Damien almost squealed with excitement. “Fifa 16.”
Kane clapped his hands together, but stopped when he found me staring. I grinned when he cleared his throat and focused on his brother.
“Heya, Dame.”
Damien looked over his shoulder to me and winked, “Hey beautiful.”
Kane rolled his eyes, but said nothing as I smiled at his baby brother. He fully accepted that I was head over heels for his brother, just like I was for the rest of the Slater brothers.
“Dame,” I whispered.
He looked back to me and smiled as I wiggled the fingers on my left hand at him. He shook his head for a few seconds, not understanding what I was up to until he saw the ring. His brow furrowed together and his lips parted.
He jumped up and spun around to look between Kane and myself with his mouth hanging open.
“Shut the fuck up!” he shouted after a long stretch of silence
Kane burst into laughter, and so did I.
“You guys! Is this for real?”
I bobbed my head up and down, my smile stretching from ear to ear. “We’re engaged. He just asked me before you walked in. I obviously said hell yes.”
Damien’s shock was evident, but so was his happiness for us.
“Congratulations,” he choked out before rushing forward and wrapping his large arms around me, squeezing me tightly.
When he released me, he dove for Kane. He cursed him out as he began hitting and kicking him as he lay in a mess on the sofa in laughter.
“Three of my brothers are engaged, there is just Dominic left to ask Bronagh,” Damien said when he got to his feet.
I smiled. “It’ll happen.”
“I thought it would have happened when we were teenagers, but I can feel him doing it soon. He worships the ground that girl walks on.”
I hugged my fingered ring to my chest and looked at Kane. “As soon as the girls get here, I’m startin’ to plan our weddin’.”
Kane swallowed. “Do I need to be heavily involved? I mean, you know I’ll do anything and I want to be involved, I just don’t understand the importance of flowers and colours and such. I don’t want to do or say the wrong thing.”
I snorted. “Honey, you just need to show up and say I do.”
He snapped his fingers at me. “That I can do, babydoll. Deal!”
I grinned and walked out of the room towards the bathroom so I could shower. As I undressed, turned the shower on and waited for the water to heat up, I let my mind drift.
It was hard to believe that Damien was home only six weeks. Even if I tried, I don’t think I could ever forget the day when he walked back into his brothers’ lives, and dived right into my heart.
He made one hell of an entrance.
Six weeks ago...
“Oh, my God,” Kane breathed in disbelief. “Oh, my fucking God.”
I was right there with him, I couldn’t believe who I was seeing.
I reached for Kane, but instead of a hard body, my fingers grasped at thin air. One second Kane was beside my bed, and the next he was across the room lifting his little brother into the air, which wasn’t an easy task because Damien was like Nico, he was massive in stature.
“Nice to see you, too.” Damien laughed when Kane set him back on the ground.
Kane held him out at arm’s length, stared at him for another long moment then crushed him with another hug.
Damien wheezed and slapped at Kane’s sides. “Can’t... breathe.”
I laughed, but winced in pain.
My throat hurt so badly.
“Damien!” Kane repeated out loud and touched his face like he was trying to check if he was real. “Fuck. Little brother, you’re here.”
Damien beamed and nodded. “I’m here.”
Kane shook his head in disbelief. “How are you here? I mean, I’m not complaining, I just don’t understand what is going on right now.”
“Dominic called me last night and told me what happened. I got on the first flight out. I landed about an hour ago and came straight here.”
Kane rubbed his face with his hands. “The others don’t know you’re here?”
Damien shook his head. “No, I didn’t tell Dominic in case I couldn’t get a flight.”
Kane exhaled a big breath. “Shit. He’ll kill you for not telling him.”
Damien guffawed. “I know.”
Without warning, Kane hugged Damien again. “I just can’t believe you’re really here. I’m tripping hard on this.”
Damien patted Kane’s back, but said nothing as they shared a special moment. When they pulled apart, Kane turned and with a bright smile on his face, he gestured to me.
“This is Aideen, my lady,” he moved closer to me and rubbed my stomach, “and this is baby Slater, your niece or nephew.”
Damien stared at my stomach. “I still can’t believe that. It’s insane to think you’re going to be a daddy.”
“Tell me about it.”
Damien flicked his big grey eyes up from my belly and his gaze focused on my face. He stepped up beside Kane and looked down at me and purred. “Hello, gorgeous. It’s a privilege to finally meet your fine self in person.”
Oh, the kid oozed charm.
God help the girl he set his sights on, the lass didn’t have a chance.
Kane side-eyed his brother then, out of nowhere, he lifted his hand and whacked him across the back of the head.
“Damn it,” Damien rumbled with laughter and rubbed the back of his head. “My reflexes aren’t what they used to be. I knew that was coming, but I still couldn’t move to stop it.”
Kane smiled with glee. “You’ll learn.”
Damien shook his head, smiling, then he looked back at me. I was staring at him with non-blinking eyes and he found it amusing.
“I know, you’re wondering why you’re with this doofus,” he jabbed his thumb at Kane, “when you could have had all of this.” He gestured to his body and did a little hip wiggle.
I wanted to laugh, but the best I could do was make a gurgle sound that still hurt and caused me to wince in pain.
“Dame,” Kane chastised with a concerned frown. “Don’t make her laugh; her throat is pretty torn up. She inhaled a lot of smoke and choked on it so much that she has gashes and cuts from all the coughing.”