Out of the Ashes (The Game 5)

He let out a breath and hugged me hard. “Magic words. I want that too. And I wanna give you just a little bit of shit for knowing me too well. I was perfectly fine suppressing this…whatever it might be.” He snorted. “Emotional sadism—Christ on a cracker.”

I rumbled a chuckle and gave him another tight squeeze.

Then he looked up at me again. “I love you, Lee.”

I smiled and kissed him on the forehead.

“And you know…” He cleared his throat and touched the thin gold chain around my neck—or the small gold anchor, rather. “If you wanna go down to the courthouse on Monday, I’m game.”

My smile widened slowly, and I couldn’t find words for how adorable he was. “I meant what I said there too.” I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him chastely. “We can be there first thing—or we can put together a party and invite our loved ones so they can be there when we say our vows.”

It wasn’t often I got to see my boy flashing a bit of shyness.

“We’re not just saying this? You want to get married?”

“Fuck yeah. In fact, while we make plans, I’ll propose to you every day.”

He grinned as he locked his arms around my neck. “I’m gonna propose too. You can’t get all the fun, Master.”

We’d see about that. I dipped down and kissed him unhurriedly. “Marry me,” I whispered.

“Dammit! I wasn’t prepared!”

I laughed and rubbed his ass. “You’re not supposed to be.”

“Hmpf. Whatever. I gotta wash up. Your groping is gonna create a mess any second.”

“It’s your ass, not mine.” I smacked his ass cheek.

He stepped back and smirked slyly. “I thought my ass was yours.”

Hell.

Touché.

I couldn’t respond at the moment. He was too sexy. Still naked, looking properly used with reddening marks on his skin, and watching me with so much devotion in his eyes. And humor. When Tate was in a joking mood, he was something extra.

He started walking away from me, heading to the bathroom, but he stopped halfway there and glanced at me over his shoulder.

“By the way, I’ll definitely marry you.”

That was the answer I was gonna make sure I got every day until the moment we tied the knot.

CHAPTER NINE

Kingsley Madden

A few days later, Ivy and I met up for lunch in James Monroe Park, which could be the smallest park in DC. It was close to the hospital where she worked as an ICU nurse and close to where I had responded to a call about an elevator that’d been stuck between two floors.

We managed to snag one of the picnic tables that were usually crammed at this hour, and she immediately made a comment about my lunch.

“If I didn’t already know you and Tate were back together, this is a dead giveaway.”

She was kinda right. The past couple of months, I’d eaten takeout or sandwiches. This morning, Tate had packed me three containers of leftovers from last night, a spicy chorizo dish with pasta, a soup thermos with gazpacho, and a Spanish cake with almonds and honey for dessert.

“If you’re a good girl, I’ll share the cake with you.”

“I’m always a good girl.”

“Ha!” I almost choked on a spoonful of gazpacho. That was a good one.

She grinned and bit into her panini.

“So how was the Halloween party?” I asked. Aside from having coffee with Lucas while we filled the truck with Tate’s moving boxes, my being included in a group chat with some nice Sadists, and Tate letting a few friends know he and I were together again, we’d shut out the world and fused ourselves together. We’d met up for lunch on Monday and Tuesday because we’d missed each other. It was all kinds of nuts and wonderful. I missed him now too, but the little shit was stuck in a faculty meeting.

“It was great! Auggie and I somehow ended up having unprotected sex, and my period is due next week. So I’m not at all freaked out.”

I coughed and felt my eyes bug out.

She wasn’t joking—and she wasn’t feeling well. Holy shit. As far as I knew, she and August weren’t together, but they’d had an arrangement for several years—them and another guy who was only in town a couple times a year because he was stationed in Japan.

“You didn’t take one of those morning-after pills?” I asked. I remembered my cousin had opted for that route shortly before she’d broken up with her boyfriend.

“I couldn’t.” Ivy shifted in her seat and picked at her sandwich. “I tried. I even held it in my hand, and I just…” She released a breath. “I turn thirty-three soon, Kingsley. My time is running out.”

I furrowed my brow and opened the container with the pasta dish. “My mother was almost forty when she had me. I turn forty next year, and Tate and I will probably adopt one day. Thirty-three is nothing today.”