Page 54 of Flirt

We toweled off, then dressed. Gabriella only had to use the blow dryer for five minutes since her hair hadn’t gotten too wet. Once we were ready, we went downstairs and put our jackets back on. I jogged to the kitchen and grabbed the package of plates and the package of cups I kept in the pantry, then we headed out of the house. As we walked back to Speed and Sami’s place, we discussed everything we needed to do to get Gabriella and Sawyer moved in, to when we would marry.

“Do you have a favorite diamond cut?”

“Not at all. Surprise me, I’m sure I will love whatever you pick out.”

“Yeah, you can come to the jewelry store with me and pick it out. No way am I falling into that trap,” I said and chuckled when she elbowed me.

On the walk back to Speed’s, something kept niggling in the back of my mind. As we reached the front door, I opened it and let Gabriella walk in ahead of me. From the sounds that greeted us, coming from two directions, a group was in the living room, and a group was in the kitchen. I closed the door behind us and hadn’t taken another step when it hit me.

“You named her after him,” I said and shook my head that it hadn’t registered before then.

Gabriella looked up at me and smiled. “Yes, Sawyer Justine. It was the only way to give her a part of him.”

I leaned in and placed my lips against her smiling ones and gave her a brief kiss. “Angel, you are a beautiful woman, both on the outside and inside.”

“I thought I heard the front door. It’s hard to tell with so much noise,” Speed said as he walked out of the opening from the living room into the hallway.

“We’re back with the plates and cups. Are the women in the kitchen? I will just take them in there,” Gabriella said, a blush forming on her cheeks as she grabbed the packages out of my hands and rushed off toward the kitchen at the other end of the hallway.

Speed chuckled, then slapped me on the shoulder before we walked into the living room. Sawyer sat on the floor with Ally, Neely, and Paxton, playing a board game. Coast was sitting by Tracker on the floor with game controllers in their hands and gunfire coming from the speakers on the big screen TV in front of them. Crusher sat in one chair holding Archer, Speed’s son, while Devil sat in the other chair holding his two-week-old newborn, Brock. Jag was on one end of the sectional bouncing Poppy on one knee while holding his less than a month-old sleeping son, Gabe, in one arm. Ghost was on the opposite end of the sectional with his twins, Lock and Key, one in each arm, laying against his chest. At his feet Karma, their rescued German Shepherd, laid keeping watch.

“Any more kids and we’re going to have to use the clubhouse when everyone gets together,” I said to Speed, drawing my other brothers’ attention.

“That or we are going to have to build on to our places,” Crusher answered.

“Hey, about time you made it back. We thought we were going to have to form a search party,” Ghost said, and the others chuckled. The only thing that kept them from making any other remarks was the young kids in the room.

Sawyer finally looked up from the game she was playing. “Where’s my mom?”

“She’s in the kitchen,” I answered.

“What took you so long to come back?” she asked.

“Yeah, brother. What took you so long?” Devil repeated, his lips twitching to keep from laughing while the others all wore smirks and waited to see how I was going to answer Sawyer.

I knew exactly what to say to wipe those smirks off their faces. I looked at Sawyer when I answered, “Well, I wanted to get your mom alone, so I could ask her to marry me.” No one in the room needed to know that the original plan was to ask her to move in with me. They only needed to know the end result.

Smirks gone and replaced with dropped jaws, then followed by huge grins once the initial shock was over, made me wish I had had my phone out when I announced it. I could have taken a picture of my brothers’ faces to show them every time they got on my nerves.

Sawyer wasn’t wearing a look of shock when she stood and ran toward me. As she jumped, I caught her in my arms. “Are you really marrying my mom? Are we going to live with you? Can the bedroom in the front be mine, so I can look out the window and see Ally’s house? Am I going to get a brother or sister? Will you be like my dad?”

“Hold up. Are you going to give me a chance to answer any of your questions?” I asked my own question, hoping to stop the barrage of hers. It worked, and she nodded and stared at me out the deep brown eyes just like her mother’s.

“Okay, yes, I am going to marry your mom. Yes, you will be living with me. Yes, you can have the front bedroom. I hope one day you will have a brother or sister. Maybe both. And to answer your last question—I won’t belikeyour dad.” Sawyer’s face fell, and I squeezed her, then finished what I was saying, “because I willbeyour dad. You were always meant to be mine. It just took a little time for us to find each other.” I hugged her tighter when she buried her face in my neck and started to cry.

“Well, shit, if you are finished with the bomb dropping, let’s celebrate,” Jag said, then he looked at Ally, who was staring back at Jag. “I’ll pay you as soon as my hands are free, and I can reach my wallet.”

I chuckled, then glanced to the doorway that led into the kitchen and saw Gabriella standing there, her hands fisted at her mouth while the other women stood behind her. Every one of them wiping their eyes.

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