruining the moment.”
She stretched up and pressed her lips against mine. “I wouldn’t want to do that. I’ve been waiting forty-one years for you.”
“I’ve waited fifty-one for you.” I delved my fingers into her hair and held her close.
“You always gotta do me one better, don’t you?” she whispered.
“That’s because I love you more.”
Her eyes connected with me. “I guess I’ll accept that, but just so you know, I’m going to try for the rest of my life to prove you wrong.”