CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

RYAN

Pain crosses her face before she turns and takes a step. I’ll go after her if I have to because I’m done waiting.

I utter two simple words before she goes any further.

“Please stay.”

She stops but doesn’t turn around to face me.

“Why?” she says with aching in her voice.

“Because I need to be honest with you. When I said I love you to Nancy, I thought you were standing over me. I was hallucinating from all the drugs. My mind was telling me I was talking to you.”

“Are you telling me the truth?” she asks, and slowly turns to face me.

“Yes, I love you and only you.” I step toward her. “I fell for you the first time we met. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want everybody to know that we belong to each other.”

I kneel down and open the small box I’m clutching.

“Will you marry me and spend the rest of your life with me?”

I glance up and see tears streaming down her face, her hand covering her mouth. She’s in shock.

“Parker?”

She gently takes the ring from the box. I’m so proud of it. I picked it out myself. It has a red ruby in the middle, with little diamonds around it. I knew Parker would love its old-world charm.

“It’s beautiful,” she tells me as she slips the ring on her finger. “And yes, I will marry you. I love you.”

I pull her close, and she snuggles against me. This is exactly where she belongs.

Being this near to her has a predictable impact. My cock grows rock hard. As much as I would like to take her right here, I can’t because Elle or Carson could return at any moment. It was a struggle to get Elle out of the house.

I hear the creak of the door as it opens, and the sound of footsteps growing louder. I knew he wouldn’t be able to hold his wife back.

“What’s going on?” Elle asks.

I glare at my brother over Parker’s head, not addressing Elle’s question. He throws me an apologetic look. I’m sure he did his best, but he could have tried harder to keep her away.

“Parker. Are you okay?”

Elle comes closer, giving me a dirty look. I’ve been getting that look a lot lately.

Parker pulls away from me and wipes the tears off her face. I give her another kiss just because I can.

She turns toward Elle and holds up her hand with her engagement ring on it. “I’m getting married,” she announces, and then both girls cry and jump up and down.

Carson comes over, slaps me on the back, and congratulates me.

“Thanks,” I say distractedly. All my focus is on my fiancée.

I ease up behind Parker and place my hands on her waist, pulling her back against me, letting her feel how much I want her. I whisper in her ear, “I need you.”

Her head whips around to look at me, and a devilish smile appears. She turns back to Elle. “We have to get going, but I’ll talk to you later. Okay?”

Elle wants to protest, but then she looks between us, and understanding appears. She smiles. “Fine, call me when you get a chance.”

We say nothing else and leave, making a beeline to her truck because she’s parked up front, and I’m in back.

I help her in before taking my place behind the wheel. I put the key in the ignition, start the engine, and look at Parker. She licks her lips and smiles. “You’d better hurry!”