All I Want

Behind her, the rest of the gang cheered loudly and migrated back to the yard, where the wedding reception would carry on, probably late into the night.

Parker slid an arm around her. “They grow up so fast.”

She laughed and turned into him, her breath catching at the sight of him, as it had all night. “Did I ever tell you that the sight of a man in a tux makes me wild?”

He flashed a very wicked smile at that. “How do you feel about a man stripping off his tux?”

“Even better.” She laughed when he nudged her toward the house instead of the party. “We can’t yet,” she said. “We have guests.”

“They’ll never even notice,” he promised.

Inside, the house was dark and quiet. Parker didn’t turn on any lights, leading her by the hand into . . . the kitchen? “Not that I’m complaining,” she said. “But I’m tired. I’m going to need a bed to do my best work—”

He flipped on the light.

Oreo lifted his sleepy head from his bed by the stove. Bonnie and Clyde, both cuddled with him, lifted theirs, too. At the sight of Zoe, the Food-Giver-Outer, they came running and tumbling toward her and she gasped.

Each of the kittens had a ribbon around their neck and from the ribbon hung a sign. Clyde got to her first, and his sign read:

Marry our daddy?

And Bonnie’s read:

Will you . . .

Parker sighed. “The one night that he’s faster than she is . . .”

Zoe turned and threw herself at him, both laughing and crying as she squeezed him tight.

Parker’s arms came hard around her. “Is that a yes?”

Speechless, her chest tight with emotion, she nodded.

Oreo, sensing the escalating excitement, lifted his head and barked.

Zoe laughed through her happy tears and kissed Parker. “Yes,” she said against his lips. “We’ll all marry you.”