Protect Me Not ((Un)Professionally Yours 2)

“Do you want to?” she asked.

“Well, at some point, they’re going to notice. It’s been three months.”

“I know,” Vicki said with a smile, her hand going to her abdomen. “But I’ve enjoyed it being our little secret, you know?”

“Yeah.” His voice roughened as his eyes dropped to her hand. “I know.”

“I suppose we could tell them tonight. I’ll probably be showing by next month. This is the only time we’ll have them all together before then.”

“Then I’ll have to contend with one—or possibly both—of your brothers attempting to murder me for getting you pregnant out of wedlock.”

“Out of wedlock? You sound like my nan. And I hear her enough on a daily basis.” He laughed, the sound deep and infectious. He had found it hilarious when she’d randomly told him about her inner voice sounding like her nan. “Besides, Miles and Hugh don’t stand a chance against you. You could stack them, one on top of the other, and they still wouldn’t be as tall as you.”

“You have a truly skewed sense of your brothers’ height and abilities. They’re not short. And they’re not helpless. And you know that Miles has been itching to have a go at me ever since you told him about us.”

A complete exaggeration. Miles had been happy for her. So happy, that Vicki knew that the match probably hadn’t come as a complete surprise to him. But Ty got a kick out of pretending to be terrified of her “disapproving” big brothers.

“They could kick my ass if they were strategic about it,” he said. “Worse. They could totally hire somebody to kick my ass for them. Chance would do it for the right amount of money. He thinks of you as his baby sister too.”

“If this bothers you so much then we should get married, jeez!”

They both went absolutely still at her impulsive words and stared at each other with wide, startled eyes.

“I mean…we could,” Ty said, his voice cautious.

“Why haven’t we yet?”

“I have no idea.”

“I love you.”

“And I love you. Should we?” he asked, still sounding uncertain.

“Do you want to?” Now she was feeling uncertain. This wasn’t quite how she had expected a marriage proposal to go.

“Of course. Do you?”

“Well…yes.”

He grinned boyishly and hurried to the junk drawer—where he still kept his medals, batteries, and spare Allen keys—and rummaged around. He found what he was looking for and strode back into the kitchen where he stunned Vicki by dropping to one knee in front of her.

“Thank God for that, I would hate to return this.” He held up a small, black velvet box and flipped the lid to reveal a ring. A gorgeous oval emerald offset by diamond points.

She stared at the ring, aware that her mouth was opening and closing like a guppy’s. “Wh-where did this come from?”

“The miscellaneous drawer—” only Ty ever called it that. “—where I like to keep all my important shit.” His eyes were sparkling with laughter.

“That’s not what I meant. When did you get this? Why?”

“When? About six months ago. Why? Because I love you, and I want to marry you.”

“Why did you wait until now?” This was all so confusing.

“Because now feels right. Anytime over the last year and a half would have been right for me, honestly. But now feels right for both of us. Victoria Ann Hollingsworth, I love you more than life itself. I cannot wait to have that baby with you. Would you make me the happiest man on earth and be my wife?”

“Oh, my God! Yes. Yes, of course. Yes.” He leapt to his feet just in time to catch her as she launched herself at him. He twirled her around before kissing her and slipping the ring onto her finger.

It was a perfect fit.

Just as she had known it would be.

The End