“Is it because you actually want us together and can accept that we’re married, or because you just want to end this conversation?” I replay our events and pry into his mind.
Carter stands abruptly with fists hanging at his sides. “Yes. Okay. Fine. This is what it is. My brother can be happy and do things the right way.”
Oliver stands to align with his brother. “You’ve always done what you think is the right way. Sometimes we figure things out differently. And this is Hailey and me and our way.”
Carter looks between us both. “I just want you both to be happy.”
“We know,” I assure him.
I’m beginning to think that I need to find a blind date for him so he can attempt to move on, but I can tell that he is nowhere near ready to let go of his ex-wife.
“We’re happy,” Oliver affirms.
Carter gives Oliver a look that only they seem to understand, a sort of code. “I expect nothing less than everything from you when it comes to your wife. Just be a good husband.”
“You don’t need to say it,” Oliver firmly agrees.
Carter lets out a deep sigh. “Good.”
“Good? Or good you’ll be fine at the next family BBQ?”
“Funny. I said good, so good is good.”
Oliver tries to suppress his smile.
Carter bows his head slightly in my direction. “Well, welcome to the family.”
“Thanks, brother-in-law.”
He flutters his eyes as his ears adjust to the title. Carter looks between us. “Now that your little secret is out in the open then put on your damn wedding rings,” he reprimands Oliver before he walks on out, bumping Oliver’s shoulder in the process before Oliver collapses onto the couch.
I would say the conversation ended on a solid note which is why I beam a smile at Oliver and move to sit on his lap.
“He is right about the rings. I’ll be changing that as soon as we’re upstairs,” he promises.
Giving him a quick kiss, I feel an overpowering urge to lock ourselves upstairs for a while. “That’s a start. Can’t have anyone thinking you’re available.”
“Ready to do this long-haul marriage thing with me?”
I bop his nose with my finger. “I am.”
My smile dims a little. “I hope Carter can move on.”
Oliver licks his lips while he contemplates. “I would love it if he was a little less grumpy. But he hasn’t been the same since Rosie left, and that was two years ago.”
“He doesn’t want us to have the same ending, and we won’t.”
“Come on, Wifey. We have rings to slide onto fingers right before I slide into you.”
He tips his lips up to kiss me. I must still taste of him from earlier when his mouth ravished me. With no protest from me, he stands, and we begin to shuffle our way to the stairs. Circling and stumbling because we are too occupied with our kisses and roaming hands.
Luckily, the map to his bedroom is set in stone in our heads.
Sittingon the middle of the bed, already down to my bra and panties since we lost all my other clothes at the top of the stairs—his shirt, too, as we were impatient to reach the bedroom—I watch Oliver dive his hand into his jeans pocket and pull out his ring before discarding his pants.
“You always had it in your pocket?” I wonder.
He tosses himself onto the bed and lies on his side. “Unconsciously, but yeah.”
