“No one’s getting married,” Ashton power-whispered, frustration strangling him. “Not at the beach. Not on the ranch.”
“Not in a church, not in a park. Not in the daytime, not after dark.” I bumped his hip with mine. “Look at us rhyming. Like I said, I’m getting married. At the beach. If you don’t want to marry me, I’ll have to find someone else. But I guess if I want to keep this ring, I need to marry a Dupree.” I glanced at Ford. “Want to marry me? At the beach?”
His amused eyes slid sideways to Ashton. “Hell yes.”
Jenny smacked him in the back of the head again. “Stop cussing.”
“Tally,” Ashton growled and gripped my elbow. “I need to talk to you in the hall.” Then he yanked me behind him, hauling me from the room. His stride was so long I had to jog to keep up or risk falling on my face.
When we made it to the foyer, he whirled to face me. “Why did you do that? My mom is going to be so mad when I have to tell her it was a joke.” He threw his hands in the air, completely frazzled.
I took it as an invitation to capture him in a hug. Then I reached up, trapped his handsome face in my hands and kissed him. Hard.
When he tried to protest, I yanked on his hair, smashing his lips to mine.
“Ouch.”
I pulled away enough to say, “I love you, dummy. And I want to marry you. At the beach. This year. It’s not a joke.”
“You do?” His voice was full of hope.
“Yes. I do. Pun intended.” I melted against his chest. “You’re my best friend, my person, and the love of my life.”
He sagged against me. “You know you’re mine. You always have been. But…it’s too fast,” he said with a shaky laugh.
“I’m not going to freak out like I did with Madden, so you can stop worrying about that.”
“You won’t?”
“I won’t.” I leaned back to look into those eyes. My favorite pair of eyes. “That’s the difference between being with the wrong guy and the right guy.”
He chuckled, sounding so relieved. “But I didn’t do a fancy proposal. You deserve a fancy proposal.”
I patted him on his left peak of perfection. “Oh, I’m getting my proposal and I just told you what I want.”
He chuckled. “Okay.”
A little voice coughed above us and we looked up to the balcony. I’d forgotten about my adorable eavesdroppers. Their eyes were huge, watching the scene below.
“Are you guys cool with me marrying Ashton?” I asked.
“Does that mean he’s going to be our dad?” Theo asked.
“Yes.” I sighed, utterly content.
“And he won’t change his mind?” Charlie asked and my heart stuttered at the fact that she even had to consider it.
Ford and Jenny were in the doorway, watching.
“Not a chance,” Ashton said. “You guys are my favorite.”
They looked at each other again, something passing between them.
Then Theo looked at us. “Hell yes.”
“Theo!” I said, aghast, at the same time that Jenny said, “Ford Sutton Dupree, look what you did!”
Then she popped him in the back of the head one more time.
