“Oh yeah, Lane? So you think you could stop being such a wuss and actually ask me what you want to ask me already?” I quip, biting my lip with a smile. “Or should I send back the judge your pop got to come over after the ball to marry our dumb asses?”
I squeak when he lunges at me and squeezes me so hard that I feel both our heartbeats.
“You’re ready, baby girl?” he says and I feel my pieces fall right back into place when he smiles so big that I can’t help but smile back.
“I was born ready, Lane.”
“But what about my job and stuff? I mean, I called my supervisor yesterday and I’m going in to sign my papers for early retirement, but—”
“Hush, Roman. I don’t want you to give up something you love because I’ve been a hormonal nag and an idiot. You love your job, and I love you enough to trust that you’ll always come back to me every single time. Now ask me before I change my mind, fool.”
He sets me down and falls to his knees with a smile and takes my hands with a gruff swallow.
“Melissa Dobson, my baby girl and the only woman I have ever loved, I’m not going to ask you to marry me, or even beg you to be mine, because where we’re at right now is so much more than a contract or me pleading with you for a little piece of your heart. I will ask you to claim me, though, because it would be my greatest honor if you would tell the world that I am yours,” he rasps, kissing both of my palms with a reverence that is melting my heart.
I fall to my knees before him, laughing and gasping as the purest joy courses through me.
“I-I never thought I could have everything I always wanted, and I don’t. But what I dreamed of when I was young is so pale in comparison to what I have now that I don’t even remember the half of it. You do belong to me, and I finally believe it. I belong to you, too, babe. I have since I was fourteen and I developed a huge crush on this senior football captain who didn’t even know I existed.” I laugh, loving the expression that hits his face.
“Why so shocked, Lane? You and your brothers were hot as shit, and y’all knew it. I just didn’t have the…stones at that point to even breathe near you. And then we grew up and I actually met you, and you know what? You were better than my fantasies. I love you, more than I did even a day ago, and I would really like to marry you and live the next eighty years as your wife and bartender.”
We’re on the verge of kissing like animals when we hear a chorus of feminine squeals and male curses and I start laughing hard enough that I choke on my spit.
“Goddammit, Ma! Can’t a man get a lick of privacy around this dump?” he gripes, grinning when Pop pokes his head in and grins.
“Congratulations. All my ducks are now squared off. Now get out here and show us the ring.”
“Pop,” Roman groans and I almost moan myself when George grins wickedly and shrugs.
“You know it’s inevitable, boy.”
Chapter Fifteen
Roman
My nerves are strung taught and I’m in battle mode as the first masked bastards start arriving.
We’re all on edge, every man among us, and I have to fight my instinct to grab Mel and carry her upstairs to the safe room in Pop’s closet just to have some piece of mind.
I see Miah, Wyatt, Jace, and Jared all tense behind their masks, and it takes a huge leap of faith for me to trust in the women’s plan right now and not close the gates before things get way out of hand.
It’s a good plan, though, and if I weren’t so antsy about the outcome, I’d have complimented them all for such devious thinking.
I’m just sweating bullets as each new guest arrives, hidden safely behind full masks and makeup that make it impossible for us to tell who the guests really are.
“Stop glaring and try to smile, would you, Lane? You’re scaring the guests.”
“I’d like to fuck a good few of them up for going to this much trouble on such short fucking notice,” I growl, scowling at her chipper mood.
Are these women not scared of these lunatics? I know I am, and I’ve been dead for God’s sake.
“Behave. That tracker Tracy planted in the invite will let Clari know when they get to the door, and Prissy and that other girl are still following Lynn. It’s all going to be just fine,” she soothes, stroking her engagement ring with another happy sigh.
I am happy to report that my Mel, my little grumpkins and the mother of my child, is the only Lane female to ever refuse Ma’s ring. That, alone, is keeping me from snapping at her right now.
She’s a gem among gems, and I’m tickled by her no-nonsense attitude when she told Ma to put the ring in the safe and keep it for our second child.