My eyes fly open and I mock glare at him. How can I be upset after what we discussed? We love each other. He wants to marry me. No matter what happens, we’re in this together.
“You did that on purpose.” I lightly sock his shoulder with my fist, then close my eyes when he hits a particular spot deep within me, making me whimper.
“Mmm, yeah. I did. It feels good, being inside you with no condom on.” He’s still moving at a languid pace. Trying to drive me out of my mind, I’m sure. “I like the idea of having a baby with you right now, Mandy.”
“I’ll get fat,” I warn him.
“Not fat. Full of my baby.”
My belly flutters at his possessive tone. “Don’t go caveman on me, Tuttle.”
He laughs. “Busting out the last name, huh? Figures.”
I grab hold of his shoulders, making him pause. I stare into his eyes and ask, “Are we really doing this? Declaring our love for each other? Planning on getting married and having children?”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “Yeah. We are. It’s what I want more than anything in this world.”
“It’s what I want too,” I whisper.
“Then let’s do it.” He’s grinning again. He looks so happy. So gorgeous. And he’s all mine. “You in?”
“I am so in,” I whisper just before he kisses me.
“I have one last gift for you,” I tell Amanda as I reach behind the massive Christmas tree and pull the tiny box from its hiding place.
Her mouth drops open, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She’s bouncing around like a little kid. “What is it?”
“You’ll have to open it and find out.” I settle in next to her where she sits on the floor. It’s Christmas morning, and we’re at my house in Sonoma. We just opened our gifts to each other, save for this one last present.
“You spoil me.” She nudges my side, then holds out her left hand to study the giant diamond on her ring finger. “I still can’t get over this ring. It’s so beautiful.”
I steal a kiss from her. “You’re beautiful.” I gave it to her two months ago and I still catch her staring at it like right now. “You’re worth twenty of them.”
“Oh, stop.” She shakes her head.
“It’s true.”
“I didn’t expect another present.” She smiles. She doesn’t have a lick of makeup on, her hair is piled on top of her head in a sloppy bun and she’s wearing holiday-themed pajamas. They’re green and red and it says Oh Deer on the front of the long-sleeved shirt. She wanted me to get a matching set, but I refused.
A man can only deal with so much.
I relented and wore red and green plaid pajama pants for this special occasion—pajama pants she bought for me. That’s about as Christmas spirit as I get, which made her incredibly happy.
That’s all I want in life. To make Amanda happy.
I fucking love her so much my heart hurts.
“This gift you’ll love.” I flick my head at her, encouraging her. “Open it.”
She pops off the red bow and then tears away the gold wrapping paper, revealing the small black velvet box. Her gaze lifts to mine briefly before she pops the box open.
A gasp escapes her when she spots what’s inside, and she presses her fingers against her mouth. “Where did you find this?”
It’s the very same promise ring I gave her at Christmas during our senior year. It’s small and delicate, and there’s the teeniest, tiniest diamond set in the center. I didn’t want to scare the crap out of her or her parents by giving her a ring with a large stone in it, so I went for discreet. And it worked. She loved it. Her parents didn’t freak out.
Everyone was happy.
“I called your mom and asked her if she knew where it was. And she did,” I explain. “She gave it to me when we were there for Thanksgiving.”