Page 260 of Wild Card

“Max?”

“Everyone is okay. They’ll be home soon. We’ll talk about them later.”

I want to press further, but the finality of his statement hangs in the air.

He swings his legs to the floor, sitting with me tucked into his lap. The movement jostles my grip and my hand goes to his chest.

It’s then I catch the radiance of my ring sparkling on my finger.

All the oxygen leaves my lungs.

The thought of his mission, Max, his friends—all fade.

He lifts the ring to his lips and kisses along the knuckles.

“How’d you?” The question dies as I remember the itch on my neck, dreaming it was Wolf.

“Big or small, it’s your call.”

“Big or small?” I tilt my head in confusion.

“The wedding. You want big, have at it. I won’t take that away from you. But considering the timeline, small may be easier.”

Wedding pings around in my head. “What?”

“Our wedding. You have six weeks.”

“Six weeks?” Maybe my brain is still asleep?

“That too long? I’m game for sooner.”

It’s then everything catches up in a rush and I realize what he’s saying. “Too long? To plan a wedding? Are you insane? There’s no way! You didn’t ask me to marry you.”

His lips twitch and eyes light with amusement. “Your dad have a guest room?”

“That’s a strange question right now.”

“Seems like I need to have this conversation inside you. Seeing as I can’t fuck you on his couch…”

I can’t help the all-over body shiver which amuses him more. “We are not having this conversation during sex.”

I attempt to snatch my hand away, but he laces our fingers and positions them on my stomach.

Before he left, this would seem normal. But right now, the gesture is intimate, like he knows there is a piece of us under our joined hands.

But that’s impossible. There’s no way.

“Rowan dressed up Mack in a sweater once—want to guess what happened?”

I scrunch my nose, unsure why this is even a topic.

“Ford sliced it off with my pocket knife.”

“Ummm, okay.”

“You want to dress Wolf and our baby up for the holidays, I pick the outfits.”

Oh shit… did he say?

---