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“Let the woman have her cake first. It’s her birthday,” Loren pipes up.
I take advantage of our position and sweep her hair to the side before I lean down to press my lips on her neck. “You’re just saying that because you want cake.”
She bites her lip and tilts her head to the side, and I can’t tell whether she’s shrugging or inviting me back for more. “Now, later, it doesn’t matter. I’m getting a piece of that cake, one way or another.”
“I’ll buy you a whole cake later, Agnes. A peanut butter one,” I say with a chuckle. Then I place one more kiss just below her ear, because I’m fully aware that this woman has become my weakness, and I’m not above seizing an opportunity when I can. I pull away and watch Loren’s throat working when she swallows hard. A flush returns to her cheeks, and I hope it’s my kisses and not that peanut butter cake that are making her so flustered.
“Ugh, I’m going inside to eat,” Landry declares, wrinkling his nose and scowling at us.
“Wow,someoneneeds to get a girlfriend,” we’re all surprised to hear Emmett mumbling, and everyone laughs at Landry’s expense as we follow him in for lunch.
By the time dinner is over, Landry seems to have softened up a little, though not much. He’s already making plans to move back to Camellia and raise our kids on our behalf—I mean, to make sure they have a decent pediatrician. Loren’s dad gives me a slightly firmer handshake and a warning nod when it’s time to go, and Lilley whispers congratulations again when she hugs me goodbye. Then she makes Loren protest when she smacks my butt and says, “Way to go, Tiger!”
“That wasn’t so bad, right?” I ask once we’re back in the truck.
She heaves out an exhale. “Not if you don’t mind getting groped by my sister.”
“You did grant me permission to see other women,” I reply, unable to stifle my laughter.
She scoffs and shoves my shoulder from across the cab. “I was going to crack a joke about you attracting cougars and married women, but I’m afraid I don’t want to know the answer.”
My laughter dies down as that empty feeling settles in my chest again. I crank the truck and pull out of the driveway, looking for a distraction. But then I decide that it’s time I start defending myself. If I want people to know the truth about me, then I have to start setting the record straight, right?
“I’m not that brand of asshole, by the way. I’ve never been someone’s side piece. At least, not as far as I know.”
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “It wasn’t funny. And I should have learned my lesson about bringing up your dating history by now, since it apparently bothers you more than you let on.”
“It’s fine. I’m usually the first to make fun of myself, and it’s not like I don’t deserve worse after the way I’ve behaved over the years. I’d just rather not be that guy anymore if I don’t have to.”
She’s quiet for a while before she speaks again. “Is that what you meant before?” I panic, thinking she’s referring to my offer to marry her an hour earlier. “When you said you hadn’t been going on as many dates,” she clarifies, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, I guess.” I sigh. “I mean, at thirty-one, isn’t it past time for me to start taking myself more seriously? Shouldn’t I be looking for something like JD has now, especially with two babies on the way?”
“So you do want to settle down … to get married and all that?” she asks, her voice catching.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I guess I never had a good reason to consider marriage and family before now. But it seems more important lately, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt my career if I had any political aspirations. Don’t you think?” My heart rate quickens as I await her response.
“Well, yeah, sure. That makes sense,” she agrees, maybe a little too eagerly.
“What about you?” I ask.
“I never imagined I’d be a single parent, so I guess I’d need to revisit my stance on marriage altogether.”
“But you’ve always wanted a family, right? Isn’t that why you went out with that doctor?”
“To be honest, I only agreed to that date to pacify my brother,” she admits shyly. “And hey, I may have given up on getting married or having kids a while back, but look at me now. One out of two ain’t bad.”
I frown. “That just sounds like your way of saying ‘I’m afraid to admit I want all those things because I don’t think I’ll ever have them.’”
“And that sounds like your way of saying you know the feeling.”
I shoot her a side-eyed glare. “How do you always manage to do that?”
“Do what?”
“Turn everything back around on me. Can’t you just let one of my lines ride every once in a while?”
She smirks. “I thought you said the smartass thing was a turn on?”
