Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Holt
I got on my knee and asked a woman to marry me before. It was calculated, planned down to the exact moment between the main dish and the dessert at the fanciest restaurant in Atlanta with a ring I’d had made by a jeweler I can’t remember.
This proposal to Maple was none of those things. I’d asked for Grandma’s ring on a whim when I picked up Grandpa to bring him to see Gracie. He’d given it to me, under the strict instructions to only give it to a woman I could see myself growing old with. He’d had me close my eyes right there in my Jeep and picture it, describing the scene in detail to him. When he was satisfied that Maple was way more than a passing infatuation, he’d handed it over with his blessing.
I meant to keep it in my pocket for awhile, asking her when the timing was right, but all that flew out the window when I saw her puffy, red-rimmed eyes this morning. I wasn’t going to wait to ask, not when Grandpa and Gracie were the perfect example of timing gone wrong. Why was I waiting to make her mine? To put all her doubts aside and show her exactly how serious I was about her? To risk a mismatch in timing that could be disastrous? Absolutely not.
Pulling Maple to her feet again, I tuck her into my side. A crowd has formed and they’re all smiling at us, some without their dentures in yet for the morning. Debbie whacks me on the shoulder, her enthusiastic congratulations bellowing above the clammer of the old people that have gathered because they want a front-row seat to today’s gossip. Pat and Nancy swarm Gracie, looking like they’re ready to pounce on us as soon as the formidable Debbie clears out.
“I knew you had it in you, Holt.” Debbie pulls Maple in for a hug, thumping her on the back as well. Maple’s teary eyes widen over her shoulder as Debbie sways her back and forth for a moment before releasing her. “Let’s turn this Hawaiian theme week into an engagement party!”
Another cheer goes up and Pat and Nancy shuffle forward, having lost patience. They each throw a ring of fake flowers around our necks and cackle about us getting lei’d before the wedding. Maple looks at me over their heads, shock and happiness and hysteria fighting for dominance on her face. She looks down at herself, and I know what she’s thinking. She’s about to go to her engagement party in her grandma’s nightgown.
“We’ll be right there. Maple needs to change first.” I steer her toward Gracie’s condo.
Grandpa and Gracie clear out of the way and shut the door, closing off all the chatter from outside. I remind myself to thank Grandpa later for the moment of privacy. I really want to focus on Maple right now and that’s hard with all the people and chatter outside. Backing Maple into the kitchen, we just grin at each other like we can’t believe how we got here.
My hands skim over her hips and around to her perfect ass. “I love you in this muumuu, but if you want to go to the pool, maybe your dress would be better. Besides, I feel like I missed out not getting to see you in it for very long.”
Maple’s smile immediately dims, and I want to kick myself for bringing up last night. I hoist her up on the counter, wanting to be eye level with her. She doesn’t break stride at the elevation change, just trails her hands up my torso and onto my shoulders. “You know, you’ve been everything I needed after the way Dexter treated me. And I want to be everything you need after Macy.”
“You are,” I assure her.
She tilts her head back and gives me such a sultry smile I’m thoroughly enchanted with her. The retirement home could be burning down and I wouldn’t notice. “I can promise you I’ll never make cookies with chocolate in them. I’ll always have spare glasses lying around for you because you’re unbearably sexy in them. I’ll set reminders so you don’t lose track of time. I’ll hike with you all over the world and sit in the silence. I’ll even sleep in your bed because I trust that what we have is so much more than my past experiences. I’ll anchor myself in you and this town and our love.”
I dip my head and press my lips to hers. I love that she sees me for who I am and still loves me. I’m grateful she wants to be by my side, flaws and all. I pull back, already breathing like I ran a race and painfully hard below the belt.
“But I’ll never be the anchor that keeps your ship at port. I won’t weigh you down or hold you back. You’re free to be you. I really love the you you are.” I snort. “I sound like fucking Dr. Seuss, but he was quite brilliant, so that’s okay. I guess what I’m saying is that getting married will only enhance our lives, it won’t tie us down or stifle us. I’ll always be here, by your side. Your partner in life, wherever you choose to go.”
Maple plants a kiss on me. “I want to go where you are.”
“Done. And if that changes, I’ll follow you.”
Maple smiles and suddenly the summer heat has followed us inside. She spreads her knees as far as they’ll go in the muumuu and hooks her feet around my legs. “Think we have time for a little quickie before we go out by the pool?”
“God, yes,” I breathe, hands already leaving her hips to undo the button on my jeans. She helps me, shoving them down my legs just far enough to free my cock. She scoots forward on the counter and guides me to her entrance. I stop her. “I don’t have a condom.”
She bites her lip, eyelids already drooping. “I don’t care. I wanna have your babies anyway, husband-to-be.”
I groan, my forehead dropping to hers. “You can’t say stuff like that, Maple. This’ll be over before it even starts.”
She tugs on my dick, her hand forming a warm, tight circle that makes my eyes cross. “Then you better get it inside me quick. I want to feel you come inside me, Holt. Please?”
Nothing can stop my hips from plunging forward and sinking myself inside of her. We both shudder at the feeling, but noise from the crowd outside has me pulling back in a hurry, my thrusts short and desperate. Maple clings to my shoulders and I manage to get a hand between us, needing her right there with me. And quickly.
Her heels dig into my ass, helping me surge into her over and over again. And then I feel it. That tightening of her muscles around me. A flutter at first and then a vise grip as she whimpers into my neck. I let myself go, that pleasure I kept at bay with a thin grasp is now free to flood my body. I feel nothing except for Maple. Around me, in me, blanketing all my senses.
All too soon, the noise from outside invades our little bubble, and Maple pulls her head off my shoulder, cheeks pink, eyes sparkling. “I better get cleaned up.”
I press a kiss to her lips, lingering for just a moment longer. “Or you can just put your dress and underwear back on and don’t clean up. You can feel me the whole time we’re at the pool.”
Her cheeks go a shade of pink darker, but I can tell from her eyes that she loves the suggestion. “I love you,” she whispers.
“I love you too,” I whisper back and help her stand back up.
She pulls the muumuu down from where it had bunched around her waist. She’s still got the lei around her neck. I tuck myself back inside my jeans and tilt my head to the side, watching her begin to walk out of the kitchen.
“Can I make one request?”
She spins back around, looking like a supermodel if they allowed short women among them.
“Can you wear muumuus when we’re married?” I look her up and down, already wondering how quickly I can have her again. Our grandparents knew what they were doing with those sleeping garments. “They’re fucking hot.”
Her peal of laughter carries through the condo as she heads for Gracie’s bedroom to get changed. I open cabinets until I find some cleaner and paper towels. I sterilize the whole kitchen, feeling a little guilty for defiling Gracie’s kitchen like that. Then again, who knows what she’s doing to Grandpa when we’re not here. I give him a mental high five. The McGraths got game, what can I say?
When Maple comes back out again, she’s barefoot, but back in the dress from last night. Her hair has been finger-combed to not look like she just had sex on a kitchen counter and her layers of gold necklaces are back on. The fake ring of flowers is back on too, giving the whole outfit a festive flair. The diamond on her ring finger sparkles in the overhead kitchen lights.
She’s gorgeous.
And she’s mine.
I hold out my hand and she takes it, threading our fingers together.
“Let’s go get lei’d again.”
She grins and we head out, getting congratulations from everyone we pass on the way to the pool. Debbie’s barking orders at the kitchen staff who probably just got done making breakfast and weren’t expecting to make appetizers and cocktails at nine in the morning.
In the corner of the pool deck, the tiki bar’s grass skirt is fluttering in the breeze. The sun is already warm and people have entered the pool, sunblock and swimsuits donned. Music you’d hear on a cruise to Hawaii begins to flow through the speakers built into the fake rocks around the pool enclosure. The first drink with a bright pink umbrella gets passed to Gracie and Grandpa. I frown, heading their way.
I pull the drink out of Grandpa’s hand and take a sip. My eyebrows nearly hit my hairline from the strong liquor that almost overpowers the fruit juice. “Whoa. Careful with that.”
Grandpa frowns at me. “I’ve been handling my liquor for longer than you’ve been alive, boy.”
I hand it back to him and flag down Debbie. “I thought we weren’t doing alcohol?”
Debbie has the good graces to look sheepish. “They’re old people, Holt. They deserve to have some fun, don’t you think?”
I wonder if she ever told the kitchen staff to stop serving alcohol and then decide I don’t want to know. Debbie hands another drink to Maple—this one with a purple umbrella—who eagerly takes a sip and lets out a whoop of appreciation.
I shake my head at the women in my life, unable to stop the smile on my face. I have a feeling I might be smiling nonstop for the rest of my life. “If anyone climbs up on a table and breaks a hip, it’s on your head.”
Debbie waves away my concern. “That’s what liability waivers are for. Now go have some fun with your fiancée.”
She literally pushes us away, barking more orders at the staff while running over to help Sue Ellen get her wheelchair through the pool entrance.
Maple hands me her drink. “You’re off duty, Mr. McGrath. It’s time to celebrate the summer.” She’s right. I’ve hired good staff, purposely making my own contributions redundant. And summer’s almost over. I want to celebrate every second of it. After all, this summer was the one that brought Maple back into my life.
I take a sip of the strong drink, then deposit the cup on one of the lounge chairs ringing the giant pool. My arms slide around Maple’s waist to pull her into my chest.
“Dance with me?”
No one else is dancing but neither of us seems to care. She puts her hands on my shoulders and lays her head on my chest, and we dance the day away, surrounded by family and residents who’ve become friends. I love that she doesn’t mind sharing our engagement with a whole retirement home of old people.
When her shoulders have gone pink from the sun and her drawled words tell me she’s just on the edge of tipsy from the drinks Debbie keeps shoving our way, I put my lips to her ear.
“Ready to go home?”
She pulls her head off my chest and gives me a lazy, content smile. “Ready.”
I bend down and scoop her up, marching us out of the pool area to the whoops and hollers and whistles of the old people.