“You’re asking, right?” I whisper, my chest tightening with emotion.
“Yeah, babe, I’m asking,” he whispers back. “I don’t wanna rush you, but your floor is kinda hard on my knee.”
I smile a little. “Well, it’s a big decision. I’m gonna have to think on it. You know, it is forever, and forever is a long time, and god knows I can barely get through a day with you sometimes-”
He leaps up, grabbing me around my waist and tackling me onto my sofa amongst all the boxes. I shriek and hold the ring box to my chest.
“Answer the damn question, Jennifer, and stop making everything so difficult!” Sam growls playfully, his eyes still uncertain.
I snake my free hand around the back of his head and pull his face towards mine, pressing my lips against his firmly. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Yes?” he clarifies, looking into my eyes.
I nod a little, smiling. “Yes, Samuel. I will marry you.”
He beams and takes the box from me. His fingers deftly remove the ring from the cushion and he takes my other hand, pausing by my finger. “Are you sure?”
I look at him earnestly, all playfulness gone. “I’ve never been as sure about anything in my life as I am right now.”
The ring slides onto my finger, fitting perfectly, and I stare at it in awe.
“Damn, she was good,” he mutters.
“Who was?” I narrow my eyes.
“Gram.” He smirks. “She picked this ring, and she even got the size right. But that’s a story for another time.” He kisses my finger and flips my hand over, pressing his lips to my palm.
His lips ghost up the inside of my arm, over the strap of my top, and up my neck to my jaw. He cups my cheek with his other hand and pauses, letting out a long sigh.
“For a second there, I was kinda scared you were gonna say no,” he admits.
“Wait – that was an option?”
“Too late,” he mutters, scooping an arm behind my back and another under my ass. He picks me up and I link my legs around his waist, my arms hooked behind his neck.
“It is? Damn,” I tease, holding onto him tighter.
“That’s it.” He starts to move towards my bedroom, fire in his eyes. “I’m gonna take you into that bedroom of yours and keep you there until you take back what you just said.”
“The no part?” I ask hopefully.
“That part exactly.” He shoves my door open.
“Mmm.” I rake fingers through his messy hair. “What exactly are you planning on doing to me, Mr. Edwards?”
“I plan on pinning you to that bed, kissing you senseless, and devouring your body. So exactly what I plan on doing to you for the rest of our lives, the future Mrs. Edwards.”
My stomach muscles clench at the thought. “Is that, er…” I swallow in a desperate attempt to wet my throat. “Is that a promise?”
He drops me on the bed, leaning over me with his hands positioned either side of my head. “Fucking right it’s a promise.”
Epilogue
Five Years Later
JEN
“She got your looks,” Sam mutters, running the pad of his thumb down the cheek of the tiny bundle in my arms.
“It’s been two weeks. Stop buttering me up,” I respond. “I still haven’t forgotten you for that excruciating pain you put me through.”
His brown eyes travel across the baby’s face and up to mine. “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you didn’t look while you were in labour?”
“Did I ever tell you how many ways I can remove and dispose of your favourite body parts?” I batter my eyelashes at him, and smile sweetly.
He grins, the same boyish grin he’s always had, and wipes some of my hair away from my face. “You love them, though, Mrs. Edwards.”
“Bring them anywhere near me right now and I will remove them, Mr. Edwards. And painfully,” I mumble, smiling at the soft feel of his lips against mine. I look down at the little girl snuffling in her blanket, and put my finger against her hand.
Violet’s tiny fingers curl around my finger, holding it in a death grip. She brings it close to her face, and I stroke her cheek with my thumb.
“I still can’t believe we made her,” Sam says in awe.
“I know,” I echo his awe. “Let’s just hope she has my stunning wit and incredible intelligence. God knows the poor thing is stuffed if she gets yours.”
“Will you two ever stop bickering?” Alec asks, ducking as he walks through the door. One year old Dylan is on his shoulders, smacking the top of his head. Alec winces. “Ouch, little guy.” He flips him round to tiny toddler giggles, and a blonde head bobs between his legs. Maisy, Dylan’s twin sister, crawls into the corner of the front room, heading straight towards the toys sitting there. She grabs a baby, hugs her to her chest, and pats her head, saying “aww, baby.”
I smile at the sight of my niece and nephew smiling and happy, and look up at my best friend’s face. She shakes her head.
“It gets worse as they get older. Alec, please stop tipping Dyl upside down. Hes just eaten. You’ll make him sick! Oh, Alec!” She cries, swiping the boy from a laughing Alec.
“He loves it, Princess.” Alec dips his head and kisses her quickly. “You just worry too much.”
“Mmm? I take it you’re the one that will be wiping his sick in fifteen minutes then?”
“Of course,” he says innocently. “When don’t I?”
I smirk at her disapproving look. “Isn’t the easier question to ask “when do you?””
“Hey,” Sam nudges my arm. “I clear up sick.”
“Wiping her chin and cooing at her doesn’t count as wiping up sick.” I smile at him.
“I try.” He shrugs.
“You’ve always been trying, Sam,” Lexy tells him, rubbing a pale Dylan’s back. “You get more trying as we get older.”
Sam grabs an orange from the fruit bowl and throws it at her. Lexy catches it, grinning, and hands it to Dylan who immediately drops it and yells, “Ball!”
“But you don’t get any more mature,” I note, settling Violet in her bouncy chair. I clip her in, sit back, and bounce her gently with my foot.
Sam sits back, slips an arm around my shoulders, and pulls me into him. “None of us have really grown up. We just got older physically. Mentally? We’re still the same crazy bunch that met in Lilac Bay seven years ago.”