“You scared me.” I slapped his shoulder. “I told you about secretly watching me while I’m dancing.”
That grin that always made my lower belly flutter appeared on his face. Not for the first time, I stared into his grey eyes and wondered how in the hell I’d lucked up enough to have been fortunate to marry this man.
His eyes glittered in mischief. “I’m going to be watching you dance in the kitchen when we’re eighty years old.”
Those butterflies in my stomach turned to full on quaking, and it wasn’t from our son kicking me. Ace planted a kiss on my lips.
“How was work?”
He frowned and shrugged. “Boring as usual.” His eyes roved over my shoulder. “What’s for dinner?”
“Spaghetti.”
His shoulders dropped. “Again?”
“Don’t say it like that,” I chirped. I moved to the stove and removed the lid from the frying pan. “Tonight, we have ground beef. I splurged a little at the grocery store today.”
Ace loved beef. He could eat steak every day, but with our tight budget, we couldn’t afford that. We’d had spaghetti at least three times within the last two weeks. I always gave the leftovers to him the next day for lunch at work. It was a cheap and easy meal to make.
“Thanks, babe,” he said, his hand moving to grasp my ass and squeeze it.
“Taste the sauce and let me know if it needs anything,” I said as I moved to turn the volume down on the radio I’d placed on the windowsill.
Ace used the wooden spoon and tasted the sauce that was bubbling in the saucepan. “Little more oregano.”
I topped the sauce off with some more oregano and turned it low before putting the pasta water on to boil.
“I love this song.” It was The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha.”
I shimmied and shook around Ace, making him laugh out loud. I loved the sound of his laughter more than anything.
“Dance with me,” I encouraged when he just stood there. Not waiting for him, I took his hand into mine and twirled around, rubbing my backside against his front, dipping it low.
“If you go too low, you won’t be able to get back up,” he joked at the same time his hand came around to tap my belly.
I tossed my head back against his chest, laughing. “You’re probably right.”
I flicked my left hand in the air, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw something go flying. I heard it as it cracked against the ground.
I glanced down at my hand, and my mouth dropped open when I saw the cubic zirconia from my engagement ring had fallen out.
“The hell?” Ace groaned as he took my hand in his, peering down at the ring. He searched the beat-up tiles of our kitchen floor and found the stone lying right next to the garbage can in the corner. “Son of a bitch,” he said as he picked it up.
“It’s okay.” I went to reach for the stone.
“It’s not,” he retorted. The pinch in his forehead between his eyebrows signaled his anger. “This damn stone shouldn’t have come out like that. Fuck. I’m sorry, Savannah.”
“Hey.” I cupped his face in between my hands. “I said it’s fine.” I shook his face a little. “Really. It’s just a ring.”
“I’m going to get it fixed first thing in the morning.”
“No.” I shook my head. “We need to save that money. Between classes for next semester and rent and our hope of buying a new car once AJ is born, the last thing we need to spend money on is this ring.”
Ace pushed out a hefty breath, his shoulders slumping. He stared down at me.
I hated the look on his face. Ace was always protective over me. I could see that he felt like he wasn’t doing his job as my husband.
“When I’m done with school, and I finally get my wings, I’m gonna buy you the biggest diamond I can find,” he promised, not for the first time.
