Dalton
Three months later.
Saturday mornings used to be a solitary time for me. Looking back on them, they’re now a blur of hangovers and childish smugness. The things that made me feel good before Penny now seem inconsequential.
After a morning of what, if I may say so myself, was pretty adventurous sexual feats on a swing I installed in our bedroom, Penny and I are almost too relaxed to speak. I’m cooking eggs. She’s pouring coffee.
I turn and smile when she bends over the kitchen table. I’ll never tire of her perfect ass beneath cotton pajamas. I see our beginning, the wonder of our present, and our future lifetime together right there in that view.
She turns and catches me staring at her ass. One of her beautiful eyebrows lifts just enough for me to know that my thoughts are evident on my face—and in my tented lounge pants. I draw my shoulders back, puffing out my chest. No words are necessary to flirt with someone who knows me as well as she does.
I can almost hear her teasing that I’m incorrigible.
The smile she flashes tells me she knows I know she loves it. She sits down. I place a plate of eggs in front of her then place two more plates on the table.
I give her a slow, lingering kiss and say, “I have something for you.”
Her eyes drop to my flagpoled cock then fly up to meet mine. “Kylie will be here any minute.”
“Ignore him,” I say with a dismissive wave at my cock. “He’s always like that around you. I’ll be right back.”
Her laughter echoes as I rush out of the room. I’m back in a flash with a small box I’ve been carrying around for days. I stand beside her chair and drop down to one knee while flipping the small box open. A flawless princess-cut diamond glitters brightly from the ring I designed. “Penny, when I met you I thought you didn’t belong in this building or in my life. I thought I had everything exactly the way I wanted it. I didn’t realize how much I had closed myself off. You came in, shook me up, turned my whole life upside down—and I hope our journey has been as good for you as it has been for me, because I cannot imagine a me without a you.”
Tears fill her eyes but she is smiling. “You really were an ass in the beginning.”
I laugh and my eyes mist up as I imagine briefly how easily I could have lost her. I jokingly shake my head sadly and begin to close the box. “I don’t suppose you want this then.”
“Don’t you dare close that.” She makes a grab for the box. I stand and hold it just beyond her reach.
“Too late.” I sidestep so the table is between us. “I’m heartbroken, but I think I can get a full refund for it.”
“Your heart isn’t what will be broken if you don’t hand over that ring.” She steps toward me. I step away again.
I laugh, keeping the table between us by circling it as she does. “Sorry, you had your chance to say yes.”
She starts after me again. Damn she’s fast. I could outpace her, but I’m laughing too hard. She grabs the edge of my T-shirt. I slow and let her have the win. She plants a hand smack dab in the middle of my chest.
The laughter falls away, and I barely breathe because she is looking at me with such love and wonder in her eyes. Her hair is wild, breaking free from her ponytail. Her chest is heaving beneath a modest pajama top. I’ve never seen her more beautiful. “I want to make sure you’re ready. It’s okay if you aren’t. I love living with you. I don’t want you to feel pressured to take the next step.”
I pull her into my arms. “I’m sorry; you didn’t hear all that romantic crap I spouted a moment ago?”
She frames my face with her hands. “I did.”
“Do I say shit I don’t mean?”
“You don’t.” She cocked her head to one side. “Do you think it’ll mean we have to move? I know Christen rewrote our lease to let me stay here, but this is a whole other level.”
“I love you, Penny. I don’t care about this building anymore. I’ll move tomorrow if you say you want to, but something tells me you want to be next to Kylie.”
Penny wraps her arms around me and hugs me tightly. “Dalton, I thought I knew what love was before I met you. I didn’t. I do want to be next to Kylie, at least until we’re sure the trouble here is over. But I can’t imagine a me without a you, either. I love you so much. Put the damn ring on my finger and kiss me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I do as she says. As it often happens with us, one kiss leads to two. I can’t get enough of her, and she becomes just as frenzied. I lift her so she is straddling my waist and back her against the table, sending the eggs to the floor. I don’t care.
A loud knock on our door gives us little time to right ourselves before it opens and Kylie walks in. I lower Penny to the floor and adjust my clothing.
Straight-faced, Kylie takes a few steps into the apartment. She looks at the eggs all over the floor and the expressions on our faces. “Should I come back?”
“No.” Penny rushes over to her and holds up her left hand. “We’re engaged!”
Kylie hugs Penny then nods at me in approval. I’d walk over and hug her, but I need a little time to rev down from what was interrupted. I nod back.
Kylie looks us over again. “Why don’t we celebrate over dinner?”
Penny looks from Kylie to me. “I’d like that. I’d love to invite the rest of the family, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet.”
I hug Penny to my side. “We’ll plan something soon. I’m looking forward to meeting your mother.”
Kylie barks out a laugh. “Dalton, you’re a good man, but you’re an awful liar.”
I square my shoulders. “I intend to be her favorite son-in-law.”
“You’ll be her only son-in-law,” Penny says.
I shrug. “Until Kylie takes the plunge.”
“Not going to happen,” Kylie says emphatically. “But I will leave you two lovebirds to finish whatever sent my breakfast to the floor.”
Penny and I exchange a guilty, sexually charged look.
“Yeah,” Kylie continues, “listen, while we’re in this awkward place anyway, can I ask you for a favor?”
“Okay,” I say slowly.
“Please swap your office and bedroom. I don’t know what the two of you crazy monkeys do at two a.m., but I can’t sleep through it.”
Penny blushes.
I laugh.
“Done,” I say.
Kylie waves and leaves.
I have my arms back around Penny, but this time I’m simply savoring the feel of her against me.
“Maybe we should move,” Penny mumbles against my chest.
“Or we could tone things down.” I’d hate to, but I have a new appreciation for family and the place they could play in our lives.
Penny tips her head back so she can look me in the eye. “Nah. But we could swap the rooms.”
We both burst out laughing.
Although I quelled most of the trouble at the Bachelor Tower, Penny’s sister can ruffle feathers as fast as I can smooth them. I wouldn’t feel right about leaving her on her own yet.
My life has become complicated and messy, but I wouldn’t trade a moment of it. I pick Penny up, toss her over my shoulder and carry her to our home office.
She pulls back the waistband of my pants and gives my ass a loud slap.
And it’s better than my fantasy—it’s my forever.
THE END
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