Page 82 of No First Kisses

“Marry me.” I pull out the ring that Evie delivered while we were waiting. “Marry me and make me happy. I’ll never leave you, Poppy. And if this ring isn’t good enough, I’ll go get my grandmother’s ring, because both of our parents offered.”

“What if I’m arrested for murder?”

I see the insecurity there, the fear that comes from what she’s done, even if she did it well within the bounds of self-defense.

“You’ll look good in orange.” I shrug. Then I pull out my phone and call her father, deciding not to tell her that she isn’t going away for murder. No matter what I have to do, she won’t suffer for protecting herself and our baby.

“Send me pictures of the boy,” he snaps when he answers the phone. “They won’t let us back for another hour or more. I need to see him. Before you send it to your father,” he adds on, even though I can hear my dad complaining next to him.

“Got it,” I agree. “But first. What were their real names?”

I don’t need to clarify. Both Poppy and her father understand exactly what I’m talking about. Poppy’s eyes fill with tears again, and Dean clears his throat on the other end of the call.

I put the phone on speaker. “Killian and John.”

“Got it.” I hang up, looking at Poppy.

“He doesn’t look like a John,” I tell her, running my finger down his nose, like I’ve seen her do to the other babies. “Killian?”

“Killian John Pierce.” Poppy smiles. “I like it.”

“Please, do not let people call him Ian.” I snort. “It’ll give Ian a bigger head than he already has.”

Poppy surprises me. “Why haven’t you given me my ring, Lo? If I’m marrying you, I need my ring.”

I slide it onto her finger, kissing her on the cheek afterward.

How is this my life?

“We have to wait until all the babies are born.” Her eyebrows narrow into a hard line while we both stare at our son. “No one can go into labor on the dance floor. I’m done seeing vaginas that aren’t mine.”

“Speaking of which?—”

She cuts me off by slapping her hand over my mouth, and I smile at the sight of the ring on her finger. My ring. “Nope. No. I don’t care who saw what or what happened. I don’t ever want to know.”

“I love you,” I mumble behind her hand, pulling it down so that I can kiss her again.

“I love you too, Lo. But I never want to eat another taco again.”

29

POPPY

What does a normal life look like after everything we’ve gone through? Should I be worried about how I look naked? Or should I be more worried about getting as much sleep as I can when I’ve got a newborn to worry about?

No. I’m worried about getting arrested and not seeing my son grow up.

I don’t give a fuck what Logan says; it’s a real possibility.

Especially when I barely get discharged from the hospital and a Maine state trooper shows up to take me into custody.

“Take a step back, Trooper Douche.” Logan snaps irately, making sure that he inserts himself between the trooper at our door and me. “You don’t have any reason to be here.”

While Logan handles, or tries to handle, the trooper, I make sure that Killian is still sleeping in his car seat since we literally just got home, then pull out my phone to call for backup.

“Hey, Poppy, is everything okay?” Chief Townsend answers on the first ring, and I have a feeling that he’s been expecting my call.

“I need you to handle this, because I’m pretty sure Logan’s about to throw down with a trooper, and he called him Trooper Douche, which makes me think that there’s something there. Plus, we just got home, and Killian is sleeping and I really want to take a shower and a nap.”

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