Instead of laughing, Chase held her stare as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring. But not just any ring…
“I bought this the day I signed my enlistment papers for the Navy.” He held up the small diamond ring.
“Y-you…what?” Those round eyes of hers grew wide as saucers. “Chase, you were barely eighteen.” Her face grew pale with the falling of her smile. “You enlisted the week before my mom died. That was…” She swallowed hard. “That was only two weeks before I?—”
“Left.” He nodded, his chest tightening from the memories of that night. “Yeah, I know.”
“Oh, Chase. I’m so?—”
His mouth covered hers before she could finish her sentence. “Don’t, sweetheart.” Chase kissed her again. “Don’t say you’re sorry. Things happened that were out of your control. Out ofbothof our controls. That’s all in the past. What I’m talking about…what I’m choosing to focus on…is our future.” He took her left hand in his while holding up the ring with his right. “Thisis the future I want, Scottie. You and me. Forever. I just need to know if you want that, too.”
Scottie’s lids fluttered quickly, her damp lashes releasing a slew of silver streaks racing down over her flawless cheeks. “Of course, I want that, Chase.” Her watery smile widened. “It’s what I’vealwayswanted. More than anything else in the world.”
His heart swelled to the point he thought it would explode right out of his chest. “Then marry me, Scottie.” He slid the ring over her left ring finger, relieved she still wore the same size as before. “Say you’ll be mine for the rest of my life.”
“Yes.” Scottie threw her arms around his neck and slammed her mouth to his. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Because you’ve always been mine, Chase. And I’ve always,alwaysbeen yours.”
He wasn’t sure who moved first and couldn’t give a shit less. The only thing Chase knew was one minute they were both professing their love, and the next…
They were naked.
Their clothes were strewn on the floor around them. Chase was holding Scottie securely in his arms. Her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist, and his raging hard cock was thrusting in and out of her welcoming heat.
When they said the words to each other again hours later, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind where they stood. He was hers. She was his. And no one was ever going to take her away from him again.
12
Two weeks later…
“Thank you all so much!”Natalie Hayes beamed from the front of her and Logan’s living room. “For coming, and for…” The mother-to-be scanned the recently unwrapped gifts strewn about the floor. “For all of this. You guys seriously spentwaytoo much money on stuff for the baby.”
Scottie couldn’t help but to smile. Though they’d only known each other a short while, she’d come to really like Natalie. And from what she’d seen so far of Cassie and Ellie—the other two Eagle’s Nest wives—she was confident she was going to like them, too.
“No they didn’t,” Logan teasingly argued against his wife’s claim. “I know what these guys make. Trust me…they can afford it.”
Natalie laughed, her rounded belly jostling up and down to the beat of the joyful sound. “I know what they make, too, remember? Iamthe one who signs their paychecks, after all.”
“Fair point.” Logan nodded. “Still, our baby deserves the best. Besides, these gifts were given with love by our baby’s honorary uncles and aunts. We’re pretty much obligated to accept.”
“Obligated, huh?”
“Yep.” Logan leaned in and kissed his wife on the temple. “It’s in the rules.”
Natalie’s belly shook again with another round of laughter. “Since when do you…or any of the men in this room, for that matter…follow all the rules?”
“The woman does have a point,” Chase joined in the playful banter. His blue eyes slid past Archer, Lucky, and a sullen-looking Van. “Don’t know about y’all, but I’m gonna have fun watching Hayes attempt to become the disciplinarian.”
Scottie tried imaginingChaseas a father. It wasn’t hard since she’d envisioned that very thing countless times in the past.
She as Chase’s wife. The two of them working together as lifelong partners. Raising the family she’d always dreamed of having.
Maybe some dreams do come true, after all.
“Nah, man.” Archer gave a quick shake of his head. “Hayes will be fine.Lucky’sthe one facing a rude fuckin’ awakening if he and Ellie ever decide to give parenthood a try.” Archer slapped Lucky on the back of one shoulder. “Can you imagine this guy layin’ down the law with a cute little mini-Ellie staring up at him with her long, dark pigtails and big, blue, puppy dog eyes?”
“Whatever.” Lucky shrugged the other man’s hand away. “I’ll be a great dad.” His blue gaze landed on his beautiful wife. “Isn’t that right, honey?”
Ellie—the gorgeous brunette attorney Scottie had met just two hours before—gave a dramatic roll of her own striking blue eyes. “Archer’s right. When the time comes, you’re totally going to be the ‘fun’ parent, and I’m going to end up having to be the mean one.”