Two Weeks Later…

“Coffee?” Ricky set a mug down on the nightstand in Vikki’s bedroom.

She threw the pillow over her head. “Just five more minutes.”

He pulled the covers down and swatted at her ass. “You said that fifteen minutes ago.” He reached for the pillow and tugged. “Do you need some help?” Climbing onto the bed, he straddled her legs. “Maybe this?” Then he slid his hand over her behind and down farther.

She gasped and threw the pillow off the bed. “Oh, my God, I’m awake.”

“Works every time.” He chuckled, backing up to get off the bed.

She grabbed his hand and made him fall flat on his face into the covers. “Where are you going?”

“To make breakfast,” he said in a muffled voice.

“Um, you can’t do that and then leave.” Vikki rolled him over and climbed onto his body. “You have to finish what you started.”

“I do, huh?” Right as he was about to touch her inappropriately, the phone rang. Vikki reached for his phone and handed it to him. “Yeah? Uh huh. Okay.” He hit End and threw the phone off the bed. “Now, where were we?”

She giggled. “Who was that?”

“Miles. Just checking in regarding the gig at The Flying Monkey tonight.” He moved his fingers up her thighs and brushed his thumbs over her red curls. “That’s not till eight tonight. We have all day.”

Vikki leaned her body back to give him more access. “You have all day. I have to go shopping.”

Ricky moved one thumb down farther and made small circular strokes. “Shopping?”

She moaned. “Did I say shopping?”

He chuckled and pushed her back onto the bed. “It may have come up.” He bent down and kissed the side of her neck. Then he dragged his tongue down, making a path all the way to her nipple. Stopping, he looked up. Her eyes were closed, her head was bent back, and her torso was raised up. Ricky watched her chest rise up and down at an increased speed. Without warning he bent and bit down on her nipple, causing her to cry out.

Since they were given the green light to go home and live life normally, he’d stayed at Vikki’s house every single night. They had sex when they woke up, and they had sex before they went to sleep. Ricky couldn’t get enough of her or her delicious body.

He let up the pressure on her one nipple and moved over to the other side. The moment he gave her other nipple equal attention, she slid her hand down obviously needing a release. He loved watching her pleasure herself. Vikki had her behind raised and was moving her fingers up and down at fast pace. He made a path with his tongue down to her heated flesh and kissed her lightly, and then he placed two fingers deep inside. They both moved together working to give her the perfect morning orgasm.

“Fuck,” Vikki cried out. She increased the speed of her fingers some more and tapped hard on her clitoris. Ricky knew she was close, so he matched the speed. “Fuck, yes, yes.” She sat up and fisted her hands in his hair. “Dammit, you make me feel so good.”

He still had his fingers deep inside her. “I do, eh?” Then he moved them up and down slightly.

Vikki spread her legs farther apart and brought her knees up. “I don’t know, music man. Maybe you need to explore some more.”

He quickly pulled his fingers out. “I don’t know. I have a lot to do today.”

She pushed his head down. “I know you do and it all involves me.”

Ricky loved this woman. He looked up at her.

“What? You have this look.”

“Marry me?”

“What?”

“Marry me?”

She closed her legs and crawled off the bed to grab a T-shirt. “Ricky, have you had your coffee yet?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He sat up.

“You get weird when you haven’t had your coffee.”

“I’m being weird?” He felt hurt by her words. “Asking you to marry me is being weird?”

She stammered for a moment. “No, I mean.”

“I need to go meet up with Miles to practice for the show tonight.”

“Ricky, wait.” Vikki stepped forward and reached for his arm.

“It’s okay.” He bent down and kissed her temple. “I’ll see you later at the show.”

* * *

“Well, insert foot moment happened over here.” Vikki plopped down on the bed and crossed her legs into a sitting position after calling Preslie.

“Oh, no. What this time?” Preslie said almost out of breath.

“Is this a bad time?”

“No. Jack is chasing the twins around, Gracie is scaring the cat, and I still need to make my coffee.”

“Sounds like a normal morning at the Callahan house.”

“Yeah, pretty much. What happened?”

“Ricky asked me to marry him.” Vikki heard a loud crash. “Are you okay?”

“What did you just say?”

“Is it safe to say it again?”

“Vikki.”

“Ricky asked me to marry him.”

“And what did you say?”

She proceeded to share what happened. “I mean, Pres, he was down in no man’s land, making my morning start off perfectly. I just figured it was a joke.”

“Oh, honey.” Preslie sighed. “Sex or no sex, that was a big deal.”

She fell back onto the bed. “I suck.”

“You don’t suck.”

“I need to fix this.” Then she suddenly had an idea. “Is Miles still home?”

“No, he already left for the studio. Why?”

“Can I come over?”

“Like you have to ask.”

Vikki hit End, popped up, and ran into the bathroom to take a shower. She closed her eyes and leaned forward to put her face into the water. Just as she was about to rub her hands through her hair, warm arms encircled around her body. She screamed so loud and jumped away from the touch.

“Vikki, it’s me.”

She had her hand to her chest. “Ricky, why would you think that’s okay?”

He had his hands up. “I left upset. I knew that wasn’t the way I wanted to start my day.”

Vikki scowled. “You still have your clothes on?”

“Yeah, as you can see I didn’t think this through.”

“Ricky, I…”

He stepped closer. “No, let me go first.” She reached her hands forward to unzip his jacket. “I wasn’t thinking straight and should’ve waited.”

Vikki slid his jacket over his shoulders. “I guess a little warning of some kind would’ve helped.”

“There was something about that moment.”

“I love that my girl parts make you not think straight.”

“She just makes me crazy every time.”

“Yeah, does she?” Vikki burst out laughing and pushed him up against the shower wall. “Ricky?”

“I should shut up and get my clothes off, eh?”

“Pretty much.”

* * *

Vikki spent the afternoon at Preslie’s house devising a plan. She wanted to ask Ricky to marry her on the stage at The Flying Monkey. Earlier when he’d asked her to marry him, it took her by surprise. Then she took the time to think about it and found the only answer that popped in her mind was, yes. After all they’d experienced together, she realized life was too short. She knew Ricky was the only one for her, and spending the rest of her life in his arms sounded amazing.

Vikki sauntered into the bar in her three-inch heels and long curls flowing around her shoulders. “Hey, hot stuff.” She rubbed her hands down Ricky’s back and wrapped them around his waist.

“Kitten, you’re…” he said, stopping in mid-sentence as he turned to face her.

“What? Too much?” She looked down at her dress and back at him.

“No. Quite the opposite. It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”

“Music man, I love the way you make me feel.”

“That includes your girl parts, too, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Honey, she probably loves you more than me.”

“What about you? Do you love me?”

Vikki slid her fingers down the side of his face. “So much.”

“Good, because I love you too damn much to stop now.”

She felt a little nervous at the thought of what she wanted to do. Men didn’t always have to be the ones who proposed. Women should be able to confess their love in a crazy way, too.

Torn Pieces was on at eight. Miles let her know earlier they had six songs to play. She worked out a plan to go up on the last song and join in with the backup singers. Vikki even sent a text to Andrea asking if it was okay to join in on the last song.

Only Miles, Andrea, and Preslie knew what Vikki had up her sleeve for the evening. She decided on the short black dress that had spaghetti straps and clung to her every curve because Ricky had picked it out several weeks ago on her favorite website. He had not seen it on her until tonight. Preslie insisted she leave her hair down which ended up being the best decision.

At nine twenty-five she walked up on the stage and joined Andrea. Ricky watched her with a curious look on his face. Vikki touched his chest and went to stand in between Andrea and the girls. The last song they played was written by Miles called, “Falling Deep Into You.” When Miles sang the last note, he paused for a beat and then asked the house to bring up the lights. Then he stepped away from the mic, which was Vikki’s cue to take over. The moment she stepped forward, Ricky looked confused; he always had this cute little indent that appeared in the center of his forehead.

Miles helped move the mic down. Vikki leaned up and kissed him on the check. “Thanks, hon.” She cleared her throat. “Give it up for Torn Pieces, right?” The crowd roared. “So, are you all wondering why I am standing here?”

Several people in the audience yelled, “Yes.”

Then one guy yelled, “Take it off.”

Vikki rolled her eyes. “Baby, not even on your best day.” Everyone laughed. “Listen, I decided to do something wacky. I’m going to play opposites tonight. You all cool with playing along?” The crowd went crazy. “Good. So…” She turned to face Ricky.

He whispered. “What are you doing?”

“My music man helped start the band with Miles how many years ago now?”

“Close to thirty years,” Ricky said, undoing the strap on his guitar and handing it to a stage hand.

“Wow, I bet many of you have been watching them for the whole thirty years.” She felt her heart beating and was trying to find the courage to just go for it. Vikki looked out into the audience and noticed Preslie standing. Her best friend gave her the biggest smile. Somehow that was all she needed. She bent down carefully pushed the strap off the heel of each of her shoes. Then she walked over and grabbed a step stool and placed it in front of Ricky.

“You’re not going to sing to me are you?”

“Oh, God no. I wouldn’t subject you all to that torture.” She looked over at the audience. “I promise, no singing from these lips.” She reached out her hands. “Can you help me up?” Vikki was just over a foot shorter than Ricky. “So”—she grabbed his hands—“I know you are supposed to get on one knee and all.”

His eyes went wide. “Vikki.”

“But me getting down in this dress would be hilarious. Well…” She looked at the audience. “It would probably be more fun watching me get up. We can blame him for the dress issue.”

“Me? Wait, is this the one I picked out?”

“The very one.” Vikki carefully turned in a circle on the stool. Once she was facing him again, she reached her hand into her dress. “Yes, girls really do hide things in our boobs.” The room erupted in laughter. Then she pulled out a small black velvet box. “After a thing that happened.” She pointed to the audience. “Not everything is public knowledge.” Vikki held up her hand. “Music man gave me this gorgeous Claddagh ring.” She placed her hand on her chest. “I haven’t taken it off since that day.”

“It was my Grandma’s ring.”

“Shut up.”

“Okay.” He chuckled.

“Ricky, Miles never told me how special it was to you.”

“I never told him.”

“Well, that makes this moment even better.”

“What is this moment?”

“Ricky, I should’ve said yes the first time.” Vikki opened the velvet box. “So this time I want to ask. Will you marry me?” In the box was a matching Claddagh ring. “I had the jeweler match one with mine.”

“When did you do this?”

“Well, confession, about two weeks ago.”

“When we finally got home. You knew then?”

“I knew the night you saved me. I will never forget how your voice made me feel after all that happened.” It felt like the room was empty, and they were the only two people filling the space. “I’m sorry for missing my opportunity earlier.”

“So, you decided to tell everyone at the show instead.”

“I figured neither of us could run or say no.”

“Face the fear, eh?”

“Exactly.”

Someone in the audience yelled, “So, yes or no?”

Vikki held up the box and shook it a little. “They are anxious to know.”

“Oh fuck yeah, one hundred percent yes.” She slid the ring down his finger. “How did you know which size to get?”

“Miles and Preslie helped me.”

“You thought of everything.”

“We have one more thing to do.”

“Get married?”

“Well, yeah silly. I was thinking about some crazy deserted island.”