“I’ve worked for Dewayne to make extra money so I could pay for that ring. It took several months, but I did it. I loved every damn minute of it too. I wanted you to have the best. I wanted the ring on your finger to tell the world you were mine and I cherished you. But . . . but then your book . . .” He paused and clenched his hands in his lap. “It did fantastic. It was f**king amazing, and I was so damn proud of you. I still am. You blow my mind. But I just . . . I couldn’t ask you to marry me now. Because I didn’t . . . I never wanted you to think . . .” He stopped again and looked at me.

The frustration and fear in his eyes tugged at my heart. I got it now. I understood his worries. Crazy man.

I leaned up and set my coffee cup on the table, then turned my body to face his. Reaching for his face, I held it in my hands and looked into his eyes. “Yes. Yes. A million times yes.” Tears stung my eyes as I said the words, but I kept going. “You are the only man I will ever love. You are the only man I want to spend forever with. You were the first person to love me, and I found that, with your love, I didn’t need anything more. You filled every void in my life. My heart was complete with you. So whatever silly idea you have in your head about the money I’ve made off this book or the books I write in the future, forget them. I don’t think you want me for my money.” I laughed as I said it.

Krit closed his eyes for a second and let out a breath. When he opened them, he frowned again. “Shit. I f**ked this up. I was going to propose to you onstage. I was going to have the crowd hold up lights, and Rick was going to make the place go dark otherwise. Then I was going to get on my knee and tell them all how much I love you while I asked you to be my wife. This,” he said, waving at us sitting on the sofa together, “was not the plan.”

I laughed again, then leaned in and kissed his lips. “As sweet at that sounds, this is better.”

“How is this better?” he asked with a pout.

I pushed the blanket down, reached for the T-shirt of his I was wearing, and removed it. “Because,” I said, crawling over into his lap completely naked, “we can do this.”

Krit’s big hands grabbed my waist, and he muttered a curse before crushing his mouth to mine. I sank down and moaned as his rigid arousal pressed against me. Krit lifted his h*ps to grind against the anxious tingle already starting up inside me.

Threading my hands into his hair, I writhed in his arms as my br**sts brushed against his chest. The pulse between my legs grew more intense with each stroke of Krit’s tongue.

“Fuck, love. You’re soaking my boxers. So damn hot,” he murmured against my lips.

He kissed me like I was some rare savory treat, and I wondered if any woman had ever felt this perfect euphoria or if being owned by Krit Corbin was the only way to experience this.

“Wait. Stop,” Krit said as he broke the kiss.

I didn’t want to wait. I nuzzled his neck and kept his hard length cradled tightly against my needy heat.

“Shit, love. I’m gonna . . . just give me a minute. I need—” He stopped when I began rocking on his lap. “Fuck. Yeah.”

I was suddenly being thrown through the air. Krit pressed me back onto the sofa as his gaze scorched my body while he yanked off his boxers with one hand.

I lifted my leg and threw it over the back of the sofa, opening for him. It only made the flames in his eyes burn brighter. Knowing I had made him turn into this made me quiver with anticipation. I knew how he would make me feel. The blissful wonder he would take me to was addictive. Krit Corbin had managed to make me an addict too. I was as addicted to this man as he was to me.

Instead of grabbing me and plunging into me, he eased over me, his eyes still locked on mine. Then slowly he began to press until he entered me with a gentle stroke. Gasping, I reached over my head and grabbed the armrest.

His eyes dropped for a minute to my chest. The tip of his tongue came out and licked his lips. “Exquisite tits, love. My f**king stunning tits.”

I gasped and heaved a sigh, needing oxygen and knowing it would make them bounce and give his lusty gaze a tease.

Lowering his head, he pulled a nipple into his mouth while he slowly began to slide back out of me. Then, just as he got everything but the tip out, he plunged back inside with a groan that curled my toes. “Love this. Can’t live without it,” he panted, then moved to give my other breast the same attention.

With each luscious rock of his hips, he whispered in my ear how much he loved me. “You’re my girl. I love you. So damn beautiful.”

When he began telling me how precious I was to him, I crashed into the stars, and it felt like I was flying.

Krit

When we’re old and we have to tell the story to our kids and grandkids about how I asked Blythe to marry me, I’ll have to come up with a PG version to share with them. But damn, the x-rated version was so much better.

Blythe’s dark hair was curled around her shoulders and splayed across my chest as she slept in my arms. After I had loved my girl thoroughly on the sofa, I’d picked her up and brought her in here to do it again. We constantly had hot, wild sex where she clawed me and I talked dirty to her. But it wasn’t often I took my time and let her know just how she had changed my life. How loving her was the best damn thing that had ever happened to me.

I decided I liked it. A f**king lot.

She was exhausted now and curled up in my arms. This was a perfection I never wanted to lose. I’d fight my entire life to keep it. Reaching for her left hand, I took the ring in my hand and slipped it onto the delicate finger that I’d sucked on earlier.

Blythe’s eyes fluttered and finally opened. She wasn’t looking at me but at her hand, now displaying the ring I had picked out just for her. Only her.

Grinning, I watched as she held her hand up and tilted her hand, watching the diamond sparkle against the sunlight streaming in through the windows.

She bit her bottom lip, and a smile tugged on her lips when she finally turned her eyes to me. “Yes, yes, yes,” she said, then giggled.

“You already told me yes, love,” I said as I bent my head to kiss her lips.

“I like saying it,” she replied.

I paused. “Really? ’Cause I can think of a lot of things I’d like you to say yes to. Might start testing that theory real soon.”

“Yes,” she repeated.

My life was going to be f**king amazing.

Dewayne and Sienna from Hold On Tight

Dewayne

A sound no man wants to wake up to jerked me out of my sleep. As I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up, the sickening hurl came again. Throwing back the covers, I jumped up and ran to the bathroom to find Sienna holding her hair back as she hugged the toilet.

I moved fast, grabbing a cloth and wetting it while reaching to take Sienna’s hair for her so she could hold the toilet with both hands. I gave the cloth a one-handed squeeze.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked, frustrated that she’d been in here throwing up all alone.

“Don’t. You don’t want to see this,” she said with a groan.

“You’re right I don’t want to see you sick, but I sure as f**k ain’t gonna let you be sick alone.”

She eased away from the toilet. I reached over and flushed, then dropped to my knees and started cleaning her face with the cloth in my hands. She was pale but she had a relieved look in her eyes as she gave me a small smile.

“Thanks. I’m better now. I just woke up and went to make coffee, and when I smelled it, I got sick,” she said, then dropped her eyes as if she couldn’t look at me.

I stood up and reached down to help her get up too. “Let’s get you back to bed. I’ll call Hillary and tell her you won’t be in today.”

She shook her head. “No. I have two colors and some extensions to do today. I’m good. I’ll be fine.”

I dropped the cloth in the laundry basket and took her over to the sink with my arm still around her. “You just threw up, babe. You’re not fine. Go ahead and brush your teeth. Then you can go back to bed. I’ll put a trash can beside the bed. Once I get Micah to school, I’ll let them know I can’t come in today and I’ll be here.”

Sienna had a superwoman syndrome. Being a single mom so young and having no one to help her, she had learned to make it through shit like this alone. I was learning I had to force my hand with her. She would try to keep going when she had a fever. Once the crazy woman had tried to go back to work the day after she’d had her wisdom teeth taken out. No one does that.

“Seriously. I am fine. I . . . I’m good.”

“You are contagious. If you go to work, you’ll get all those people sick. They’d rather not get their hair done today than get your stomach virus. I promise.”

The only way to deal with her was to point out how her decision affected others. She cared about everyone else. She just thought she could fight through anything.

“I’m not,” she argued.

I put the toothpaste on her brush, then handed it to her. “Get the nasty taste out of your mouth. I’ll go buy you a new toothbrush today.” I was done arguing with her.

She took it obediently and brushed her teeth. I filled a cup of water and handed it to her so she could rinse. While she brushed, she kept looking up at me nervously.

Once she was done, she set the glass down. “I’m going to work,” she repeated. “I am fine. It was a . . . I’m not sick. I’m fine now.”

Ignoring her, I put my hand on her back and gently nudged her toward the bedroom. “I had Micah pack his lunchbox last night. It’s ready to go and in the fridge. We got this. Go to bed.”

When we got to the bed, she spun around and titled her head back so she could look me in the eyes. “Dewayne. I’m not sick. . . . I’m pregnant.”

I stood there.

I didn’t have words.

I wasn’t sure if I was actually awake yet.

Sienna was waiting on me to speak. I needed to.

Me not saying anything was going to worry her.

I forced myself to breathe, then managed to form words. “Pregnant?”

She nodded and gave me a nervous smile. “I was late. I took a test last week. I actually took four tests. I am for sure pregnant. I have a doctor’s appointment next week. I thought I would wait until then to tell you. But just like with Micah, I got sick early. I get sick in the mornings. And then only when I smell certain things. Today it was coffee. Tomorrow it may be pancakes. I never know.”

She was pregnant. With my baby. We were going to have a baby. “A baby,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

We had Micah, my nephew, but I hadn’t been there for him when he was a baby. I had missed those years. We all had. My parents. My brother. Me. But now . . . we were going to have a baby.

Emotion clenched my chest, and I felt my throat get tight. Reaching for Sienna, I pulled her to my chest and held on. My heart was beating so damn hard I was afraid it would break free if I didn’t calm down.

But a baby!

Holy hell! I was going to have a baby.

“Does this mean you’re happy about it? I know we aren’t married yet, and we have been planning the wedding and stuff.”

Was I happy about it? Was she crazy? I couldn’t believe she had to ask me that.

“Babe, I’ve not been happier in my life,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. I tucked his face into the curve of her neck and held on.

“We’re gonna have a baby,” I repeated in awe.

Sienna laughed and cupped the back of my head with her hands. “Yeah. We are.”

“Who’s having a baby? Us?” Micah’s sleepy voice asked, and we both jerked. I turned around to see Micah in his Miami Heat pajamas. His hair was sticking up all over, and he was squinting at us like he hadn’t been able to open his eyes fully yet.

Sienna moved around me fast and went to him. She bent down and kissed his cheek. “Good morning, handsome.”

He put his little arms around her and hugged her. “Are we having a baby? Is one in your tummy?” he asked again, his eyes more alert now as he looked at his mother.

This was one of those moments when I had no answer. I wasn’t sure how Micah would take this news. I wanted him to be as excited as I was.

Sienna grabbed his little hands in hers and gave him that smile that was full of love and reassurance. “Yes. We’re going to have a baby. You’ll get to be a big brother. Do you like that idea?”

Micah’s eyes went round. “For real? Can it be a boy? I want to teach him to play basketball, and then he can play in my room.”

Sienna chuckled. “We don’t know what it will be. We don’t get to pick that. If we did, I’d pick a little boy just like you because I love you so much. But whatever we get, we will love it.”

Micah thought about that for a minute, and then he frowned. “Will this baby call you Dad?” he asked me, this time looking thoughtful.

I needed Sienna to bail me out here. I wasn’t sure answering yes to this was what he needed right now. Or if we were supposed to ease him into the fact.

“Yes, the baby will call him Dad.”

Micah didn’t look at his mother when she answered. He kept looking at me. Then he puffed up his chest like he was pulling courage from deep inside. “Can . . . can I call you Dad too?”

I wasn’t a crying man. Tears didn’t come easy for me. But in that moment the room went blurry and I had to blink to clear my vision. Tears pooled at the corners of my eyes and I sniffed. “Yeah, bud. You can call me Dad too,” I managed to choke out.

Sienna glanced back at me, and I knew the surprise on her face wasn’t because I had told Micah yes. It was because a tear was rolling down my face.