Page 52 of Coast

She nodded and we both walked back into her office.

“Got something on yourmind,cariño?” Emery asked as we walked into his house.

After talking with Tracker and Paxton, and Mrs. Stone, we’d driven back to Kiyaya’s place. I knew I’d been subdued at dinner, even the next day for the drive home. I caught Emery glancing at me several times in the truck, and even Flirt and Cruz were looking at me oddly.

I was nervous and excited at the same time. I’d made a rash decision while talking with the boys and watching Emery with them. Now, I either had to set it aside or make good on the decision.

I felt Emery’s eyes on me as he waited for me to acknowledge his question. Instead, I took a deep breath and asked a question of my own.

“Would you marry me?”

The stunned look on his face had me rethinking everything. How could I parent two boys if I couldn’t even handle my issues without second-guessing myself at every turn?

I turned toward the stairway, my intention was to go shower and crawl into bed and forget everything. Hopefully, I hadn’t ruined what we were building between us.

“Oh no, you don’t drop something like that and run,” he said. When I turned back to face him, he was right there, looking down at me. “Do I not rate the whole deal? You know, down on one knee and the proclamation of your undying love before you pop the question?”

“If you are going to make fun of me, then forget I asked.”

“I don’t think so. If you recall, you caught the bouquet, and I caught the garter. Who are we to thumb our noses at tradition?”

“Do you want me to get down on my knees?” I asked, and when his lips quirked up, I realized what I’d said.

“Oh, definitely want you on your knees, but later. I love you, Mac. Spending the rest of my life with you makes saying yes, the easiest thing I will do in my life. But what brought this on?”

I took a deep breath, then spilled about my talk with Mrs. Stone about fostering the boys. He stood silent when I finished and I was worried I might have read him wrong in regards to his interest in what happen with them.

“Jesus, I’m not sure what I’ve done in my life to deserve you, but I’m not questioning it now. “Yes, cariño, I’ll marry you.” He held his arms open, and I walked into them and laid my head on his chest.

“Since you’re being so cooperative, can we do it as soon as the three day waiting period is up on the license?”

“Are you in a hurry to make an honest man out of me?”

I pinched his nipple through his t-shirt. “No, but I’d like Tracker and Paxton to have a home before their time is up at the temporary foster’s placement. Or at least the holidays. And I think the perfect home for them would be with us.”

“You never cease to amaze me. I have to tell you, when I first met the boys, Mrs. Stone told me I should apply to be a foster parent. If I’d thought the state would have approved my application, I might have put one in. Something about those boys got to me.”

“I will always giveyouwhat you need, Emery,” giving back to him the words he’d given to me on more than one occasion. “Those boys need a home, a real one. And watching you interact with them, did it. I think the boys were what I was waiting on, too.”

“You,cariño, were meant for me, Tracker, Paxton. We were only waiting for you to find us,” he said, then lifted me up and carried me upstairs.

Four days later, standingin front of the judge at the courthouse, Emery and I exchanged vows in front of our friends. Afterward, we celebrated and watched those same friends hand over money to Cruz.

Flirt tried to argue that Cruz had an unfair advantage. But Emery’s dad had argued that as Emery’s best friends, maybe they should have spent less time watching him and more time watching me. That if they paid any attention on how I looked at his son, they would have known. They’d all groaned when he added, “Besides, no woman can resist us Cortez men.” Then he turned and winked at me.

Unknowingly, I had been his ace in the hole. I also wasn’t going to dispute the comment on resisting the Cortez men. River had been right; the dads were just as hard to resist as their sons.

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