Caleb’s eyes scanned the crowd around us nervously. “No, I haven’t lost my mind, but if you keep shrieking like that, everyone around us is going to think you have.”

I narrowed my eyes in a murderous glare. “Careful, Caleb. I haven’t exactly been in control of my emotions lately. I’m liable to slap the shit out of you if you piss me off.”

He pulled in air through his nose, making a face like he was searching for patience. “Will you just hear me out?”

“No, I won’t. Because it’s a terrible idea.”

“It’s perfectly reasonable,” he grunted angrily.

“I’m not marrying you,” I declared.

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not!”

“You’re already having my baby. We’re already living together. It’s the next logical step.”

“Oh, how romantic!” I exclaimed snottily. “Just the kind of proposal every woman dreams of.”

It was his turn to glare. “Well maybe if you weren’t such a sarcastic pain in my ass, I would have taken the time to put a little more effort into it.”

That did it. My hand was flying through the air before I gave it a single thought. The crack of my palm against his cheek echoed through the ballroom like a gunshot.

I hadn’t even planned to slap him. It just happened. What was it with my friends and me hitting people!

I was sure the look of shock on my face mirrored his perfectly, but I didn’t hang around long enough to find out. Turning on my heels, I stormed off the floor and out of the ballroom.

“Holy shit. Holyshitholyshitholyshit. I can’t believe I just did that,” I muttered to myself as I speed-walked toward the nearest exit.

I let out a startled yelp when a hand clamped down on my arm and spun me around just feet from the door. Caleb looked ready to spit fire. “Oh no you don’t. You aren’t running out on me. Not after that.”

“Look,” I started quickly. “I’m sorry I hit you. I honestly didn’t mean to. I don’t know what came over me—”

“I don’t give a shit about you hitting me. What I want to know is why the fuck you won’t marry me.”

“Don’t you get it?” I cried, throwing my hands in the air. “I told you I love you, Caleb, and I meant it. But I can’t marry you just because you feel obligated! That’s something my mother would do. She’d get pregnant just to trap a man for his paycheck, and I swore I would never, ever turn into my mother. I already screwed the pooch on that one by getting pregnant. I’m not going to make it even worse by tying myself to a man who doesn’t want to be tied to me!”

He stepped closer, crowding me. “Who says I don’t want to be tied to you?”

Crap. I was going to cry again. “Oh please,” I laughed humorlessly. “You haven’t touched me in over a month. You treat me like I’m nothing more than a roommate to you. And I get it. I screwed up. I understand that you can’t forgive me, but—”

“You think I don’t want you?” he asked in bewilderment. “Have you lost your mind? I’ve walked around that goddamn house for the past month with a constant hard-on!”

“Then why won’t you touch me?” I shouted.

“Because I’ve been so fucking scared of doing something that’ll piss you off and make you realize that I’m not good enough for you!”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”

We were officially yelling our argument at the top of our lungs, but neither of us seemed to care.

“It’s not stupid! I know how much you hate it when we fight!”

“I miss our fighting, you idiot! I want you to fight with me! I can’t stand walking around on eggshells for one more fucking second! I miss how we used to be, because at least then we were passionate about each other!”

“Oh, you want passion?”

“Yes!”

We clashed together just like we did in the past, biting and clawing, attacking each other like rabid animals. It was pure, unadulterated bliss.

“God, I’ve missed you,” I panted as yanked at his bow tie.

“Fuck, baby. I’ve missed you too. So fucking much.” He hiked my dress up and lifted me off the ground. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I held on for dear life, licking and nipping at his neck as he moved. The faint sound of a door clicking shut penetrated my senses just before my back hit a wall. I briefly opened my eyes and noticed that Caleb had somehow managed to locate the coat check room for a bit of privacy. Bless him.

“Let’s promise each other that we’ll always fight as long as we get to make up like this.”

“Promise,” I breathed as I pulled at the buttons of his shirt. I needed to feel his skin against mine. Sleeping in the same bed as him night after night and not being able to feel him had been a form of torture.

“And I want you to say you’ll marry me.” I tried pulling my head back, but he fisted my hair and held me in place as he feasted on the upper swells of my breasts. “And not just because you’re having my baby but because you love me, and I love you.”

That black hole in my chest shriveled and shrank until it disappeared altogether. I yanked his hair, pulling his head back until I could look into his eyes. “You love me?” I asked on a whisper, feeling the telltale sting of tears. Goddamn pregnancy hormones.

“I’m so in love with you I can’t see straight, sweetheart. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I don’t want a fling. I want so many strings attaching you to me that you’ll never untangle them. I want you to marry me.”

“Caleb, I—”

The door to the coat room came crashing open, and all our friends—every single one of them—crowded into the doorway.

“You’re pregnant?” Lola screeched.

I turned bewildered eyes to Caleb. “You told her?”

“No!” Lola shouted. “I had to find out from Sophia!”

My accusatory gaze landed on Fiona. “You told them?”

Her hands went up in surrender. “I didn’t tell anyone anything!”

“She knew before me?” Sophia yelled.

“Who told you?” Caleb asked.

“I found out from Dominic.”

“And I heard from Grayson,” Dominic chimed in.

Caleb skewered Gray with an evil look. “Jesus, man. Can you keep a secret for more than two seconds?”

“Hey.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “You said it yourself, we’re all nosey bastards. Did you really expect anything less?”

Lola butted into the conversation, shoving her new husband out of the way. “So it’s true? You’re really having a baby?”

I nodded tentatively. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner. I’m a terrible frie—”

She and Sophia let out ear-piercing shrieks of delight as they pulled me away from Caleb and wrapped me in a tight hug. Thank god we hadn’t gotten to the stage where some very private parts had come out to play yet. “Oh, who cares that you didn’t tell us sooner! We can give you shit about that later,” Sophia chirped. “You’re having a baby!”

Fiona joined our huddle and the four of us bounced up and down happily until all the movement caused my little bean to revolt.

“Oh. No. Nope. No more of that,” I said, placing a hand on my belly. “She’s not liking that.”

“She?” Fiona cried.

I smiled a bright, beaming smile at my friends before moving to Caleb’s side and wrapping an arm around his waist. He slung one over my shoulders and pulled me even closer. “Yeah,” I answered, happier than I ever thought possible. “We’re having a little girl. We just found out a few days ago.”

I thought my girls were going to burst into tears as Grayson, Dominic, and Deacon offered Caleb pats on the back.

“Oh. And we’re getting married,” Caleb announced casually.

“We didn’t agree to that!” I announced loudly, holding up my hands before the three women had a chance to lose their minds again.

Caleb’s arm around me tightened, drawing my attention to his handsome, smiling face. “Maybe not, but I’ll wear you down eventually.”

I had a sneaking suspicion he was right about that.