Page 97 of Rock On

“Official how?” She lifted her head, gazing up at me curiously.

“We don’t get to Paris until next summer,” I said. “And I don’t want to wait that long to get married.”

Her brows rose. “Are you?—”

“Come to Vegas with me and let’s elope,” I blurted out. “The band and their significant others will be there, along with Sasha, and you can invite Wynter. They’re the most important people and we can make it legal. That way you’ll be my wife, and not only can I put you on my health insurance and stuff, but it’ll also make it easier for me to adopt River.”

“What?” She gaped at me.

“Unless…you don’t want me to?” I faltered for a second. It hadn’t occurred to me she might be opposed to the idea. “I mean, we don’t have to do it right away, but I figured now that he’s so little we should?—”

“Wait wait wait.” She held up a hand, staring at me as she sat up. “Give me a second to digest all of this. You want to elope in Vegas and then adopt River? In the next week?”

“Where else are we going with this? Obviously, I can’t adopt River in the next week, but that’s my point. It’ll take time for that kind of paperwork, and we probably can’t even get the process started until we’re married. If we want to plan a big romantic event for everyone we know in Paris next summer, we can do that too. But I want you to be my wife again, Harley. I know I’m totally dropping the ball on the romance and proposal and all that but—” I stopped talking and grabbed my phone. “I put this on hold at Tiffany’s yesterday, but I didn’t want to buy it until I knew you liked it. And don’t say you want your old engagement ring. We were broke back then. Fuck that noise. I want to buy you the ring you deserve.”

She was staring at me like a deer in the headlights and I realized I was fumbling this badly.

Shit.

“I can’t drop to one knee,” I said. “But I love you and want to spend the next fifty or sixty years showing you. Do I need to shut up now and let you talk?”

“I…” She was staring at the ring in the picture on my phone, her hands shaking a little.

“Did I just freak you out?” I asked, sliding onto the bed next to her. I adjusted my leg so the knee wouldn’t be at a weird angle and then handed her the panties I’d found on the floor when I rolled over.

“Thanks.” She slipped them on without breaking eye contact. “Are you sure, Tommy?”

“I’m positive. What about you?”

“I…” She chewed her lip and then smiled. “Yes. Yes to everything. I fucking love you, Tommy Bane!”

“I fucking love you too!” I laughed, dipping my head to kiss her just as River came bouncing back into the room and onto the bed.

“Auntie Wynter isn’t here!” he yelled.

“Inside voice,” Harley said, smiling and holding out a hand to him. “Come here. I want to ask you something.”

“Okey-okey.” He wiggled onto her lap, waiting expectantly.

“Okey-okey?” I asked Harley under my breath.

“When he was little, he couldn’t say dokey, so it became okey-okey instead of okey-dokey, and it stuck.”

“Gotcha.”

“Mommy, what’s the question?” River asked impatiently.

“Well, I was wondering what you would think about Tommy moving into our house and living with us?” she asked.

“Yay!” River clapped his hands.

He was almost as excited as he’d been when I’d turned on the grill last night.

“We love each other and want to get married. Do you know what that means?”

River slowly shook his head from side to side.

“It means that maybe, if you think it’s a good idea, he might become your daddy.”

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