Page 90 of Craving You

“There’s my future son-in-law!” Kevin said as he sat down with them. “I’m glad I could come to town and do the walk-through with you, Max. I have some ideas that are a little different from what we originally discussed.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t worry, though. I think you’re really going to love them.”

“What are you thinking?”

Waving him off, Kevin grinned. “What day are you free this week?”

“We’re going to do it Monday after four,” Ronan answered. “And why are you being so secretive with him? You told me what you want to do, and…”

“Hush!” Kevin scolded. “You big blabbermouth! I want Max to see it in person rather than just hear about it.” Looking at Max, he asked, “You’re okay with that, right?”

“Um…sure?” It seemed like the safest answer.

“Perfect!”

The afternoon wore on, pizzas were ordered, everyone ate, and it seemed like forever by the time they all left. When Max shut the door for the last time, he felt like he had run a marathon. He found Hailey in the kitchen getting herself some water.

“I know they’re a lot, but I kind of love how they cleaned everything up!” she said.

“I have to agree. Where are your parents and Sloane staying?”

“They’re all at Uncle Ronan’s house. I told Sloane she should stay here, but she said she’d already intruded on our privacy enough, so…”

Walking over, he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Remind me to thank her.”

“Why?”

He responded by kissing her soundly. When they broke apart, he smiled down at her. “I love you.”

“Mmm…I love you too.” They held each other and savored the silence for several moments. “I’m completely beat. Can we just go upstairs and maybe watch TV in bed? I know it’s barely nine o’clock, but…”

“Are you kidding? I am more than ready to just curl up under the blankets with you. Why don’t you go up and get settled while I deal with the dogs and lock everything up?”

“Okay, but don’t be long.” She kissed him before turning and going up the stairs, and Max watched her go.

It took almost fifteen minutes to get the dogs settled in their room for the night, and as he walked around the downstairs, he marveled at how he couldn’t tell they’d had a houseful of people here today. “They’re impressive; I’ll give them that.”

Turning off the lights, he walked up the stairs and found Hailey just climbing into bed. He stripped down to his boxer briefs and slid in beside her, immediately wrapping her in his arms.

“Today was a good day,” she said as she snuggled close. “I know it was a lot, and I told Sloane she has to stop encouraging our parents to fly up here on a moment’s notice, but it was nice to celebrate with everyone.”

“I kind of preferred our private celebration last night,” he murmured gruffly. “You looked spectacular in those tiny white panties. I just about swallowed my tongue when you stripped down to them.”

“I decided to splurge on sexy undies before I get too big to look good in them,” she teased.

“Oh, stop. You’ll always look good in them, even when your belly is all round because our strawberry has grown to the size of a watermelon.”

“Ugh…that already sounds very uncomfortable…”

“Uncomfortable or not, you’ll still be the sexiest woman I know.”

“Aww…” Smiling up at him, she asked, “How much pressure did you get today about us setting a date?”

“A lot. Your mother cornered me every chance she got. From what I can tell, she’s aiming for something very soon. What about you? What do you want?”

“At first, I didn’t think it would be a big deal to wait a little, but now I’m thinking that I’d prefer sooner. We’re going to have so much to do with the house and getting ready for the baby if we wait too long, and I don’t want a big wedding, so…”

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