“How you feel about marrying me?" he asked in my ear.”

“You wanna know what else I know?” he asked.“What do you know, honey?” “My girl is gonna marry me.”

“Are you asking me to marry you, honey?”“No, I’m tellin’ you by the end of this year you’ll be wearing my rings, bearing my name and, probably, pregnant with my baby.”

“Got it all scheduled,” he noted.“Yes,” I returned. “What’s a huge-ass wedding?”“Don’t ask that,” I advised. “Just show up.”His grin turned wicked and I liked it. That was, I liked it until he enquired, “You askin’ me to marry you, Red?”I wasn’t even sipping coffee and, still, I chocked. Then I pushed out, “What?”“I accept.”I shook my head and kept shaking it when I requested clarification, “Let me get this straight. Did you just accept my non-marriage offer?”“Non-marriage?”“I didn’t ask!” My voice was rising. “So you just wanna shack up?” he asked but didn’t wait on my answer. “I’m good with that too.”Gah!“I’m getting my huge-ass wedding,” I declared.“So you are askin’ me to marry you,” he noted. Gah! Gah! Gah!!Sharp as a tack.Someone kill me.”

“Love you, Tabby." Oh yes. I pressed the insides of my thighs to his hips, wrapped my arms tight around him, and whispered in his ear, "Love you too, Shy." His mouth moved below my ear and he murmured against my skin, "Everything to me.”

“About five seconds after I left you today, things between you andme, they changed,” he informed me in a quiet voice.I felt my brows draw together as my mind processed the fact thatthis was not good.“Changed?” I asked. “How?”“You got attitude, the kind I like. So I decided I’m gonna ride thatattitude wave of yours, see how things work out.”

“You want to marry me?”“No. I’m gonna marry you.”