Page 125 of Hidden By His Side

“How are you feeling?” Ramiro murmured, looking up into Summer’s eyes.

“Someone took away a lot of my work, so I’m a little bored. I thought I was going to send Hayes the list of new clients today so he could get started on the background checks?”

“The clients can wait.” Ramiro slipped out of his chair to his knee, his hands reaching for hers. He let out a shuddering breath as he pulled the left one to his lips, kissing her pregnant-swollen finger. “I don’t want to wait any longer. When our daughter is born, I want you both to have my name.”

He reached into his pocket, and when he pulled the ring out, he dropped the damn thing under his desk. It rolled, and he closed his eyes, letting out a shuddering breath.

“Ram?” Summer asked, her eyes wide, her lips parted.

“It’s fine. The ring doesn’t matter. It won’t fit right now, anyway. I bought a chain for it so you can wear it around your neck instead, and after the baby comes—”

“Ramiro!” Summer snapped.

His eyes focused on hers. Her smile had fallen, and he wondered how often their daughter would get that stern expression from her mother.

“Ask me properly.”

Ramiro’s chest tightened at how good she’d gotten at telling him what she wanted. She’d hit the nesting phase of pregnancy, and how often she’d said ‘I want’ made his soul soar. Buying things for the nursery was like spoiling them both at once.

He leaned forward and kissed her hand again before looking up into her shining blue eyes. “I never thought I’d want to be married, but I can’t wait any longer for you to call me husband. I’ve belonged to you ever since that night we met. I don’t deserve you, not after—” His eyes squeezed shut as the pain that he tried to push away twisted in his gut.

Summer’s fingers laced behind his head, and she pulled him against her, pressing his face into her rounded stomach.

His breath shuddered against her flowered dress. “I’m sorry. I’ll always regret what happened that night.”

“We can’t go back. Those days were horrible. I try my best not to think about them, but neither of us can change that they happened.”

Ramiro felt more hollow inside. “I’m sorry,” he gasped into her stomach.

“When you woke up—” Her words caught in her throat, and she hugged him to her tighter. “I was first on your mind. I know I’ll always be first on your mind and that you’ll come for me as soon as you can.”

“It’s not enough,” Ramiro rasped. “I wasn’t there. For days, I wasn’t there.”

“You were.” She dropped to her knees, her grip firm on his face. “Look at me, Ramiro.”

He braced himself, remembering the way she’d looked at him in the hospital.

Summer was crying, but the blue of her eyes was bright and clear, making his breath catch.

“You were there. Thoughts and memories of you were what I had to protect me, and I held on to them and wouldn’t let go. You’re what I imagine when I need hope. Don’t you dare take that away from me.”

Her words seeped inside him. Her eyes were filled with certainty and trust.

That hollow space inside of him was slowly filling with her. Time would pass, and they’d still be together, making each other whole.

Ramiro’s hands covered hers. “I love you so much. Every moment I spend with you is one I want to last forever. Marry me?”

“Yes,” she said, and her mouth found his.

By the time she finished kissing him, both of them had stopped crying. The way she smiled at him was everything.

“Let’s do it at the courthouse as soon as possible. No white dress or church or any of that stuff.” Summer’s smile lit up his heart. “I want to be married to you yesterday, husband, and you’re going to make it happen as soon as possible.”

He loved when she got demanding. “Anything you want, baby girl.” He kissed her again. “Anything and everything.” Then he lifted her to her feet carefully and dove back under the desk to find the ring, grinning at her like an idiot when he dropped the chain over her head.

Ramiro panted as he braced himself on his hands, staring down at his well-fucked and very pregnant wife. He loved the way her ring nestled between her breasts, reminding him all over again that she’d chosen to be with him forever.

Even if she was well past enjoying the pregnant part of their forever.

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