home. “But.” She looks at me. “I cooked for you.” I look at her, and my eyebrows pinch together. She has been trying to learn the whole time. My mother by her side each and every time, but no matter what she did, she usually burnt it. “Okay, fine, I tried, and well, your mother made an extra one.” I laugh now and walk to her.
“How am I supposed to wine and dine you if you won’t let me?” I take her in my arms, and in a second, she has her legs wrapped around me.
She clings to me like a monkey, burrowing her face into my neck. “I don’t want to be wined and dined,” she whispers. “I want to be home and naked.”
“I can help you with that,” I say, carrying her into our room. She starts to kiss my neck, and my cock is already ready to play. Every single time I’m with her, it’s like the first time. Every single time that I think it can’t get better, it does. Even when I took her to Mexico and had her every single hour we were there. The private house on the beach. I rented our own oasis, and I didn’t think we would top that. “You really are going to talk me out of going out tonight.”
She unclings herself from me and stands in front of me. Peeling off her shirt, she shows me a new bra that I’ve never seen before. Trust me, I know. I’ve had to replace more than my share, that and her flimsy panties. “I was hoping that.” She winks at me, and then she unbuttons her jeans, and I see that she has the matching panties.
I pick up my hand. “Wait,” I say, and she stops mid-zip. “Jesus, I can’t believe you're making me do this here,” I say. Turning around and walking to my closet, I find the suit jacket I was going to wear tonight and grab the square box. I look around the closet at our stuff. When I walk back into the room, she is still there in the middle of the room. “We are going to have to make up a story.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” she asks, confused. Then I get down on one knee, and it all clicks into place. I wait for it, and there it is. My girl has her hand on her mouth, and tears already running down her face.
“Olivia,” I start to say. “Darlin’.” I see her smile. “I never thought that this moment would come, yet after being with you for this long, I wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.” My own tears come now. “One year ago, I asked you to stay and make a home with me. I promised to help you plant roots. I held my breath the whole time, waiting for your answer. You didn’t just help me make a home, but you also became my home.”
“Casey,” she says, laughing and crying at the same time.
“I built this house, not knowing that I wanted to fill it with children. I want our kids to run in from the barn and mess up the floor. I want our kids to hide in the room upstairs and then pretend they ran away. I want our kids to grow up here, and then I want them to bring their own kids here.” She sobs now. “There is only one person I want to do all that with, and it’s you, darlin’.” She doesn’t say anything; all she can do is sob. “One year ago, I asked you to stay and make a home with me. Today, I’m asking you to help me fill our home. I’m asking you to hold my hand today and always.” I don’t finish because she grabs my face and kisses me hard. The taste of her tears on my lips.
“Yes,” she whispers, her lips still on mine. “But,” she says, and my heart stops in my chest as she turns around and walks to the side of the bed and takes something out of her side table. “Just so you know.” She starts to say. “We are going to be filling the house sooner than you think.” She holds out the white stick to me. My eyes go to the word pregnant, and then I drop the box and take the stick from her. “Casey Barnes, you are going to be the best father anyone could ask for,