Page 15 of Happily Evan After (Dog Tags #5)
chapter
fifteen
Evan
After giving my brother the ass kicking he deserved, I left him with a line of admirers waiting for his autograph and a selfie. Okay, I didn’t actually give him a beat down, I just tweaked his nipple really hard. It’s how he always got me to relent to things when we were little.
Then I convinced Marley to take the rest of the afternoon off with her staff understanding they could only call her in an extreme emergency. She’s left me waiting on her couch while she went upstairs to change out of her scrubs.
She loves me. And even more than that, she accepts that I love her.
On the drive here, she told me about growing up without a dad.
Her mom had done her best, but struggled with depression.
Didn’t sound like she’d been the kind of mom Marley had wanted or needed.
I reminded her that we all have pasts. We all have hurts and wounds from childhood and anything else we’ve endured over the years.
All of those battles just prepare us for something ahead. Maybe it’s something we’ll experience ourselves, or maybe it’s just something we can walk through with a friend. But nothing from our past dictates our future. Nothing is ever so set in stone that we can’t take a risk.
I’m betting it all on a future with Marley. I know we’ll withstand everything life throws at us. And we’ll only love deeper and be stronger when we come out on the other side.
A mew gets my attention, and I look down to see three sets of feline eyeballs staring at me.
“Well, hello there. She mentioned to me last night that she had three cats, but y’all were hiding. Probably the noises I made your mama make, huh? Wish I could be sorry about that, but I can’t.”
The fluffiest of the three mews back at me, then jumps directly into my lap. She spins in two circles, then settles down. Her purr is loud when it starts, and it makes me laugh. “Guess you don’t mind me too much?” I stroke the soft fur on the cat’s back. The purring only intensifies.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Marley says from the base of the staircase.
“What?” I ask.
“Ambrosia?” she calls.
“I’m assuming this is Ambrosia?” I point to the creature curled up on my lap.
“Yes. The traitor. She doesn’t like anyone. She barely tolerates me.” Marley sits on the couch next to me, and immediately, the other two are clamoring for spots on her lap.
Ambrosia starts purring again.
I stroke the cat and give my girl a naughty grin. “Clearly Ambrosia knows how good I am with kitties.”
Marley sucks in a breath, then attempts to cover the ears of the cats in her lap. “You can’t dirty talk in front of the babies.”
“Is that a rule?” I ask.
“Well, maybe not a hard and fast rule.”
“Hard and fast, huh? Are you putting in an order for later?”
She laughs. “You are ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously in love with you,” I say.
She leans over and gives me a kiss. “I love you too and I’m so damn happy right now.”
“But?” I ask.
“But, I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to fall. You seem way too good to be true.”
“Okay, first of all, there is not other shoe. Nothing is dropping. Except me on my knees later.” I waggle my eyebrows at her. “But I am not too good to be true. Have you seen the ass hat that is my brother?”
That makes her laugh.
I catch her face and tilt her to look at me. “I am not going anywhere. I will catch any and all shoes and put them away accordingly. You are the love of my life and I am so ready to be an old married dude with a pregnant wife.”
“Is that a proposal?” she asks.
“Dimples, if you remember correctly, I proposed the night we met.”
She smiles. “You did, didn’t you?”
I nod. “And you never answered.”
“Maybe I have to think about it.”
“Do you?”
She shakes her head. “I already know my answer. Yes, I’ll marry you, Evan Cartwright. But I reserve the right to kick your ass hat of a brother in the shin.”
“You can do it every year on our anniversary if you want.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
***
I hope you loved Evan and Marley’s story. Please consider leaving me a review .
Pre-order the next Dog Tags book, coming next month, Ready, Willing and Abel.
Read the other books in the Dog Tags seres:
Jack of Hearts
Fools Rush Flynn
Quid Pro Beau
Love ‘em or Liam
Grab Redeem My Heart if you want to see where Great Dane’s Dog Sanctuary started.
Keep scrolling for an excerpt from another book from Saddle Creek, TX, Dad Bod Cowboy