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She cocks her head to the side. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, I know I’ve got a side of crazy because I freak out a little,” when I raise my eyebrow at this, she slaps my arm, “when things go wrong, but I’m living with you with our daughter when I could’ve stayed with Logan and Carey, and I said I’d spend the rest of my life with you.” She palms one side of my face. “You’ve shown me that I can trust you, if nothing else,” she whispers.
“It doesn’t always seem like it.”
Sydney sighs and leans back. “Not when I’m angry or freaking out or both.”
“That’s when you need to trust me.”
“I’ll work on it. Please, can we close the door on this?” Her arms go around my neck once more. “I’ve missed you and my world needs to be right-side up again.”
With a brief nod from me, Sydney grins and kisses me hard. I grab her hips and pull her closer to me. Her legs wrap around me, which causes me to pull away long enough to say, “I have a present for you.”
“Please tell me it’s sex.” Her hands fall to the button of my pants and I laugh, pushing her hands away.
“We can’t have sex in here.” I lift her and start walking toward our bedroom.
“Why not?”
“On the same counter where Savannah sat when we made pancakes? No. I’m not there yet, gorgeous. Not to mention, she could wake up and find us. Hell no. For now, we stick to the bedroom that has a door with a lock on it.”
Sydney giggles. “What if I don’t want to be in the bedroom?”
“Then, next time, you better find a sitter.” I close our door and lock it. I toss her onto the bed and we start undressing. Sydney’s eyes are intently on me as she watches me shed my clothing. When my coat falls to the floor, it makes a noise, and that’s when I remember my actual present.
“What are you doing?” she asks when I lean over to pick it back up.
“I have a present for you, remember?”
“It’s not sex?” The amount of confusion and disappointment in her voice is hilarious.
“There will be sex, don’t worry.” I toss her my jacket. “Look in the pockets, babe.”
She frowns as it covers her naked body, but she dips her hands into my pockets. In one is just my phone, which she leans over to put on the nightstand. In the other is a ring box. Her eyes are as wide as saucers. “When did you find it?”
“We had a little time to ourselves while we were gone, so Z and I went looking.”
“But we weren’t talking.”
“Didn’t change anything,” I remind her. She’s rubbing the box, not yet opening it, so I climb onto the bed, staying on my knees. That’s sort of doing it right at least once, isn’t it? Taking the box from her, I ask, “Will you marry me, Sydney Mackenzie Jarvis?” I pop the ring box open.
“Oh, Ian. It’s gorgeous!” My chest fills with pride as her eyes bounce back and forth between the ring and me. It seems to dawn on her that I’m waiting for her to answer. “Of course I will, Ian. Yes times a million. The answer is always yes.”
I launch forward to kiss her, dropping the box to grab the coat and throw it off her body.
Sydney laughs and pushes me away. “Wait a second. Give me that ring first.”
It takes a second to find it, but once I do, I pull it from the box, toss the box onto the floor, and slip the ring onto her finger. She stares at it for far too long when we came in here for one very specific reason.
“I love you,” she whispers.
Hearing her say it, I realize that it’s been too long since just those three words have been said. Shit, I didn’t even tell her I loved her before I left. That can’t happen again, argument or no argument. “I love you, too, babe.”
She grabs a handful of my beard and damn it, that shouldn’t turn me on as much as it does. She tugs me down until her lips are a breath away from me. “Love me like we have the rest of our lives.”
I press my lips to hers, kissing her slowly and deeply, making her moan within seconds.
“Hey, what are you doing today?” I ask as I cook pancakes the next morning. “Anything? It’s my day off, so little Miss over there and I have plans if you want to join us.”
Sydney glances over at Savannah. “What are you and Daddy up to?”
