Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22245 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
My voice wavered at the end, and I had to fight tears. Talking about getting married was already hard, and the pregnancy hormones were making me more emotional than usual.
“Hey, now.” Huntley cupped my cheeks with his palms and tilted my head back to brush his lips over mine. “Don’t cry, gingersnap. The baby and getting married are supposed to be happy things, not sad.”
“I know,” I sniveled as tears started to stream down my cheeks. “But this isn’t exactly a normal situation. We only had one night together before you had to leave. There wasn’t any time for us to do all the normal relationship stuff, and now here we are—I’m knocked up, and you feel as though you have to propose.”
“You’ve got it backward, Cora.” He kissed away my tears and smiled down at me. “I don’t feel pressure to marry you. If anything, it’s the opposite, and I’m using your pregnancy to my advantage. It’s the perfect opportunity to tie you to me permanently, and I’m not above doing whatever it takes to make you mine forever.”
That sounded an awful lot as though he wanted this for himself, but I still asked, “Because of the baby?”
“No, Cora. I want to spend the rest of my life with you because I fucking love you.” He captured my mouth in a deep kiss, leaving me breathless when he lifted his head again. “If I hadn’t wasted so much damn time after we met, I have no doubt you’d already be my wife. I want to kick my own ass for giving you reason to doubt my intentions, but please don’t hold my mistake against me. Make me the happiest man on earth. Say yes. Marry me.”
“You love me?” I echoed in wonder.
“Damn straight, I do. You were already on my mind every single day I was gone the last time we were deployed, but it was different this time. After our night together, I yearned for you with every cell in my being.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Ask any of the guys. They’ll tell you I’m head over heels for you. Hell, Deacon didn’t even react when I jumped out of his vehicle before he stopped. He just tossed my bag after me and laughed as he drove away.”
I peered up at him in surprise. “Did you really do that?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I was impatient to get back to you after being gone longer than I should’ve been.”
Huntley’s lack of embarrassment while making that confession gave me the boost I needed to admit, “I love you, too.”
“Hooyah.” His grin turned cocky before he kissed me again, our tongues tangling together until my knees went weak and I was gripping his shoulders for balance. “And you’re going to marry me as soon as we can set things up however you want.”
He didn’t word it as a question, but I answered anyway, “Yes, I’d love to be your wife. With my parents down in Florida, I like the idea of going to the courthouse or eloping and then doing something later to celebrate.”
“Fucking fantastic,” he rasped. “Figure out what you want to wear, and I’ll grab some flowers on my way back from my place to get my whites. Then we can head down to the courthouse.”
“Today?” I asked with a giggle.
He stepped away and nudged me toward the door. “Yup, there’s no time like the present.”
I was moving a little more slowly than usual because of the pregnancy, but Huntley more than made up for it. In the time it took me to get ready, he changed into his dress uniform, rounded up several of his friends to act as our witnesses, got me an engagement ring plus wedding bands for both of us, and bought a gorgeous bouquet of white roses. Less than four hours later, we stood hand in hand in front of the judge and exchanged our vows.
Epilogue
Huntley
“Huntley!”
I halted on the way to my car in the parking lot and turned to see Deacon running toward me. “What?” My tone was filled with annoyance, but I didn’t care. I was anxious to get home and see my wife.
“Why aren't you answering your phone, dipshit!”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Deacon stopped when he reached my side. “Your wife has been calling.” He gave me a dry look. “She thought you might want to know that she’s in labor.”
“What the fuck?” I dug in my pocket and yanked out my phone to see twenty-five missed calls. I wanted to kick my own ass up and down the street when I realized I hadn’t turned my phone off silent after the debriefing. It was bad enough my leave got cut short when there was an emergency and I had to deploy—not knowing if I’d be back for the birth of my son. Now, I might miss it anyway just because I was a complete idiot. Not to mention the fact that I should’ve been there for Cora.