Chapter 12
12
IVY
Niko looks weird.
He doesn’t smile often, and I love that little quirk of his. Right now, though, he’s grinning wider than I’ve ever seen. The closest he’s gotten before this is when Junie was born, but he was so relieved then that we were all okay that I think that held the corners of his mouth down a little.
Still, this isn’t Junie’s birth.
Considering his phone is most definitely shattered and Travis is on the line, still speaking words that I wish I could understand, I’d say there’s something else going on that’s led to that unfamiliar grin.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Better than, angel.”
“Okay, because you’re grinning at me like a creepy stalker moments before he kidnaps his victim.”
His laugh is unexpected. It’s so confident and strong that it makes my toes curl in my fuzzy socks. It’s sinful for someone’s laugh to ooze sex like that.
“Do I need to kidnap you, Ivy? Or will you stay with me all on your own?”
“That depends on what you’re planning to do with me.”
He swipes his tongue across his lips, the grin transforming into a secretive smirk. He grabs me around the waist and hauls me against him. I squeak and flatten my hand to his chest, holding it steady instead of pushing.
“What do you want me to do with you?”
“I’m always up for anything as long as you’re by my side. I thought I’d made that pretty obvious,” I tease, keeping his eyes snared.
His hand dips around to rest at the curve of my ass, kneading it. I wiggle beneath his hold, heat spiking in my belly.
“What if I wanted somethin’ far beyond what we’ve already got? Somethin’ I’ve been dreamin’ of since you stumbled into my bar. Fuck, from the moment I first saw you.”
“Like?” I coo.
“Like havin’ you as my wife, Ivy.”
Surprise blows my eyes wide open. I suck in a breath and press my hand harder against his chest, testing if it’ll move right through him and prove that I’ve been dreaming this entire conversation up. That I’ve dreamed him up.
It remains flat against the hard expanse of his torso, soothing my curiosity. This is entirely real.
“Are you playing a prank on me? Was this Travis’s idea?” I lean past Niko’s shoulder and shout at the phone, “Can you hear me, Travis?”
Niko chuckles and guides me back in place with a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not sure if he can hear us properly with the state of my phone, but I’m not playin’ a prank on you.”
“I thought you were going to get us more popcorn. This doesn’t look like the kitchen. Were you in here hiding and planning something with him? I swear, if you’re trying to get a rise out of me, I will make your life hell, Nicholas Shaw?—”
He shuts me up with a firm kiss. I swallow my arguments and lean into his embrace, chasing his mouth when he goes to pull back. His teeth nip at my lips in punishment, and I grin in response, liking that a bit too much. A few beats later, I let him slip away with a curl of my nails into his chest.
It’s always that easy with us. That’s only one of the reasons why I know this is the real deal.
“Just go ahead and ask me the question, Niko,” I whisper.
His eyes spark. “Yeah?”
I reach up and hold his cheek, grinning as his beard tickles my wrist. “Yeah. I think you might get the answer you’re hoping for.”
He moves quickly. My arms fall to my sides, and the hulking man I’m lucky enough to call mine drops to one knee before me.
In this dark, slightly damp hallway with both of us dressed in sweatpants and baggy shirts, Niko pulls a red-and-green knitted pouch from the pocket of his sweatpants and holds it between us. I explode with a laugh, shaking my head while watching him struggle to get a ring through the loosely knitted yarn until finally, he pulls it free.
“There’s nothin’ in this world that I want more than to have you forever. You’re everythin’ I’d ever hoped of havin’. With you by my side, my days are bright, and my nights are calm and safe. You’ve given me a beautiful little girl and helped bring me back with my son, even if it was a rocky road to get there with an even rougher one ahead. I owe you more than you know, angel. Not just for bringin’ me out of the dark but for showin’ me how beautiful the light can be with you at my side.”
Tears well in my eyes at my first glance of the dainty diamond glistening in the low light from where it sits perched on a simple gold band. It’s perfect. Simple but beautiful and everything I imagined it would be.
“Will you do me the second greatest honour possible and marry me?”
I sniffle, pursing my wobbling lips before asking, “What’s the first greatest honour?”
“Makin’ me a father for the second time,” he declares without hesitation.
Oh, fuck me. This man is on a mission to ruin me, and I’m more than happy to let him.
“Yes, Niko. Of course I’ll marry you.”
I extend my hand and hold my breath as he takes it in his and slips the ring onto my finger. It’s a perfect fit. As if he’d have it any other way.
It’s only been just over a year by his side, yet I feel like I’ve been with this man for four times that. He might have only just proposed, but in my mind, we’re already married.
Having a baby with someone seems to have that effect on a person. We already have this living, breathing thing tying us together for life, and I’ve seen how, regardless of marriage, things can go wrong in a relationship. To me, marriage is about far more than just a ring and a signed certificate.
It’s the support and love and dedication in the every day. Using marriage as an excuse for loyalty and constant reassurance is a cop-out. I want more than that, and Niko has given it to me time and time again every day that we’ve been together.
Now, I just get to call him my husband officially. That’s the part I’m most excited for.
Clapping fills the hallway from the phone cracked on the ground. It’s weird enough that Niko was talking to Travis before I interrupted them, but hearing him clap? Because of me agreeing to marry his dad?
That’s a whole other world of weird.
Niko takes me into his arms and spins me around before I have the chance to ask what’s on my mind. I’m suddenly too focused on my fiancé and the new ring on my finger to care about anything else.
“My soon-to-be Mrs. Shaw,” Niko croons in my ear, making me shiver.
“Are you trying to get me into bed already?”
“I’d be more than happy to spend the night with you on the couch watchin’ your movies, angel. Tonight, tomorrow, the rest of fuckin’ time. It doesn’t matter what we do as long as I get to be beside you.”
My smile spreads wide across my face as I intertwine my fingers behind his neck and push up on my tiptoes to stay close when he sets me down.
“I should have known something was up when you were so quickly convinced to watch Love Actually . And now? You’ve turned your romantic dial up to fifty, handsome.”
He rolls his eyes, huffing a laugh. “I was talkin’ to Travis about you.”
“What about me?”
“I asked if he approved of me marryin’ you.”
I pause, my brows flying up into my hairline. “Really? And what did he say? Not a chance in hell?”
Niko turns and scoops the phone up from the floor. His eyes lighten a shade as he reads whatever is on his screen.
“He said to go for it,” he murmurs before offering me a glance at the message bright against the photo of Junie and me from a few nights ago snoozing in bed.
Travis: Congrats. See you when you get back.
“That’s actually from him?” I ask, my voice shy, exposing every emotion brewing in my chest.
Niko slips his phone away and holds me tight, notching his chin at the top of my head. I breathe in his cologne and shut my eyes.
“We have a lot of work to do, but I think we made some progress. He has a lot of regrets. Most of which involve you.”
“I believe you. It’s just hard to imagine the guy I used to know feeling guilty about anything.”
“And you’ve got the right to feel like that. He didn’t earn himself any favours with you or me by bein’ a fucker.”
“I know.”
“What do you say I try and wrangle together the right ingredients for a peppermint daiquiri before we finish your movie? We have a long while to talk about Travis and the weddin’. Right now, I just want to focus on you.”
I smile, rolling my forehead against his chest. “That would be nice.”
“I sense a but coming.”
“ But it’s funny you should say that.”
He retreats enough to tip my head up with a knuckle and steal my gaze. “What’s runnin’ around in that pretty head of yours, baby?”
I debate lying just to keep him in suspense a bit longer. My plans for tonight were a bit derailed by his proposal, but I’m not going to waste our last night here doing the exact things I avoided back home.
I’m ready for our final night to be hot and heavy and full of orgasms that keep us both up into the early morning. I want to drive home tomorrow exhausted and sore.
“I was planning on keeping you locked away in the bedroom after finishing the movie. Now, though. . .” I trail off, slipping a hand between us.
His dick isn’t soft, but it’s not hard, either. Not yet. When he sucks in a sharp breath and the brown in his eyes grows thinner around his pupils, his shaft twitches in my palm.
“Now what, Ivy?”
“I don’t want to wait until the end of the movie,” I breathe out.
His jaw strains as he presses his forehead to mine.
“Good.”
“You won’t be in charge tonight,” I warn him, already panting with anticipation.
“What do you have planned?”
“You’ll like it. I promise.”
“You’re not puttin’ anythin’ in my ass, Ivy.”
I choke on a laugh, tightening my grip on his dick. “That’s fine. You’ll be too busy playing with mine.”
His reaction is exactly what I was expecting. In a blink, he’s got me squirming in his arms as he carries us down the hall and into the bedroom.
I take a good look around the cabin, knowing damn well it’ll be the last time I see it until the moment we leave tomorrow morning.