I Never Expected You (I Never 2)

She takes her seat and looks up at me while she scoots the chair back in. She bites her lip and rolls her eyes yet again. She giggles to herself, and I have to tell my dick to knock it off at the mere thought of spanking her later. Hell, just the thought of touching her gets me hard.

After dinner, we are all enjoying the company and conversation discussing the house and summer plans when my phone vibrates. Luckily Haylee is in the bathroom because I look down and see it’s her dad. I quickly open the text.

Brian: We can finish our conversation back at my house. Let me know when works.

Me: Haylee is going out with Cami this weekend, so I can come down without her knowing.

Brian: Sounds good. See you then.

I put my phone back in my pocket just as Haylee returns to her seat. Phew, that was close.

Two days later, Haylee is spending the day at the spa with Cami while I find myself pulling into her parents’ driveway. I walk up and don’t even get a chance to ring the doorbell before it opens, and I see Brian standing there.

“Sorry, I saw the Jeep pull up. Still is weird…” He trails off without continuing.

Fuck, maybe I should just sell that thing. He saw the same Jeep his son drove pull into his driveway.

“Come on inside.” Brian moves out of the way, and I walk into the foyer. “How about we chat in my office?”

I follow behind him to the back of the house where his home office is.

“Here, have a seat.” He extends his hand to one of the chairs in front of his desk while he walks around and opens a drawer.

He walks back around and takes a seat in the chair opposite mine.

“I told you that I would give you permission on one condition.”

“Of course. We didn’t get a chance for you to say what that is. I want you to know, sir, that no matter what it is, I’ll do it. I want to spend the rest of my life with her; she means the world to me. I mean it.”

Brian holds his hand up. “I know you do, and it’s nothing crazy, so put those thoughts away.”

He takes a deep breath and looks down at the small box in his hand that he had grabbed from his desk. “A long time ago, I had a talk with Emmett. I told him that when he was ready to put a ring on Dani’s finger, he would get this ring. Not that we wanted them to rush anything, but come on, we all knew it would happen. This ring was my grandmother’s ring.”

He opens the box and turns it around to show a simple white-gold band with a diamond in the center with two purple stones on the sides of it. I don’t know much about rings. I figured I would need to enlist Cami, Kate, or Lauren’s help when I went to go pick out the ring.

“So back when…when…when I realized I would never get the chance to give this to my son to propose with, I knew that it would go to Haylee. I had hoped that one day, the man who wanted to spend his life with her would come to me, just like you are, and ask me for permission, and I could ask that you give her this ring. I had taken it to our jeweler downtown and had Emmett’s birthstone added to the ring so that it would have a part of him for her.”

Wow. I’m trying to hold back my feelings, but that is just deep.

“I…I don’t know what to say.” I choke out the words; I am utterly speechless.

“I understand. I know it’s a lot. If you choose to not give this to her, then I will give it to her as her something old when she gets married.”

“Oh no, I don’t mean that. Of course I would be honored to give her this ring. I don’t know what to say because this is… She is going to love this, Brian. It’s going to mean so much. Did…did my sister know about this?”

He shakes his head. “Not that I know of.”

Brian closes the ring box and hands it to me. As soon as my fingers graze the smooth velvet, I feel my best friend as if he were here with us.

This is real. This is really happening. I am going to ask Haylee Hanks to marry me.

Brian leans back in his chair. “So, tell me, any idea how you’re going to pop the question?”

I laugh, settling back in my chair, and shake my head. “Not a damn clue.”

Ten months later…

“He…hello?” I’m still half-asleep, and I don’t even look to see who is calling. I hear silence on the other end. I clear my throat and speak again. “Hello?”