Page 70 of Mateo & Nicole

Paxton tilted his head. “You take care of them.”

Mateo ruffled the kid’s hair. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

The smile that boy wore could have set off rocket ships; it was so full of bright energy.

“Anyway, since I love you and your mom, I want to make you part of my family.”

Paxton’s smile changed to surprise, and it took all of Mateo’s courage to continue.

“I want to marry your mom.” His throat closed up as he forced himself to add, “And I want to adopt you—make you mine. Because you’ve become like a son to me?—”

Paxton dropped from the corral and flung his arms around Mateo’s neck. He buried his face into Mateo’s neck, and his shoulders shook. Was he crying? Laughing?

“Hey, hey, hey,” Mateo murmured, drawing backward.

A tear speckled Paxton’s cheek.

“What’s the matter?”

“You…” Paxton bit his lower lip. “You want to be my dad?”

Mateo sighed with relief, a smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah, bud. I want to be your dad. Is that okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Do you want to come with me to ask your mom?”

Paxton’s eyes widened, and again, he nodded. “Yeah,” he whispered. “She’s gonna be so excited.”

“I hope so, kiddo.” Mateo stood and held out his hand to Paxton. “Come on. Let’s go find her.”

* * *

“Come on,Mom. You have to come over here.” Paxton was playing his role perfectly. Their plan was to lure Nikki away so no one would know what was happening—namely Sophia.

Mateo could hear Nikki laugh even though she was out of sight. Their shuffled footsteps drew closer and closer until Paxton dragged his mother around the side of the barn.

Paxton grinned, and Nikki stared at Mateo with surprise.

He’d already gotten down on one knee, and he held up the ring for her to see. She brought her hands to her mouth with a gasp, her wide eyes darting from Mateo to the ring, to Paxton and back. “What…”

“You are the love of my life,” Mateo started, “the dream of my past and the light of my future. There is no one I want to spend my life with more than you.” His eyes dipped to Paxton momentarily. “Both of you.”

Nikki pulled Paxton closer to her, and emotion brimmed in her eyes as he stared at him.

Mateo’s voice shook. “I already feel like you’re part of my family, but I think we need to make it official.” He gestured with the ring. “What do you say? We could get out of here.”

“What? Now?” Nikki gasped. “We need?—”

He got to his feet and pulled her into him, brushing his lips to her temple. “All I need is you. We could go now—fly to Vegas and be married before tomorrow. We could slip off to the mountains and find a priest to help us. I don’t need a big wedding.” He pulled back enough to look her in the eye. “I. Just. Need. You.”

Her smile melted him from the inside out. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.” She tilted her head. “But I do think your siblings would skin you alive if they weren’t invited, especially Sophia… so maybe we make a plan that includes them.”

He groaned, which brought a laugh to her lips. “Fine. But we’re getting married before the month is over.” He smiled down at Paxton. “I can’t wait to be a dad.”

* * *

“Who’s that?”Nikki said as they walked back toward the backyard party.

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