Read Tied - Part Four (The Tied Series) Online
Authors: Ellen Callahan
Tied - Part Four (The Tied Series) (10 page)
She was just plain happy, and I was, too. It wasn’t easy - we were both working hard and some nights were too exhausted to do more than blink at each other. But it was all so worth it.
She ran a finger down the center of my chest. “Don’t forget to blow out the candles on the way to bed,” she said.
“Good God, woman,” I said with an exaggerated sigh, ‘You’re going to wear me out.”
“You love it.”
“I love
you
.” I kissed her, and then I lifted her and hauled her toward our bedroom.
But I made her blow out the candles. I’d need to save my breath if I was going to make love to her until I had to leave for work.
“Lockett?” she asked as I lowered her to the bed.
“Yes?”
“Are you happy? I feel bad being this happy when I think that you might not be.”
“Sweetheart, I’m fucking thrilled. You really don’t see that?”
“I just mean because you can’t fight… I know you’ve been watching Braddock’s videos.”
“Yeah, hoping the bastard loses,” I said, then sighed heavily and sat on the edge of the bed. She knelt behind me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “I miss it,” I admitted. “I’ll probably always miss it. It was my thing, you know? But this is so much better.” I turned to meet her eyes over my shoulder. “It wasn’t exactly a viable career option for someone about to become a father, either.”
“I know.” She planted a soft kiss on my temple. “It just seems unfair. It’s been a messed up year, but right now, right here, I’ve got everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
Not quite yet
, I thought, picturing the ring. “I want you to have the same.”
“I’m not a dreamer,” I said. “So what? You’ve got what you always wanted. I’ve got what I never even knew I wanted.”
“And that’s all? There’s nothing else you want?”
I dragged my knuckles across her belly. “I want to name her Chelsea.”
She covered my hand with hers. “And if it’s a boy?”
“I don’t think it is. I’ve got a weird hunch. But if it’s a boy then you pick.” I turned and stretched out on my back. She settled at my side. Her hand traced my abs through my shirt, and I knew she was thinking about going for my belt. I chuckled. “If it’s a boy then I guess we’ll just have to try for a girl later.”
“Oh, God,” she groaned, “Now
you’re
thinking too far ahead.”
Maybe I was, but it felt pretty damn good. And she’d understand, soon. I was certain she would say yes.
Mostly
.
EPILOGUE 2
November
Katherine
“We’re naming it Watermelon.” My mother looked at me like I was crazy. She never could take a joke.
Alexa laughed next to me, though, and Lockett poked my big round belly from my other side.
“I’ve always been partial to Cantaloupe, myself,” Dad said across the table.
Thanksgiving was going oddly well. Maybe it was because Mom was so much more laid back since she’d married Big Mike.
Most likely it was because Lockett commented, “no upsetting the pregnant lady” anytime an argument threatened to break out.
“Be serious, Katherine,” Mom said.
“We’re naming her Chelsea.”
Mom’s eyes went wide. “So that means-”
“It’s a girl,” I confirmed.
The family ooh’d and ahh’d around the room. My aunt’s teenage boys were more interested in the turkey, but everyone else started shooting questions across the table. “What about a middle name? What about your birth plan? What about your job?”
“One thing at a time,” I laughed, blushing. I wasn’t exactly used to being the center of attention. It was nice that everyone cared, though. Even my mother’s normally confrontational brother was behaving himself. Many Thanksgivings had ended early when he and my father got into physical fights, but there was no sign of aggression from either of them this year.
Probably in part because Mom wasn’t baiting them.
Lockett rubbed my back as I answered everyone’s questions as best I could. I’d told him he could go be with his own family for the holiday - we would be continuing Alexa and Mallet’s Second Thanksgiving tradition over the weekend, since Mallet had to stay back in the city with his father and brother. But Lockett insisted on joining us.
“You could pop at any minute,” he’d said when I half-heartedly tried to talk him out of it. Truth was, I was thrilled he was with me.
“So when are you two getting married?” Mom demanded from her seat at the head of the table. Everyone fell silent at her awkward question. She just shot Lockett a smug smile while she waited for an answer.
Some things never change
.
Lockett tilted back in his seat. “I’m not the kind of guy who gets tied down,” he said, returning smug with smug. I could tell by everyone’s expressions that they didn’t like that answer, but too damn bad.
Ask a rude question…
I honestly didn’t know what Lockett thought about marriage, though. That was one of the few unbroached subjects between us. We had enough on our plates as it was, why add another complication?
Though I would have done it in a heartbeat if he asked. That didn’t mean it was the smart thing or the right time.
How about getting this baby out of me, first?
He snuck into my bedroom later that night. Mom had imposed the rule of “no unmarried couples sleeping together under my roof,” which meant Lockett was banished to the couch. But once she was comfortably comatose in her own bed, he tiptoed upstairs and found me still wide awake, reading a book, waiting for him.
“I have something for you,” he said, keeping one hand hidden behind his back as he shut the door.
“Oh gosh, I’m stuffed for once,” I said as I closed my book and set it aside. He was always bringing me little snacks - very sweet of him but very bad for my figure.
“Not edible,” he said. He crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. The boot was gone, finally, but his limp was pronounced. It broke my heart to see him struggle with it - but I was also beginning to notice improvements.
His expression was serious. “Katherine Riley-” he started to say.
I immediately burst into tears.
“Are you serious right now?” he asked, wide-eyed and laughing.
“I’m pregnant, I’m allowed to cry!” I said. And I could absolutely blame the pregnancy - the tears had started before I’d even realized what was happening.
He cleared his throat. “Katherine.” I wiped my eyes with the backs of my hands and smiled through the tears. “I’ve been waiting a long while for the right time. I realized tonight that I don’t want to go another holiday without doing this. And since Second Thanksgiving is coming up so soon…”
He pulled the ring box out from behind his back. Then he crawled up the bed to lay next to my stomach, planting a kiss on the giant round bump. “Marry me?” he asked, reaching for my hand.
I reached for him, choking back sounds that were somewhere between sobs and laughter. I felt him slip the ring on my finger, and I tried to look at it, but my eyes were too full of tears. All I saw was a blur.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“I can’t see it!” I laughed.
Then his lips were on mine, kissing me like our lives depended on it. I took his face between my hands and kissed him back, chanting between breaths, “I love you, I
love
you.” My heart was so full of joy and excitement and passion that I was afraid it would burst from my chest like one giant firework.
His eyes were closed and his cheeks were wet when I finally broke away for air. I loved him so much in that moment that I ached with it. “Stay with me tonight,” I said.
“Nothing could make me leave.”
I pulled his head down to my chest and stroked his hair. He breathed a sigh of contentment. A sigh of happiness, and comfort, and relief. I treasured that sound. For a long time, I’d worried that he wouldn’t or
couldn’t
be happy after his fighting career had been taken from him.
But here he was. And I was overjoyed. So fucking overjoyed I could curse about it, just like he liked to. We’d been through some dark times, he and I, but the future looked endlessly bright.
This was the last part of the four-part series, Tied.
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Ellen’s very first series is available on
Amazon and on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited!
Follow Alexa’s and Mallet’s story:
She's a college grad trying to find herself in NYC; instead she finds him - the cocky MMA fighter with the filthy mouth. One wink is all it takes to turn her world upside down.
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A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Hello, readers and romance fans! Thank you so much for checking out my book - I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!
It’s a tough world out there for an indie writer and there’s a whole lot of competition. If you enjoyed this story, please share it with your friends or leave me some love right there on
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