“Yes, I don’t want to be without you any more than we have to. So living together—in an apartment, not a suite with three other girls—makes the most sense. Besides, if one of the other girls in the dorm saw you naked, I would have to cut the bitch’s eyes out.”
A raucous laugh burst from my chest, and I hugged my girl close to me. “That was so fucking hot, baby,” I growled playfully in her ear. I was teasing, but that didn’t make my statement untrue, which she undoubtedly knew from the growing bulge under her ass.
“You’re such a caveman,” she sassed.
“Don’t pretend it doesn’t turn you on when I get jealous, baby.”
Ember’s cheeks turned pink, and she squirmed on my lap.
I grabbed her hips to still her movements, and grunted, “Unless you want to go straight back to the hotel, I suggest you stop rubbing your sexy ass over my cock.”
Ember stopped, but the indecision on her face made me chuckle. “Come on, baby. Let’s go see your mom. You’ll feel better once she’s settled at home, and then we can talk all about what else turns you on.”
Her nose wrinkled, and she shook her head. “I’m not sleeping with you in my parents’ house, Nix.”
I gave her a look that suggested she was a big, fat liar, and her cheeks turned pink. We both knew that I’d be able to convince her to ride my cock in her childhood bedroom if I really wanted to. “We’ll go back to the hotel, baby,” I told her to set her mind at ease. “I booked it for the rest of the week.”
Ember’s expression brightened for a moment, then her face flushed crimson. “If we go to a hotel, everyone will know we’re having sex.”
It was impossible to hold back my laughter even though I knew it would annoy my girl. “Baby, do you really think our parents didn’t put two and two together and figure out that we spent the afternoon fucking?”
She looked aghast and sputtered, “B-But we didn’t tell them we were going to a h-hotel!”
“How you can be such a know-it-all and so innocently oblivious at the same time is beyond me,” I drawled.
“That’s not nice,” she snipped.
“Sure it is,” I rebutted.
“How do you figure?”
I winked and explained, “Because I think it’s fucking adorable.”
“Oh.” She practically melted into me, and I gave her a slow, thorough kiss.
“I love you,” I whispered when we finally parted.
“I love you, too, Nixon.” Her beaming smile turned sly, then she quipped, “But I’m still not sleeping at a hotel with you until there is a ring on my finger. At least I can justify it to my dad if he knows—”
“You’re a real spoilsport, you know that?” I sighed. “This wasn't how I wanted to do this, but if you’re threatening to take away my favorite snack, I’m not prepared to starve.”
Ember cocked her head to the side, clearly confused, and her fingers toyed with the end of her long, red braid.
I picked up my wallet from the console where I’d set it when we got in the car and opened it. The ring glinted at me, and I fished it out but kept it hidden in my fist. After setting the wallet back down, I grasped her left hand and held it steady while I slipped my great-grandmother’s two-carat diamond ring on her finger.
“I’m assuming by ring, being engaged is acceptable? Because if you’re going to insist we be married before I can fuck you tonight, we’re going to the courthouse right now.”
Ember gaped at the ring, then at me, and double blinked. “Engaged,” she finally exclaimed, her voice pitched high.
“Will you marry me, Ember Walsh—soon-to-be Scott?”
She laughed and hugged her hand to her chest for a moment, then threw her arms around me and screamed, “Yes!”
Epilogue
Ember
Seeing my man with his tiny nephew cradled against his chest made my ovaries explode. And my eyes water. Literally. Nixon’s expression was so soft as he stared at little Ben that I teared up.
Naomi patted the hospital bed. “Aw, are you crying, Auntie Ember?”
Hearing her call me that just increased the flow of my tears. I slumped down next to her and nodded. “Uh-huh. Sorry, I can’t handle the cuteness overload.”
As Prentice reclaimed his son, she nodded. “I totally get it, but you’re not generally a crier.”
I sniffled and waved my arm toward the guys. “I know, but even the most hardened soul would find it difficult not to ooh and aah over them.”
“True.” Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head to the side. “Except you’ve been more emotional in general lately. Is there something going on that you need to tell me?”
“Like what?”
Her gaze dropped to my stomach. “Like…could we be back here in nine months when you make me an aunt too?”