Chapter 32
THREE WEEKS LATER
Skye
“I can’t believe I’ve ordered so much stuff,” I said, looking at the pile of things in what was still the guest room but would be the baby’s room. I’d moved into Rob’s house. God, I loved this place so much. I’d loved it even before I helped sell it to him, but now it was our place.
Currently, there were bags and boxes everywhere, containing everything from furniture to toys to clothes (for me), and more clothes (for the baby), and God knew what else. Between the wish lists I made with Mom, Tess, and Lindsay and Anne, I went way overboard.
Couples usually waited until twelve weeks to announce the news, but it was impossible to keep such a secret in my family. And once I’d told them, I couldn’t hold back from buying all these pretty things.
Rob hooked an arm around my waist from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder.
“I love you, despite your newly developed shopaholic tendencies.”
I’d have blamed it on the nesting period, except I’d read that only set in during the last two months of pregnancy. I must have had an early case….
“Too late to back out now.”
“That’s right.”
“I think I might have gone overboard.”
In response, he just patted my right ass cheek right before pinching it lightly. I turned around. Grinning, I took a mini step back, surveying him.
“What?” he asked.
“Deciding where to pinch you.” I drew my fingers down his chest, narrowing my eyes as if I was seriously considering it, even though I knew what my target was all along. When I reached his navel, I moved my hands to the side and down, right to his ass cheeks, giving each a good pinch.
“There,” I said casually, as if I was checking if they were still there.
Rob chuckled, but his eyes snapped fire. He splayed his big hand over the side of my face, resting his thumb at the corner of my mouth.
“Come on, beautiful, or you’ll go in hangry mode before we’re even at the restaurant.” We were having dinner at Rob’s restaurant in Tribeca.
I pouted. “I don’t understand why we have to go anywhere. I have the chef right here.” Batting my eyelashes, I added, “We can stay in. You’ll cook, and I’ll be your sous-chef. I can even be your naked sous-chef if you want.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. He skimmed one hand at the small of my back, pressing me against him. The air between us charged. His gaze dropped to my lips. I had him, I was sure of it.
Clearing his throat, he shook his head. “Not tonight. Come on, dress up.”
He was passing up my naked sous-chef offer? Something wasn’t right, but I didn’t push any further. Taking my hand, he led me out of the room.
I changed into a light pink summer dress and white flats.
Underneath, I wore a pink bra with soft padding.
My breasts were tender, so these bras were my go-to these days.
I didn’t have many side effects from the pregnancy yet.
The initial exhaustion had worn off (or I’d become better at managing it), but Tess and I were figuring out a system where I focused more on the online side and generally took over tasks I could do from home.
The business wasn’t yet at the point where I could just take months off, but the plan was for me to do tasks that didn’t require me to go into the city every day, at least for a while, and especially after the baby was here.
We’d figure it out.
Rob was waiting for me downstairs, already dressed to go. I took a second at the top of the stairs just to drink him in. His black jeans were somehow making his butt even sexier than usual—kudos to the designer. And that shirt he had on… yum.
When I joined him, I realized he held up a jacket for me.
“It’s not cold,” I said.
“But it might get cold later.”
I laughed; I just couldn’t help myself. “Rob, it’s the hottest fall in years. I’m sure I won’t need it.”
“You never know. I need to take care of you.” He touched my belly, kissing my forehead. “Both of you.”
And just like that, he won me over. How could I say no?
The restaurant was full when we arrived. Wait a second . I spotted Mom, Mick, and Tess at the bar.
“What is—” I started to ask Rob, but my words faded when I noticed that Cole, Ryker, Heather, and Avery were next to them. A few feet away, Josie and Hunter waved at me.
“Oh, the whole family is here?” I asked, mystified. That was when I noticed Anne and Lindsay too. “And your family. Are we celebrating something?”
“We sure are, babe. We didn’t get a chance to celebrate this.” He touched my belly.
“Oh, okay.” Of course, what was I thinking?
Since we’d told everyone already, and we’d met every member of our families at least once in the past few weeks and had celebrated with them individually, I still thought it was a little odd.
Just three days ago, we met with my siblings and Hunter to discuss the upcoming gala, and we all toasted to the news.
But I loved every opportunity to gather with our families, so I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Rob led us to the back room, where the small tables had been arranged into a long one.
It was just our group in here. There were already bags hung around the backs of the chairs, meaning at least part of the group had been inside.
They’d just been waiting at the bar for the wow effect. I loved all this.
Rob held a chair for me, and I sat down along with everyone else. Servers came in with an assortment of drinks, pouring water, wine, and sparkling wine. After they left, Rob rose to his feet. Grabbing a fork, he gently tapped it against his water glass.
He was going to give a speech?
“Thank you, everyone, for coming here tonight. As you all know, Skye and I have something huge to celebrate. We’re happy that in seven months, we’ll welcome a baby boy or girl. I know everyone’s already making bets on what it’s going to be.”
“Hear, hear,” Cole said.
“Not bets,” Ryker corrected. “Just giving our opinion… based on the fifty-fifty odds in our family.”
Mom laughed, but the whole table went silent when Rob half turned to me. I shoved my chair back a little so I could look at him properly.
“Skye, I’ve thought about this moment for a long time, even before we knew you were pregnant.
Imagining life with you was easy. But this moment?
This took planning. I first thought about taking you away for a weekend, but…
I know it will mean more to us if it happens here, in front of both our families. ”
He took my left hand in his. Oh my God . He was holding a ring! A sapphire in a rose gold setting. He was going to propose. My heart swelled.
“Skye, you’re everything to me. I love you so—” His voice caught. The emotion in it made my eyes misty. “—so much. Marry me, babe.”
He sounded as if he’d wanted to say more but decided not to because his voice was too undependable.
I swallowed the emotion in my throat, rising to my feet. I touched his cheek with one hand, holding out the other one, fingers splayed.
“Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you.”
I laughed as the ring went on my finger, then touched his face with both hands.
He touched his lips to mine in a gentle kiss. I barely refrained from jumping straight into his arms. The tip of his tongue teased my lower lip, and I smiled against his mouth. He was barely keeping himself from kissing me long and deep and wet.
The upside of being surrounded by our families was that we could share this moment with them. The downside? We had to keep the heat to a decent level.
When he pulled back, amusement danced in his eyes.
“Congratulations,” Mom said. She sat right next to me and was the first to hug me.
“Anyone know about this?” Cole asked, looking around at the table.
“No,” Tess said, her voice a little uneven. “Wow, talk about surprises.”
There was a screeching sound as everyone rose from their chairs, coming over to congratulate us.
Cole and Ryker shook Rob’s hand.
“We need to speak later,” Cole said.
I stared at my brother. “You already gave him the talk .”
I’d heard that through the family grapevine.
“There are several talks ,” Cole clarified, eyes on Rob. “You received the initial one.”
“Now you’ll get the serious one,” Ryker added.
Cole patted his shoulder. “Congratulations, you’ve reached the next level.”
I grinned at Rob. “You’ve got to love these two, right?”
My fiancé shrugged good-naturedly as Hunter, Josie, Tess, and Heather came toward us.
My sister just pulled both of us into a hug, wordlessly.
“Welcome to the married club. It’s awesome,” Josie said.
Hunter nodded. “I agree.”
“Congratulations,” Heather said, squeezing me tightly to her.
After letting me go, she glanced around at all of us.
“Okay, so Ryker and I had an idea. We talked about it since Rob invited us here today, because we had a feeling he might propose. Anyway, it’s a bit crazy, and you’re more than welcome to say no…
but how about a double wedding? Everything’s all set for us, but it wouldn’t be hard to adapt it with whatever you want. ”
Rob glanced at me, wiggling his eyebrows. “I’m good with it if you are.”
Wow, my mind was spinning. “I love the idea. And I love your setting and everything, but… are you sure you want to share your day with us?”
“Why not? It’ll be double the fun,” Heather said.
Ryker held up a finger. “But we’re getting two bachelor parties.”
Heather and I burst out laughing.
“One wedding but two bachelor parties? I like your priorities, brother.”
“That actually does sound like a good idea,” Heather said. “We can go all crazy during your party, Skye, and I can blame it all on you. Say it was your idea.”
Rob frowned. Ryker glowered.
“Define crazy,” my brother said.
Heather smiled impishly. “I don’t know yet, but we have plenty of time to come up with something.”
Oh, I loved that she went toe to toe with Ryker at every turn. I just loved this woman.
“I already have a few ideas,” I piped up, just to up the ante. “Which I will share with you far from jealous, possessive ears.”
Now Rob was glowering even more than Ryker. Ah, I couldn’t help myself; I stretched up on my toes and gave him a smooch. He deepened the kiss, tilting my head back a little, taking charge. Talk about holding back! We were absolutely hopeless.
Ryker cleared his throat. Rob pulled back, still looking at me intently.
“You know, I’m all for a crazy party. Mine wasn’t,” Josie said.
“You wanted us to keep it non-crazy,” Tess reminded her.
“Yeah… I have no idea why I did that,” Josie said. “But I’ll help with preparations.”
Hunter half glared, half frowned at us.
“Girls, I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves,” I said.
Hunter smiled. “Thanks for being sensible as always.”
“Don’t thank me too soon, cousin. There’s still plenty of time for me to change my mind.”