And Mike had just told Dusty that when she was ready to try for a baby he was ready to talk about it.

He was on his back. She was pressed to his side but her torso was angled up and she was looking down at him.

“In what state?” he asked.

“This is a big day for you,” she said quietly.

“How’s that?”

“No turned seventeen. This is on the heels of all that’s gone down with Rees. They’re getting older and fast. That’s gonna make you feel –”

Before she said something that might piss him off, he did an ab curl, rolling into her and switching their positions, taking her to her back. At the same time, he lifted a hand and cupped her jaw, his thumb resting lightly on her lips.

“Stop right there, darlin’,” he ordered softly. “Yeah, I’ll admit, comin’ home tonight, I felt what you’re sayin’. But comin’ home tonight, I also heard Adriana laughin’, I saw you with her and I liked what I saw. I’m not sayin’ you need to go off the pill tomorrow. I’m sayin’ I know you want this, seein’ you with Adriana it’s come to my understanding I want this with you so when you’re ready, we’ll talk so we can plan.”

Her eyes were wide and her lips moved against his thumb so he slid it away while she said, “You want this with me?”

“Yeah.”

“So it’s not just you giving me what I want, it’s you wanting it too?”

He grinned and repeated, “Yeah.”

She studied him closely and asked softly, “Sure?”

He dipped his head and against her lips whispered, “Yeah.”

Her arms slid around him and he felt her lips smile against his while he watched up close her eyes doing the same.

He brushed his mouth against hers and lifted his head away an inch as she held his eyes and whispered back, “Then we need to plan.”

She wanted a kid and she wanted to start now. He wasn’t surprised. Dusty knew what she wanted and when she did she wasn’t one to f**k around.

“Right,” he replied gently. “Then this is the thing. I want more time just you and me. Not years but some time. And I’m not plantin’ a baby in you if you aren’t wearin’ my rings and don’t have my name so our baby has our name.”

Her eyebrows drew together and she told him, “Our baby would have your name anyway.”

“That’s not what I said. We bring a kid into this world, our baby will have our name.”

Her brow relaxed but her teeth bit her upper lip for a second.

Mike did not take that as a good sign and he’d know why when she stated, “I was, um…so you’re talking marriage?”

Fuck.

“Uh…yeah. That is the next step, Angel.”

Her face went soft and she whispered, “Right. I like that.”

“Well, good,” Mike muttered and her lips twitched.

“But, the thing is, I was thinking of keeping my name. I kinda like it but also in my business I’m known by it.”

“I don’t care what you need to do for you, for the rest of the world, for your business. In this ‘Burg, this house and for our family, you’ll be a Haines.”

Her brows drew together again. “What?”

“Women use two names all the time. One for business, one for personal and family shit. You need to be a Holliday for business and out there in the world, fine. Whatever you need. In this house, in this ‘Burg and with our family, you’re a Haines.”

She held his eyes then she said quietly, “I could do that.”

He was glad since she didn’t have a choice.

He didn’t inform her of that.

“Good,” he muttered again.

She grinned.

Then her grin faded but her gaze on him grew warm and intense when she whispered, “Are you asking me to marry you, honey?”

“No, I’m tellin’ you by the end of this year you’ll be wearing my rings, bearing my name and, probably, pregnant with my baby.”

Her gaze was no less warm and intense but her lips twitched again.

“So you said we’d plan but actually what you meant was that you already have it planned.”

“Yep,” he agreed.

He felt her body start shaking against his.

“You got a problem with any of that?” he asked.

She shook her head and forced out a vibrating with humor, “No.”

“Good,” Mike muttered.

One of her arms disengaged from around him, her hand sliding around his lat, in, up his chest to curl around his neck and even as she chuckled she lifted up and touched her mouth to his.

When she fell back to the pillows, her fingers at his neck gave him a squeeze and her humor was gone but the warmth remained.

“I love you, babe,” she whispered.

“Love you too, Angel,” Mike whispered back.

“Now I need my nightie and panties and you need to go get Layla from No.”

Mike nodded, bent his neck, kissed her throat and rolled away. Then he grabbed her nightie and undies and handed them to her. As she was shimmying them on, he tugged up his pajamas.

Then he went to get his dog.

Then he closed them in and, like every night, the three of them fell asleep in the six thousand dollar bed he’d f**king hated for years but for the last two months he f**king loved.

*

Thursday early evening…

Mike walked into Mimi’s and, to his surprise, he saw Audrey sitting at the back corner table. She had a mug of coffee in front of her and that was it. No white bag. No coffee for him. No sitting at a window to show to anyone who passed they were having a sit down.

He strode directly to her. She’d seen him arrive and she’d gone for her purse right after. She was digging through it when he made it to the table.

Out of habit, his eyes went to the words scratched into the table he’d seen time and again. Feb’s Spot, sit here and die. Before Colt and Feb reunited, Colt’s wife spent a lot of time here and she sat at that table. Mimi’s kids were terrors, they loved their Aunt Feb and they went about making sure she always had her favorite spot. Mike thought it was hilarious. He doubted Mimi felt the same but still, it had been years and she’d never replaced that table or sanded it out.

Mike pulled out the chair opposite Audrey and folded into it.

Her eyes went from her purse to him.

“Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey,” she greeted back, put a rectangular piece of paper on the table and slid it to him. “I know you’re busy. So you can just take that. It’s for Rees’s school.”