He took a moment to admire it, then he told her, “You do understand we’ll have to do this all over again, with your ring. When I propose.”
“On bended knee, I presume.”
“I do like traditions.”
With a soft laugh, she said, “I’m perfectly happy to discover them all.”
“And create new ones. Just for us.”
She stared at him through her tears and dared to ask, “What’s your stance on children, by the way?”
“I’m helping to raise a nine-year-old girl,” he quipped.
She scowled. “I meant—”
“I know what you meant.”
He brushed away a few of the drops tumbling along her cheeks and then cupped the sides of her face with his hands. “My stance is, the sooner you get that IUD taken out… The better.”
More tears pooled. The corners of her mouth quivered.
Nikki didn’t have a sassy retort.
All she could say was, “I’m glad I came back.”
“I’m glad you did, too.” He kissed her again, his arms encircling her waist as he held her tight once more.
When Mads returned and muttered, “Um, time’s up, people,” they pulled apart from each other.
Damen leaned in though and whispered in her ear, “We’ll work on her timing.”
“It’s fine—we’re going to have plenty of interruptions in the future. We should get used to it.” Nikki linked her arm with his. “Besides, any more of those kisses and we’d just end up in bed, to hell with lunch.”
“Now that you’ve mentioned it—”
“Except that I’m starving,” she told him. “And it’s Christmas.”
“Then let’s eat cake.”
As they crossed the marble floor and headed to the kitchen, following an exuberant Mads, Nikki mused, “You in a dress shirt and pants, wearing a wedding band, gives you a very distinguished look. The women will flock to you in droves, Mr. Castillo. More so than normal, is my guess.”
“Trust me when I say, I won’t even notice. I will, however, happily acknowledge the ring for anyone who might miss it.”
“Something tells me infidelity will be the least of our problems.”
“I’m confident we can mitigate any others. After everything we went through, we ended up together. Right?”
She kissed him on the cheek and said, “As Fiora Garcia suspected all along.”
“Now, Nik—”
She laughed. “Just stating the woman’s case for her.”
“Tomorrow, state her case. Today… Be my fiancée.”
“I will love every single second of it,” she assured him. “As much as I love you.”
Take Me (Book 1 in the Take Me Series)