“Mmmph. Knox. We have to get back to the party,” I murmured against his mouth.
He had me pinned against the wall in Liza’s den as the most epic twelfth birthday party happened in the backyard. And the front yard.
And in the kitchen, dining room, and sunroom.
There were kids, parents, and bikers everywhere.
The man who was currently kissing the ever-living breath out of me had sat down with Waylay and asked her for a list of every single thing she could possibly want. And then he’d delivered on each and every one.
Which was why there was an inflatable obstacle course in the back yard, a petting zoo in the front yard, and not a vegetable in sight on the food table that was buckling under the weight of pizza, nachos, popcorn, and two birthday cakes.
His tongue teased its way into my mouth again, and my knees went weak.
The erection he had pressed against my stomach was driving my lady parts wild.
“You have your parents, Liza, Stef, and Sloane out there playing host.
Give me five minutes,” he growled over my lips.
“Five minutes?”
He wedged a hand between our bodies and slid it up my dress. When his fingers found me, my hips bucked involuntarily against him.
“Might only need four to get you there,” he decided.
He could have had me there in about fifteen seconds, but I was feeling greedy.
“Deal,” I whispered.
He dragged me with him to lock the glass doors, then guided us to the credenza against the wall and placed me on it.
“What are all these boxes in here for?” I asked, noticing a stack of them in the corner.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said.
I decided to follow his advice when he yanked my underwear down my legs until I could step out of them.
“Five minutes,” he reminded me as he hooked my heels on the edge of the wood and spread my knees wide. Before I could say something smart, he was freeing his thick, hard cock from his jeans and feeding it into my body inch by glorious inch.
We moaned together as he thrust hard to fill me completely.
“I can’t. Believe. You talked me. Into this,” I said, my teeth chattering as he began to thrust mercilessly.
“You’re already gripping me, baby.” He gritted the words out.
Knox had been insatiable since the “incident,” as I’d dubbed it. He’d barely let me out of his sight. And I was okay with it. Especially since so much of the time we spent together was naked. Well, between talking to the police. Both the Knockemout PD and the other departments involved.
It turned out that the infamous list included the names of several cops and their criminal informants spread out across five counties in NOVA.
Hugo’s father had gotten his hands on the information and intended to work his way down the list, eliminating all of the cops and their informants.
Hugo, wanting to impress his father, had decided to take a shot at one of those names on the list: Nash.
But after the botched job brought his father’s wrath down on him, Hugo decided it was more lucrative to steal the information and sell it to the highest bidder.
All of this information came from my sister. Tina had sung like a canary in an orange jumpsuit and was looking at a pretty lenient deal if her information brought down any part of the Hugo crime family.
With Tina behind bars, the path toward guardianship was about as clear as it could be. It would still be a long one, but at least we’d cleared it of the major obstacles.
And while Duncan Hugo was still out there somewhere, police all over the state were looking for him, and I had a feeling his freedom was coming to an end soon.
“More kids,” Knox rasped.
“What?” I asked, pulling back from his mouth.
He pistoned his hips forward and buried himself to the hilt. “I want more kids.”
I felt the clutch and pull of my muscles around him and knew I was going to come any second.
“What?” I repeated dumbly.
“Way would make a great big sister,” he said. With a wolfish grin, he hooked his fingers in the neck of my dress and yanked it and my bra down, exposing my breasts. He dipped his head, his mouth hovering an inch above my straining nipple. “You up for it?”
He wanted kids. He wanted a family with me and Waylay. My heart was close to exploding. And so was my vagina.
“Y-Yes,” I managed.
“Good.” He looked smug, victorious, and so damn sexy as he lowered his mouth to my breast.
I bowed back and let him plunder me right over the edge.
I was still in the midst of an earth-shattering orgasm when he stilled at the end of me and held. A guttural groan wrenched free as I felt the first hot pulse of his release deep inside me.
“Love you, Naomi,” he murmured, his lips worshiping my bare skin.
“I l—” But he was clamping a hand over my mouth even as he continued to glide in and out of me like he was trying to savor every second of our closeness.
“Not yet, baby.”
It had been a week since the incident, since his first “I love you,” and he still wouldn’t let me say it back. “Soon?” I asked.
“Soon,” he promised.
I was the luckiest woman in the world.
KNOX LEFT THE DEN FIRST, claiming he had something he needed to see to. I was still trying to fix my hair and dress and hoping it wasn’t a rock-climbing wall or a hot air balloon when I walked out of the room and ran right into Liza, who was perched on a floral upholstered chair I’d unearthed in the basement and moved into the foyer.
“You scared me!”
“I’ve been thinking,” she said without preamble. “This house is too big for one old woman.”
My fingers gave up on my hair. “You’re not thinking of selling, are you?”
I couldn’t imagine this house without her. I couldn’t imagine her without this house.
“Nah. Too many memories. Too much history. Thinkin’ about moving back into the cottage.”
“Oh?” I felt my eyebrows wing up. I didn’t know what to say to that. I’d always assumed that Waylay and I would move back into the cottage at some point. Now I wondered if this was Liza’s way of evicting us.
“This place needs a family in it. A big messy one. Bonfires and babies.
Smartassed teenagers. Dogs.”
“Well, it’s already got dogs,” I pointed out.
She nodded briskly. “Yep. So it’s settled then.”
“What’s settled?”
“I take the cottage. You and Knox and Waylay live here.”
My mouth dropped open while my brain began to run through a dozen new furniture placement ideas.
“Um. I…I don’t know what to say, Liza.”
“Ain’t nothing to say. Already talked to Knox about it this week.”
“What did he say?”
She looked at me as if I’d just asked her to give up red meat. “What the hell do you think he said?” she asked, sounding disgruntled. “He’s out there throwing your girl the best damn party this town’s ever seen, ain’t he? He’s already planning the wedding, ain’t he?”
I nodded. Unable to speak. First Waylay’s party. Then the discussion on kids. Now, the house of my dreams. I felt like Knox had asked me to write down a list of everything I’d wanted and set about making it all happen.
Liza reached out and gave my hand a squeeze. “Good talk. Imma go see if we can cut into those cakes yet.”
I was still staring at the chair she vacated when Stef appeared in the hallway.
“Waylay needs you, Witty,” he said.
I snapped out of my daze. “Okay. Where is she?”
He hooked his thumb in the direction of the backyard. “Out back. You okay?” he asked with a knowing grin.
I shook my head. “Knox just snuck me away for a quickie, told me he wants to have more kids with me, and then Liza gave us this house.”
Stef let out a low whistle. “Sounds like you could use a drink.”
“Or seven.”
He escorted me through the dining room, where there just happened to be two flutes of champagne waiting. He handed one to me, and we exited through the sun-room doors onto the deck.
“SURPRISE!”
I took a step back and clutched a hand to my heart as a large portion of the citizens of Knockemout cheered from the yard below.
“It’s not a surprise party, you guys,” I told them.
There was a ripple of laughter, and I wondered why they were all looking so happy, like they were anticipating something.
My parents stood off to the side of the deck with Liza and Waylay, all grinning at me.
“What’s going on?” I turned to Stef, but he was backing away and blowing me kisses.
“Naomi.”
I turned and found Knox standing behind me, his face so serious my stomach dropped.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, twisting around and looking to see if someone was hurt or missing. But all our people were here. Everyone we cared about was right here in this yard, smiling.
He had a box in his hand. A small, black velvet box.
Oh my God.
I peered over my shoulder at Waylay, worried I was ruining her party.
The day was about her, not me. But she was holding my mom’s hand and bouncing on her toes, the biggest smile I’d ever seen on her face.
“Naomi,” Knox said again.
I turned back to him and pressed my fingers to my mouth.
“Yes?” It came out as a muffled squeak.
“Told you I wanted a wedding.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice anymore.
“But I didn’t tell you why.”
He took a step forward, then another one until we were standing toe-to-toe.
I felt like I couldn’t quite catch my breath.
“I don’t deserve you,” he said, sending a glance over my shoulder. “But a smart man once told me that what matters most is that I spend the rest of my life trying to be the kind of man who deserves you. So that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna remember how fucking lucky I am, every single day. And I’m gonna do my best to be the best for you.
“Because you, Naomi Witt, are incredible. You’re beautiful. You’re sweet. You’ve got a fancy-ass vocabulary. You make people feel seen and heard. You make broken things whole again. Me. You made me whole. And every time you smile at me, I feel like I hit the lottery again.”
The tears were threatening to spill over, and there was nothing I could do to stop them. He opened the box, but I couldn’t see anything through the waterworks. Knowing Knox, the ring was over-the-top and somehow still exactly perfect.
“So I told you once. And now I’m gonna ask you. Marry me, Daze.”
I didn’t point out that he hadn’t exactly asked—it was more like he ordered. I was too busy nodding my head.
“Need you to say it, baby,” he coaxed.
“Yes.” I managed to get the word out and found myself against the very solid, very warm chest of my fiancé. Everyone I loved was cheering for us, and Knox was kissing me—in a very inappropriate way for having an audience.
He pulled back just an inch. “I love you so fucking much, Daisy.”
I gave a hitching sigh and tried not to start wailing. I managed a not very dignified nod.
“Now you can say it,” he prompted me, cupping my face in his hands, those gray-blue eyes telling me exactly what he needed to hear.
“I love you, Knox.”
“Damn right you do, baby.”
He held me tightly, then released one arm and opened it. Waylay appeared and slid under it, grinning up at me through tears of her own. I wrapped my free arm around her, binding the three of us together. Waylon wedged his head between us and barked.
“You did good, Knox,” Waylay said. “I’m proud of you.”
“You about ready for some cake?” he asked her.
“Don’t forget to make a wish, honey,” I told her.
She grinned up at me. “Don’t gotta. I already got everything I wanted.”
And just like that, the tears were back.
“Me too, honey. Me too.”
“Okay. New family rule. Neither of you is allowed to cry ever again,”
Knox said, his voice hoarse.
He sounded pretty serious about it. That just made us cry harder.
LATER THAT NIGHT, after the party was over, the guests had gone home, and Knox had gotten me naked again, we lay in the dark in our room. His fingers traced lazy lines up and down my back as I cuddled against his chest.
Down the hall, half a dozen girls giggled in Waylay’s room.
Liza had wasted no time making good on her promise. She’d packed a suitcase and the dog dishes and was spending her first night in the cottage.
“Today was the best day,” I whispered, admiring how the ring on my finger caught the light from the bathroom and twinkled. I was right. It was over-the-top. A massive solitaire diamond flanked by three smaller stones on each side. I was going to need to start lifting weights with my other hand just to keep my muscles even.
Knox pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Every day since I met you has been the best day.”
“Don’t be sweet, or I’ll break your new family rule,” I warned him.
He shifted under me. “I got a couple of other things for you.”
“Knox, no offense, but after the best birthday party this town’s ever seen, Liza giving us the house, and you demanding I marry you in front of all our friends and family, I don’t think I can take anything else.”
“Suit yourself,” he said.
I lasted all of ten seconds. “Okay. Gimmie.”
He sat up and snapped on the bedside lamp. He was grinning, and it made my heart turn to liquid gold.
“First, tomorrow you gotta help me pack.”
“Pack?”
“I’m moving in here officially and I don’t know what shit your parents will want and what they won’t.”
“Liza J gave us the house. I’m giving your parents the cabin.”
I sat up and pulled the sheet up to my chest. “You’re giving my parents the cabin,” I repeated.
He gave me a wolfish look. “Your ears still ringin’, Daze?”
“Maybe. Or maybe it’s all the orgasms you keep giving me that are slowing down my auditory processing.”
He hooked me behind the neck and tugged me closer. “Your mom just got a job at Waylay’s school. Part-time counselor. She starts in January.”
I brought the heels of my hands to my eyes. “My parents are…”
“Movin’ to Knockemout.”
“How did you do this? How did you… Waylay gets to grow up with her grandparents right next door!” Every damn dream I’d ever had was coming true, and he was making it happen.
“One thing you gotta understand, Naomi. If there’s anything in this world you want, I’m gonna get it for you. No questions asked. You want it, it’s yours. So here.” He thrust a stack of papers at me.
Blindly, I held them up. They looked like some kind of legal contract.
“What are these?”
“Flip to the signature page,” he instructed.
I followed the handy yellow tab and found my sister’s signature scrawled across the line.
The words “guardianship” and “parental rights” popped off the page.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
“She signed over parental rights to you. It’s official. No more hearings or home visits. Way is ours.”
I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. I could only cry silently.
“Damn it, baby. I hate when you do this,” Knox grumbled, gathering me up and dropping me in his lap.
I nodded, still crying as I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight.
“Now, it’s time for something I want.”
The man could have anything as far as I was concerned. Both my kidneys. My favorite purse. Anything at all.
“If you’re trying to have sex with me for the fourth time today, I’m gonna need some Advil, an icepack, and a gallon of water first,” I teased through sobs and sniffles.
His laugh was a rumble in his chest as he threaded his fingers through my hair and stroked.
“I want the wedding sooner rather than later. I’m not wasting another minute without making you my wife. You can have anything you want. A big church wedding. A backyard barbecue. A five-figure wedding dress. But I have one demand.”
Of course it was a demand and not a request. “What’s that?”
“I want daisies in your hair.”
