Page 86 of Play for Keeps

Gathering her courage, she dragged her attention from the pool and met his gaze. “I may not have wanted to have a baby, but I do think I’d make a fairly decent stepmother.” He looked so taken aback by the assertion, she rushed into the breach. Unfortunately, the only words she could conjure were the debates still echoing in her head. “Not like Carol Brady good, but maybe like Julia Roberts in the movie with Susan Sarandon.”

“Stepmother?” He sat up so fast she would have toppled off the edge of the chair if he hadn’t grabbed her. Incredulity etched into every line in his handsome face, he searched her eyes. “Did you just propose to me?”

“Well, no,” she said, her mind reeling. “I mean, yes. Maybe.” Frustrated, she stopped searching for the right thing to say and let her thoughts run loose. “I’m not proposing we get married so much as you let me do this with you. Be with you.” He didn’t respond, which did nothing to stem the flow of babble. “That is, if you and Mari—”

“There will never be a ‘me and Mari’ again,” he said gruffly. Then he gave her a little shake as if testing to see if she was real. “I’m only interested in me and you. Haven’t I been telling you from the start?”

A tremulous smile quirked her lips, but she wasn’t exactly positive if they were running on the same track. “So you think we can still have a you and me?”

He huffed a laugh of disbelief. “Are you kidding? As long as you’re okay with you and me and baby making three, then yes. Hell yes.” He gave her one more shake, then hauled her against his chest like she were no more than a rag doll. “Yes. God yes,” he murmured as he rained kisses on her neck, jaw, and cheek.

“I don’t know how to do this parenthood thing, Millie. To tell the truth, I’d pretty much given up on it ever happening and made my peace.” He took a shaky breath, then pressed his cheek against hers so his lips were at her ear. “I sure as hell never wanted to do it this way, but if this way is the only way, then I want you with me. I need you.”

A shudder ran through her, but it wasn’t fear or dread. No, the adrenaline pulsing through her veins was laced with anticipation. “I need you too.”

“Yes, I’ll marry you, Millie,” he whispered in her ear. “But you’re going to have to buy me a big, fat ring.”

She laughed, all the worry and tension flowing out of her on a shiver once his lips found the pulse in her throat. “I really wasn’t proposing.”

“Then maybe I’ll have to do the honors.” She heard his deep inhale as he forced himself to pull away. “Millie, will you—”

She silenced him with a single finger pressed to his lips. “Always pushing,” she chided. “Let’s table the marriage talk for one day soon and figure out how we’re going to handle the other stuff first.”

A stubborn frown stole over his features. “Nuh-uh. Answer me now. We can set a date later.”

She pursed her lips as she took his measure and reviewed her options. Ty knew what she was doing and called her out.

“Oh, come on. All I’m asking for is a simple yes or no. Everything else we can negotiate, but you have to give me this much now.”

Tickled by the determinedly mulish set of his jaw, she leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to the muscle ticking below his ear. “Yes,” she whispered. “Good press or bad. Babies or no babies, yes. But I get to choose my own pizza toppings.”

“Deal.” He kissed her hard and fast to seal the bargain.

“Andyouproposed, soIget the big, fat ring.”

He nodded once. “Done.”

Resting her head against his chest, Millie smiled as she listened to the steady thud of his heart. She loved the constancy of the beat. Strong. Unhesitating. If any man embodied the termwholehearted, it was Tyrell Ransom. And he loved her. That oh-so-dependable heart was hers. And it came wrapped up in the pretty package of one utterly delectable man.

She smiled at him. Every inch of her body was trembling with cold and excitement, but her grin never faltered. He was looking at her as if she’d swished the winning basket in a national championship. She needed to tell him she loved him. She wanted him to know how much having him in her life had changed her. More than anything, she ached to ask him to take her to bed.

But when she opened her mouth, none of those things came out.

“I’m scared shitless.”

He barked a laugh. The sound of it carried out into the night beyond the patio lights. “Me too.”

She made no move to pull away. For once in her life, she wasn’t trying to finagle a little space or planning an exit strategy. Staying put felt good. Damn good. “Tomorrow, we’ll figure out the angle and plan our attack on life.”

“Okay.”

Realization struck. Angling her head back, she peered up at him, squinting to make out his features in the dim light. “You know I love you, right?” The declaration came fast and breathy, but at least she got the words out. At last.

His lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. “Took you a damn long time to figure it out.”

Unperturbed by his cockiness, she burrowed back into his embrace. “You love me too.”

“I guess we’re even.”

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