Page 62 of Don't Look Back

“In our defense, we didn’t know I was pregnant then.” Skylar keeps her head held high and doesn’t sound even a little bit sorry.

“Uh huh. It sounds like I'm an amazing detective and your body is too stupid to even realize what’s going on inside it.”

“Oh yeah? How’s Mr. Raven’s house been? Did we catch the bandit?”

“No, because there isn't a bandit. That would imply someone is stealing something. This person is just being a prick and vandalizing Mr. Raven’s property.”

“Is it really vandalizing if nothing is destroyed?” Tucker arches a brow, making Colt narrow his eyes on him.

“Exactly how many kids do you plan on popping out?” Colt ignores Tucker and turns his attention back to Skylar.

“I don’t know. What does it matter?”

“Well, I need to know how much money I'm going to need for the cuss jars. Riley’s bleeding me dry.”

“Or you could just not curse, Uncle Colt,” Riley singsongs as she walks past us with Duke in her arms.

“Oh! Give me the baby!” I hold out my hands and Riley happily hands Duke over to me. “Hey, handsome. How are you?” I coo, loving my time I get with Duke.

He smiles and blows raspberries in my face. When I settle him on my hip, he grabs for my hair and flashes me a big toothless grin.

“I can't wait to have a baby,” I gush, holding him closer.

“Dang, I guess you need to find yourself a daddy.” Tucker smirks at Colton.

“Well, like Skylar, I was planning on waiting until after dinner, but I guess that’s not allowed.” Colton rolls his eyes.

I watch him carefully with furrowed brows. I have no clue what he’s talking about. What was he planning on waiting for?

“Let me just take Duke and get his diaper changed before we eat.” Skylar lifts the baby out of my arms, but makes no move to leave the room. I frown because I just got the kid and I'm already losing him.

I watch in surprise as Colt drops down to one knee and stares up at me with so much love in his eyes.

“Zoey, I know this is fast. Like insanely fast. You might even think I'm crazy for doing this… but I knew you were it for me the moment you punched me in the nose forscaring you. I was even more sure after we kissed for the first time and I begged you to move in with me. But watching Jimmy stomp over to your car, that was when I knew without a doubt, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. All I kept thinking was how I couldn’t live without you. How I couldn’t stand the thought of something happening to you. I want you to be my wife, Zoey. Will you marry me?”

The front door opens and shuts, but I don’t pay a bit of attention to it. I'm too focused on the man kneeling in front of me to care who just showed up.

“Aw, man! I missed it!” Pecker whines.

“Yes,” I whisper as I nod my head through the tears gathering in my eyes.

Colton stands to his full height and tugs me into his arms. He kisses me more passionately than I expect with so many people watching. When he pulls back, he slips a gorgeous solitaire onto my left hand and grins at me.

“I can't believe you agreed to marry me,” he whispers.

“Did you think I’d say no?”

“Kinda. We’ve been dating for less than a month.”

“I'm tired of surviving, I want to live. I want to do what makes me happy and marrying you would make me happy.”

“Good, because I wasn’t going to let you go.” He presses a chaste kiss to my lips. “But now we need to discuss where we’re going to live.”

“I think Maple Springs is a great place to have a family.” I lift my shoulders in a shrug.

“That would make me so happy, babe. But I understand if you’d want to move back to Philadelphia with your family.” He cups my cheek, staring deep into my eyes. He cares so much about me he’s willing to move away from his loved ones to make me closer to mine.

“No, I like it here… but maybe we could visit my family frequently.”

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