He stood and grinned. “Because I love you, of course.”
I burst into tears and threw my arms around his neck, almost knocking him over and spilling his champagne.
Caleb chuckled in my ear. “Does this mean yes?”
“I love you, too,” I said. I took a step back, so everyone could hear me. “Yes.”
The room erupted in applause and hoots and hollers.
Caleb stood and pulled another ring from his pocket. It was a man’s ring, and he handed it to me right before he slipped my ring back on my left finger.
I looked down at his ring. It was silver in color like mine, and in the middle were three tiny stones. A diamond and our two birthstones.
My breath caught, and I looked at him.
He smiled. “I needed three weeks to get the ring made,” he explained. “I wanted you to know I meant what I said.” He held up his left hand. “Will you do the honors?”
I nodded and pushed the ring onto his finger.
“It’s midnight,” someone yelled, and the room cheered.
Caleb smiled. “To new beginnings and a new year?”
I nodded and grinned back. “To new beginnings.” I held up the single crystal in my hand. “We can’t even clink glasses and cheers.”
He put his hand over mine. “Then, we’ll share. Just like we’re going to do for the rest of our lives.”
He took a sip and put the glass to my lips for me to do the same.
“You’re pretty sure of yourself,” I teased.
He shook his head. “Wrong. I’m pretty sure about you.”
Forty-Five
Caleb
March
“Look at her,” Sloan said, picking up one of the baby’s fingers. “She’s so little.”
I put my arm around my wife and looked at Neil and Melanie. “What did you decide to name her?”
“Yeah,” Sloan chimed in. “I’ve been dying to know what name you picked out.” She stuck out her bottom lip. “I still can’t believe you wouldn’t tell your best friend.”
Melanie laughed. “I was in labor for a day and a half, I just had my belly cut open, and the doctor pulled a human being out of me. I do not feel sorry for you.”
“Burn,” Sloan said.
Everyone chuckled.
“But the name we picked out is …” Melanie looked at Neil for confirmation. “Carly Marie Stanton. Carly is for Carlson. Marie is because it has an I and E in it, like both our names,” she said, gesturing between herself and Neil. “And because I’m a dork.”
“I like it,” Sloan said.
“And, after much debate, we decided on Stanton because I hope to get married someday. I want Carly to have the last name of one of her parents.”
“You could always just not change your last name when you get hitched,” Sloan offered.
“Okay, Sloan Stanton. I’ll take that into consideration.”
“Hey. I thought about not changing my last name.”
“It’s true,” I said. I wouldn’t say I’d worked hard to convince her to take my last name, but I had offered her several orgasms in return.
“He bribed me,” Sloan said.
“Hey,” I protested. “The joke’s on you because I would have given you what you wanted even if you had said no.”
Sloan grinned at me and wiggled her brow. “I know.”
“Are you two talking about sex?” Melanie asked.
Neither of us answered. I was too busy thinking about how much I loved having sex with my wife.
“They’re talking about sex,” Melanie said, answering her own question. “If you two don’t stop making fuck me eyes at each other, I’m taking my baby back.”
That got Sloan’s attention. “Sorry,” she said to her friend.
“No, you’re not. But I forgive you.”
A nurse walked into the room, knocking on the door as she entered. She smiled politely. “It’s getting late, and Mom has some rest she needs to catch up on.”
I looked at the clock on the wall. “I suppose visiting hours are over.”
The nurse nodded. “Technically, yes. Dad, you’re more than welcome to stay. And, normally, I wouldn’t ask you to leave, but my patient needs her rest.”
“Say no more,” Sloan said. She kissed baby Carly on the head. “I’ll see you tomorrow. By the way, I’m your aunt Sloan. Don’t forget it.” She put the baby back in Melanie’s arms.
“I’m sure she’s writing it down as we speak,” I said.
Sloan stood straight and smacked me in the chest.
“Hey.”
“Quit making fun of me.”
“Said the woman who told me I lasted thirty seconds.”
Everyone gave me a funny look.
I shook my head. “Never mind.” I leaned closer and whispered, “But, for the record, I last a lot longer than that. A lot longer.”
Sloan rolled her eyes and pulled on my arm. “They don’t care, Caleb.”
“I care,” I said as I followed her out of the room. Once we were in the hall, I put my arm around her and pulled her close. “I can’t let you or anyone else think I don’t satisfy you.”
She kissed my cheek. “You know you do. But …”
Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good.
“But what?”
“I kind of want one now.”
I was clueless. “Want what?”
“A baby.”
I stopped walking. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I suppose this is one of those things we should have talked about before marriage.”
That line was a running joke between the two of us. Usually, it was little things, like how we loaded the dishwasher or where to keep the extra sheets. This was a lot bigger than how we cleaned the dishes or where we stored stuff in the house.
“Please tell me you want kids someday.” Sloan looked nervous now.
There was an open patient room right next to us, and I pulled her inside. I pushed the door closed and kissed her.
Sloan momentarily went with me, fisting her hands in my shirt and then running her fingers down over my abdomen and slipping the tips into the waistband of my jeans.
I thrust my hips toward her, so she could feel how hard I was.
I broke my mouth from hers to kiss down her neck.
“Does this mean, yes, you want kids? Or are you trying to distract me because you don’t want to tell me no?”
I pulled back from her to meet her eyes. “The second I heard that Mel was pregnant, I pictured you pregnant instead.”
“And how did that make you feel?”
“I beat off to the image for at least a week.”
Sloan kissed me. “That should be wrong, but it’s so hot to hear you say that.”
I yanked her to me and picked her up. “What do you say we get started right now?” I asked as I carried her over to the bed.
She laughed. “I’m on the pill.”
“Then, get off of it.”
“It’ll still take time.”
“I’ll settle for a practice round then.”
I laid Sloan on the bed, pulled off her pants, yanked mine off my hips, and pushed inside her.
Epilogue
Sloan
Several Years Later
“Caleb,” I called. “You need to hurry up,” I yelled up the stairs. “Everyone is going to be here soon, and I need some help with the boys.”
My handsome husband bound down the stairs a couple of minutes later. “What do you need, baby?”
“Colton’s in the high chair. Grayson’s in the pack-and-play, and Carter is running around, naked.” I sighed. “And I still have to get the rest of dinner finished.”
Caleb turned around but quickly spun back to me. “What do you want me to do first?”
Carter, our oldest at four, had a new thing of taking his clothes off and running around without them until I or his father caught him. Tonight, I didn’t have time to chase after him.
Grayson was our two-year-old and
wanted to do everything his brother did. He was way past big enough to be free of the pack-and-play, but if I let him go, he’d take off his clothes, too, and then we’d end up with pee on the floor. He was still potty-training.
Colton was the baby at nine months. I hadn’t known what else to do with him, so I stuck him in the high chair with some stuff he could snack on.
“Find Carter. He needs to get dressed before Carly gets here and points out to everyone that he has a penis.”
Caleb nodded. “Right. Carter. No penis-pointing. Clothes.”
Ten minutes later, Caleb came back with a giggling Carter over his shoulders. Caleb set him down and got his serious face out. “You will leave your clothes on or no dessert.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
Caleb ruffled his hair. “Go play.”
Carter ran off.
“What’s next?” he asked, coming behind me and slipping his arms around my waist. “I have a really good idea.”
I laughed and shook him off. I turned and gave him a kiss. “Your brother and Helen will be here soon. He’s always so annoyingly early.”
“Five minutes is early?”
“It is for dinner.”
Caleb shrugged. “Okay.”
“Can you change Grayson’s diaper and put some pants on him?”
“What’s with all our kids being naked?”
“They’re not all naked.”
Colton giggled, and we looked over at the baby.
I’d forgotten that he was only wearing a bib and a diaper. I threw a hand up. “Fine. They’re all naked.” I poked Caleb in the chest. “It’s because you had to give me all boys. I wanted one girl. One.”
Caleb grabbed an olive from the veggie tray beside me. “Sorry, babe. I had a long talk with the boys, but they didn’t listen to me.”
“The boys? Are you talking about your testicles?”
He wrinkled his nose. “They’re called balls, babe. Or nuts.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever they’re called, they failed you.”
He scoffed. “Hardly. They gave me three sons. Soon, we’ll have a football team.”
“In your dreams.” I circled the area in front of my uterus. “This shop is closed.”
Caleb wiggled his eyebrows. “But I have the key.”
I snorted. “I changed the locks.”
Caleb laughed as the doorbell rang.
I looked at the clock. It was fifteen minutes to six. “See? I told you. He’s early.”
Caleb shrugged. “It’s fine. My brother can help me. It’s not like he doesn’t have a kid with another on the way.”
“Run along then. I need to finish cooking.”
Caleb went to the living room. I heard him say a few words to Grayson before he answered the door. The sound of Neil’s and Helen’s voices filled the other room a few seconds later.
I was proud of how far Neil had come. He was a great father to Carly, and he treated his wife, Helen, great. I would just like it if he showed up fifteen minutes later, like everyone else.
As if my friend could read my mind, Melanie and her husband, Jon, showed up with Carly twenty minutes later. I was just taking dinner off the stove and turning off the oven when they arrived.
I walked into the living room with a smile on my face and put my arm around my husband. I looked up into his face and grinned.
“What’s got you so happy?” he said.
“You.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Thanks for convincing me to go on our last date.”
He kissed the side of my head. “The pleasure is all mine.”
Also by R.L. Kenderson
NOVELS IN THE FORBIDDEN SERIES
Paranormal Romance
Forbidden Blood
Forbidden Heat
Forbidden Temptation
Forbidden Addiction
Forbidden Claim
Forbidden Seduction
BOOKS IN THE DIRTY LOVE SERIES
Contemporary Romance
Rumor Has It
Friends with Benefits
One-Night Stand
Meant to Be
STANDALONE NOVELS
Contemporary Romance
Take Me in the Night
Wicked Chemistry
Object of My Desire
Five Dates Only
STANDALONE SHORT STORIES
Summer Heat
The Hottest Player
Moon Craving
About the Authors
R.L. Kenderson is two best friends writing under one name.
Renae has always loved reading, and in third grade, she wrote her first poem where she learned she might have a knack for this writing thing. Lara remembers sneaking her grandmother’s Harlequin novels when she was probably too young to be reading them, and since then, she knew she wanted to write her own.
When they met in college, they bonded over their love of reading and the TV show Charmed. What really spiced up their friendship was when Lara introduced Renae to romance novels. When they discovered their first vampire romance, they knew there would always be a special place in their hearts for paranormal romance. After being unable to find certain storylines and characteristics they wanted to read about in the hundreds of books they consumed, they decided to write their own.
One lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and the other in the Kansas City area where they’re a sonographer/stay-at-home mom/wife and pharmacist/mother by day, and together they’re a sexy author by night. They communicate through phone, email, and whole lot of messaging.
You can find them at www.rlkenderson.com, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, and Goodreads. Join their Facebook Reader Group. Or you can email them at [email protected], or sign up for their newsletter here. They always love hearing from their readers.
Five Dates Only Page 20
