Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“We already ate, but we can whip together a snack.”
Anna doesn’t protest for a second and in the blink of an eye, that traitor walks off, leaving me alone with her dad. He points to a spot on the sofa before turning around to sit on a worn recliner. I move in that direction.
“Mr. Grimaldi—”
“Alessio,” he corrects.
“Alessio,” I amend. “You have a beautiful home.”
“We can skip the small talk, Deacon. What are your intensions with my daughter?”
A chuff of laughter escapes my throat, and I pray like hell he doesn’t see it as a form of disrespect, but his aggressive words contradict the humor in his tone and the bright light shining in his eyes.
“I love her, sir.” He sits back, arms clasped over his rotund stomach, and I know it’s hard for him to keep a serious look on his face because his lip keeps twitching like he wants to grin. “Do you interrogate every man she brings home?”
A serious look makes the humor fade away. “Annalise has never brought a man home for us to meet.”
I nod, swallowing as I make a mental note to pay extra attention to all of her erogenous zones with my tongue later because I’ve never felt more special as I do right now in my entire life.
“Never?” I finally manage, and he responds with a quick shake of his head.
“So, if you could just let me have this moment without giving me shit, that would be nice.”
I cough to cover a laugh and draw on all my years of training to school my face as best as I can.
“Yes, sir.”
“Your intentions?”
“I intend to love her for the rest of my life. I intend to marry her the first chance I get. I intend to make her a mother.”
“Hmm.” He lifts his clasped hands to his mouth, but his smile is too wide to cover. “Is that so?”
“It is, sir.”
“Anything else?”
“I want her to be happy, and I plan to spend every single day making sure that she is.”
“Well,” he leans forward in a rush, slapping his knees with his hands. “If my little girl is happy, then I’ll be happy.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
Tears glisten in his eyes, and it’s easy to see he never thought the day would come when someone made declarations for his daughter. I’m just so fucking lucky some other guy didn’t get here first.
“I think we should rush the wedding. The sooner the better.”
I want to argue, tell him that the timeline is up to Anna, but I’m a selfish bastard, and I want to be able to legally call her mine. Plus, no condoms…
“How did it go?” Anna asks with a wide smile as she walks in carrying a tray of drinks. Mrs. Grimaldi walks close behind with finger foods.
“We were just discussing the wedding,” her father discloses, drawing a squeal from her mother.
“Wedding?” Anna looks in my direction, but she doesn’t seem offended that I haven’t asked yet. “Is that so?”
“How does the seventeenth sound?” This man wasn’t joking.
“That’s only three weeks away,” her mother says, somehow putting down the tray and looking down at her phone in the matter of seconds. “But I think it could work.”
“Why do I feel railroaded right now?” Anna’s eyes are wide as she looks at me. “We can’t plan a wedding in three weeks. I don’t even have a ring.”
“Actually…”
A collective gasp rings out around the room as I stand and shove my hand in my pocket. Dropping to one knee in front of everyone last night was one of the options, the other being the long speech I’d planned. I didn’t get to do either one since I was left breathless at the sight of her.
“Really?” Tears fill Anna’s eyes, and her mother is crying before I can drop to one knee.
I smile up at my girl. “I promised to love you for the rest of my life, right?”
“Yes,” she gasps, her eyes on mine and not the small box in my hand. This is already going ten times better than the last time I did this.
“Will you love me for the rest of yours?”
“Of course.” Anna chuckles when her mom exhales a loud sob.
“Marry me?”
Her answer is a kiss to my lips, and the salty tears running down her cheeks taste like a million promises I can’t wait to hold her to.
When we finally pull away and I manage to get the ring on Anna’s finger, there isn’t a dry eye in the house.
“God, I can’t wait to start my life with you,” I whisper into her neck as her legs go around my waist.
“Deacon,” she whispers as she holds onto me even harder.
“Anna,” I warn when she moves just a little too much.
God, this is all so damn new, I’m going to have my invitation to the family rescinded if she doesn’t settle down. She chuckles, but eventually releases me. Alessio shakes my hand, pulling me in to slap my back heartily.