“That’s the plan. Though some of those scenes are aspirational.”
My face heats. “I noticed.”
“Good. Gives us something to work toward.” His hand settles on my hip. “Consider it a very detailed to-do list.”
“You wrote a sex to-do list.”
“Only with things I want to do with you.”
Elliot appears with champagne and suddenly everyone’s toasting and hugging and I’m being passed around for congratulations.
“You knew,” I accuse Goldie. “You’ve all known.”
“For months,” she admits. “Roman needed time to get it written and printed. Also he made us read it first.”
“The creative liberties needed workshopping,” Elliot says. “His first draft was very... technical.”
“I was being thorough,” Roman protests.
“You were being clinical,” Sarah corrects. “We added the romance.”
“To my sex scenes?”
“Someone had to.”
I’m laughing so hard I can barely breathe. This is perfect. This is exactly us—chaotic and absurd and supported by people who love us.
Dex appears with more champagne and pulls Roman into a hug. “Congrats, Cap. That was smooth.”
“Was it though?” Brody asks. “Man commissioned an entire book. That’s not smooth, that’s elaborate.”
“It’s romantic,” Goldie says firmly.
“It’s Roman,” I correct, and they all laugh because that explains everything.
I look around the room—at the women who’ve become my family, at Roman being chirped by his teammates, at the slim book still sitting on the coffee table with our story inside it. At the ring on my finger that I keep touching to make sure it’s real.
“Hey,” Roman says quietly, pulling me aside while everyone’s distracted. “You okay?”
“I’m perfect.” I touch the wind chime necklace. “I went to see Mom this morning. Told her you were probably going to propose soon.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. She would have loved this. The book, the chaos, all of it.”
His arm comes around my waist. “She would have threatened to haunt me if I messed it up.”
“She still might.” I lean against him. “But I think she’d approve.”
“Good.” He kisses my temple. “Because I have plans.”
“What kind of plans?”
“The kind that involve you, me, and the rest of our lives.” His voice drops. “Starting with working through that creative list.”
I laugh against his chest. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“I spent six months working with a professional writer on those scenes. I’m absolutely not letting it go.”
