knock sounded on the door.
“Are you okay in there?” Gabe called.
“F-fine,” she said, wiping away a fresh batch of tears.
“I woke up to snuggle with my beautiful fiancée and found her missing.”
Fiancée? So he hadn’t forgotten? It hadn’t just been something he’d said because he’d blown his load—as Nikki had not-so-delicately put it.
“Can I come in?”
She stood from the toilet and checked herself in the mirror. Would he be able to tell she’d been crying? And all because she’d doubted him so easily. God, she felt absolutely wretched for her lack of confidence in his words. She looked almost as bad as she felt. Should she tell him? Or would her lapse of faith hurt him? The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. But she didn’t want to lie to him either.
“Do you really love me?” She felt stupid in her insecurity, but there it was staring her directly in the face through her own damned reflection.
“Yes, I love you.”
Her heart swelled. She closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath, but she never felt steady when it came to Gabe, so wasn’t sure why she bothered. “Then you can come in.”
He opened the bathroom door, took one look at her, and stepped forward to drag her into his arms and hold her securely against his chest. “Why are you crying?”
He smoothed her hair with one hand, the other pressing her close against him, and kissed her head.
“Was,” she said. “I’m not crying anymore. Everything’s fine now.”
“Why were you crying?” he rephrased his question.
So she told him her entire conversation with Nikki. And it felt good to confide in him. To not have to hide her concerns, her insecurity.
“You know what your problem is?” Gabe said when she’d finished her spiel.
She leaned back and lifted an eyebrow at him. If he thought she’d let him use her insecurity against her, the man was mistaken. “My problem?”
“You don’t have a ring.” He scooped up her left hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the bare knuckle of her ring finger.
“I don’t need a ring, Gabe. I just want you.”
“You do need a ring. One that says my man loves me so much he emptied his bank account to buy a shiny lump of carbon atoms organized by nearly unbreakable tetrahedron covalent bonds.”
“You mean a diamond,” she said, giggling because his inner nerd was showing.
He nodded with a grin. “A great big one.”
“How about a tiny one?” She pinched her fingers together and held them up. Only a sliver of light shone between their tips.
“How about I surprise you? When I propose for real.”
“For real?”
He winked at her.
“Gabe? You aren’t planning on embarrassing me, are you?”
“Delighting you.”
“Just promise not to empty out your bank account.”
He scowled. “You’re not worried that I’m broke, are you?”
She was an accountant, so it had crossed her mind. He’d mentioned the possibility that the band would be sued for canceling their tour and not fulfilling their record contract. She didn’t care if he didn’t have two dimes to rub together—she’d love him regardless of the number of digits in his bank balance—but she didn’t want to contribute to his financial worries because he thought she needed a ridiculously expensive ring.
“Just be practical about it. I don’t need a ring at all, but if you insist, I’d be happier with something small.”
“I’m getting married to my one,” he said, and his delighted smile made her heart fill to bursting. “Practical will not be a variable in this equation.”
“Obviously.” Their relationship was progressing at the speed of light. Neither of them was being practical about being together, though both of them were typically practical people. “We haven’t even talked about the important things.”
He lifted a brow. “Like what?”
“Living arrangements, dates . . .” She felt her face flush before the next word even escaped her lips. “Babies.”
He blinked and licked his lips. She got the feeling he wanted to bolt, but instead he took a step back, tugging her forward by the hand he still held. “I think we should discuss this in bed.”
“Bed?” Though she doubted anything requiring reasoning skills could ever be accomplished when the two of them were in bed, she followed him out of the bathroom. “I don’t think I can make important decisions in bed.”
“Then I’ll state my case, you state yours, and we’ll compromise.”
She did love that he was as levelheaded as she was. Well, he was levelheaded except when he was angry. And in love.
He sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed her ass to pull her to stand between his open legs. She stared down into his dreamy green eyes.
“Would you rather go first, or should I?” he asked.
She traced his lower lip with a fingertip, still trying to wrap her head around the idea that this man was hers. Not for one night—as had been her original plan when they’d met—but always. “You go first.”
“Okay. I want you to live with me in Texas. We should get married as soon as possible. I have no preference on the where or the how, but soon.” He swallowed and glanced away for a second before meeting her eyes again. “I do want children, but I’d rather wait four or five years. Mostly so we can have an extended honeymoon.”
The grin he offered made her toes curl into the low-pile carpet.
“But also because my career is a little rocky and I’d want to be settled before we expand our family.”
“What if Lindsey’s baby is yours?” There, she’d asked.
“Not likely,” he said, “but . . .”
He rubbed his lips together, and she could practically see the cogs turning in his head. She hoped he wouldn’t say what he thought she wanted him to say just to please her. This relationship would be built on trust, and that had to start with being truthful even if the truth hurt.
“I’d still want things the way I just described, but I’d have to be a dad too. I couldn’t ignore any child I fathered. Now, what do you want?”
To be the first woman to mother your children. And to create those children out of love not lust. “A real wedding, surrounded by family and friends. It doesn’t have to be huge. Actually, I prefer something small. But I don’t want to elope. I want to share the celebration with everyone I love.”
“When?”
“As soon as possible.”
He grinned. “Glad we agree on that. Are you okay with moving to Texas? I know all your family lives in Kansas. Are you close?”
She nodded. “I see them a couple of times a week, but I would love to move into your house in Texas. I’m not overly attached to my job or my apartment.” And then she remembered someone she was attached to. “I can’t leave Nikki there by herself.”
Gabe squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m probably going to regret saying this, but we have plenty of room at my place. She could . . .” His lids squeezed even tighter. “. . . stay with us.”
“You mean it?” Melanie grabbed him around the head and pressed his face against her chest.
“Trial basis,” he said, his voice muffled by the boob against his lips.
“Of course. She’ll be on her best behavior.” Why did it make her love him more when he was good to Nikki? She supposed it was because in her eyes, his tolerance of Nikki made him a good person. And given time, maybe Nikki and Gabe could become close friends. Assuming Nikki didn’t try to seduce him or something. That would end her trial-basis living arrangements right there.
Melanie released his head and kissed his forehead. “I do love you.”
“Does that mean you want to have my babies?”
“I want to be the first and only woman to have your children.”
“Two or three?”
“If they’re like their father, I’d have a dozen.” Whe
n his face went ashen, she laughed. “I think three is a good compromise.”
“Let’s see how the first one goes before we add to the brood.”
“Good plan.”
“And you’re okay with waiting?”