“Then you must not be grown cause you’re pouting.” She exposed her neck and threw her head back, laughing. It was a temptation he couldn’t resist. He peppered her neck with kisses. Loud smacking noises filled the air.

“Wrangler, you better not mark me,” she warned.

“That isn’t what you said this morning.” He lifted her skirt, and slipped his hand between her thighs, where he had in fact left his mark. His cock hardened at the idea of knowing she was walking, around with his mark on her. It was right up there with seeing his cum drip out of her pussy. “Fuck,” he groaned as his hand slipped to her ass and he cupped it.

“We can’t be late.”

“What’s a little time between friends? They’ll understand once we make our announcement.”

“How about I just give you a blow job?” She looked so hopeful, he almost hated to disappoint her.

“I’ll take the blow job and also fuck you against the wall.”

“What do you have against beds?”

As it turned out Chase was right. Their fellow dinner guests were very understanding of their tardiness once they learned the pair were engaged. Understanding was a stretch. The announcement garnered some interesting responses.

Rodney and his wife Louisa’s reaction were opposite. While she congratulated them, Rodney demanded, “tell me you two aren’t serious.”

“We are.” Chase bristled.

“This shit…” Rodney said, pointing between them. “…doesn’t make sense. One moment you two are enemies, the next you two are loved up on steroids. What the hell is going on?”

“I’ve never been Amara’s enemy. Now she might’ve disliked me, but I’ve always been fond of her.” All the eyes around the table stared at him in shock. “Besides, sometimes people change how they feel about each other.”

“Yeah, relationships change…” Jo interjected, holding his gaze. “…but do you love her?”

“Amara knows how I feel about her,” Chase responded.

Roddick spoke up. “You didn’t answer the question?—”

Amara apparently had enough, she held up her hand cutting off her brother. “Jo, Roddick, I love how you are looking out for me, but like Chase said, I know how he feels about me. Which is all that should matter.”

“No, it isn’t. As much of a romantic as I am. This feels way too rushed. You’re engaged in under a month of being together. The next thing you’re going to tell us is you guys will be gettingmarried in a couple of weeks.” Jo’s gasp seemed to suck all the air out of the room. Reaching across the table, she smacked Amara’s hand.

Amara looked at Chase, then nudged his leg under the table. He supposed it was fair; he put all of this into motion. “We are getting married in a week.” He announced. The room plunged into silence. Her family was well versed in silent communications. Incredulous looks passed back and forth around the table.

Finally, it was Jo who broke the silence. “That isn’t much notice. How are we going to be ready in a week?”

It was Amara and Chase's turn for some silent communication. They hadn’t planned to issue any invitations. He was just about to be the bearer of bad news when Amara spoke up.

“You don’t have anything to be ready for. The ceremony is going to be just us.” Damn, she was efficient at ripping off band aids.

“So, the ceremony will be just the two of you?” Louisa’s trademark cheerful demeanour faltered.

“Yeah, Louisa. Chase and I decided to have the ceremony for just the two of us.”

“I get it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a small get together to celebrate, does it?”

Louisa looked so hopeful as she looked around the table. Amara sat forward, shaking her head.

“You won’t have to do anything, Amara. Jo and I will handle everything. How could you not want to celebrate with us?”

Amara looked so conflicted it made Chase call an audible. “You know what? It sounds nice.”

Louisa clapped. “This is going to be so awesome.” Everyone started chattering, and he was pleased with his decision. Yeah, he was pretty content until he felt Amara’s hand on his thigh. She had a hell of a grip. Crap, she was far from pleased with him.

He was certain she would let him have it once they were back in the truck. Instead, she was quiet until they got to her place. Amara headed straight to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She drank the entire thing. Her eyes drifted to her window. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”