Out of the Ashes (The Game 5)

He grinned sheepishly.

I pointed to the candle he’d lit next to the TV. “And I hate the smell of that candle.”

He squawked at that. “What! But it smells amazing!”

“You could not be more wrong,” I chuckled. “Whenever you light it, I don’t know if I’m in the woods or doing laundry.”

Tate huffed. “What the hell do you know about doing laundry?”

Ouch, he got me there. I laughed and leaned in to kiss his neck.

“Ass.” He failed miserably to sound annoyed. “I guess I just have to buy new candles.”

Of course that was the conclusion he came to.

When I returned to eating, Tate stuck a fried shrimp into his mouth and dug through the containers on the tray.

“Let’s see what cheesy fortunes we got today.” He handed me one.

I chewed quickly and set down my plate. If the food hadn’t tasted so damn good, the fortune cookies would’ve been the highlight. Tate and I loved a good fortune.

I cracked open the little cookie and pulled out the strip of paper.

Will you marry me?

An array of emotions flurried around inside me—confusion, mirth, love, and frankly, some nervousness—and I glanced at my boy. He was merely smiling at me. Was he serious? Was this the real deal or just one of our daily, dorky proposals? Had he actually custom ordered a fortune cookie?

“Are you stealing the official proposal from me?” I asked.

His eyes flashed with humor. “I totally am, Lee.” Then he shifted closer to me and opened his hand, revealing two rings. “So…will you be my husband?”

“Christ.” I exhaled a laugh and felt my throat thicken with emotion. Fucking hell, I had not seen this coming at all. “Of course, baby.”

He beamed and grabbed my hand, and he slipped the larger ring on to my finger. “Stronger than titanium,” he murmured. “More durable than tungsten. The color of platinum.”

I smiled and shook my head, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. How had I gotten so lucky? “You’re my whole world, Tate.”

“And you’re mine.” He crawled up on my lap and kissed me quickly. “I love you so much.”

I was at a loss for words, so all I could do was make sure the other ring ended up on his finger right away, and then I kissed the living daylights out of him.

The future Tate Madden, right here on my lap. Fuck, that felt right.

“You shit.” I spoke against his soft lips. “I was gonna pop the question after Thanksgiving.”

He snickered and kissed my nose. “You snooze, you lose?”

Evidently.

His proposal was far better than the one I’d been planning, though. He was giving me a perfect evening, a date just for the two of us, no muss, no fuss.

“Let’s finish our food so we can make out and pretend to watch a movie,” he suggested.

There we go again. Perfect evening.

“I’m game. I’m just gonna get another beer.” I waited till he’d slid off my lap, and then I got off the couch. “You want a new cider?”

“Yes, please.”

In the kitchen, I opened the fridge and had to rub my jaw. It was aching from all the smiling again. I felt ridiculous—and I didn’t give a shit. One beer, one cider—

I spotted Tate’s phone charging on the counter as the display lit up with Ivy’s name.

“Ivy’s calling you,” I said.

“I’ll call her back later.”

“Okay.” I popped the caps on our bottles, and the screen went from flashing with her call to showing countless alerts. Ivy had called six times. “Baby, I think it might be important. She’s called you six times.”

Worry tightened my gut. It better not be something with her pregnancy.

Tate cursed and was on the same page as me. As he rushed out to the kitchen, he said, “If she’s miscarried, I’m gonna bawl my eyes out.”

He hurriedly snatched up the phone and called her back.

I couldn’t very well leave now, so I stayed put.

“She’s not answering,” he said, frustrated.

I hauled out my own phone just in case she’d tried to reach me too. I hadn’t turned on the sound, or the vibration for that matter, since I’d clocked out at work.

Fuck. Four missed calls and two texts. Ivy had called; Lucas had texted.

This message is going out to all members of our kink community outside of Mclean. Please confirm you’ve read it as soon as possible.

Earlier tonight, a fire started in the downstairs club area, and it quickly spread to other parts of the first floor. The fire has been contained as of thirty minutes ago, and nobody is seriously injured. But we ask everyone to check in with me or one of the other founding members. We will keep everyone posted on the website.