Page 82 of Kissing Kayley

“Phone tree?”

Vic chuckled. “Failure was not an option today, baby. Either you were going to accept my proposal, or three mommas and the first lady were going to skewer me and roast me over an open fire on the North Lawn and cook marshmallows in the flames.”

I sank onto the edge of the bed. “Does Leo know about all of this?”

Jordan started to answer when someone else knocked on the door. “Yes, he does.” He went to answer it and there stood my rat-bastard big brother in the flesh.

He wore a smugly satisfied grin and Jordan closed the door after him. “Congratulations, sis.”

I let him pull me up for a hug and…

Breathe, Kayley, I told myself.

“This is a stupid question, I know,” I started, “but why the fuck areyouhere?”

“Backup,” Jordan, Vic, and Leo said in unison before they cracked up.

“Vic wanted backup in case you said no,” Leo continued, smirking. “Who better than your psychologist big brother, whohad years of experience wrangling a very stubborn guy who was afraid to commit in the beginning?”

“And who is also an expert in being a fuckup in the relationship department,” Jordan snarked where he was head down over his phone, thumbs flying as he typed.

Some women might have been creeped out by the level of planning that went into this, but…

Yeah.

I wasn’t.

I’d wanted a big family, and now it looked like my wish was granted. “If we don’t use Pecan as our ring bearer, I’ll never forgive you, Jordan.”

His face blanked for a second before he doubled over with laughter. “The first tortoise as a ring bearer! Iloveit!” Pecan was the pet sulcata tortoise of ShaeLynn Samuels’ family.

Vic was smiling, too.

Finally, I was able to shoo Leo and Jordan out. They were apparently joining us for dinner with the First Family. I climbed back into bed and into Vic’s arms. “You’re sneaky,” I said.

He shrugged. “Don’t forget my entire career consisted of extensive and secret over-planning for success, baby. I was leaving absolutely zero to chance.” His smile faded. “Not letting you get away again, sweetheart. We’ll make this work, I promise.”

I stared into his eyes. “And if you fuck up, I can have Ily Bardales ask her husband to send you to a CIA black ops site.”

He snorted. “There is that. Because it’s that or Jordan will kill me.”

I started to laugh until I realized he was serious. And then as I thought about it…

Yeah. He was probably right.

CHAPTER 28

Kayley

Turned out Rawhide Ranch in spring was every bit as gorgeous as it was in summer. When I awakened in bed next to Vic on our second morning there, my butt reminded me of the bruises Vic put there last night in the Dungeon. Probably the only time we’d play in there during this visit unless we used one of the private rooms.

Mostly because I didnotwant my brother to see us playing, and I had no desire to watch him playing, either.

Vic was still sound asleep when I eased myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After I finished, I looked at my rear in the mirror and, yep.

I caught myself smiling and realized this was a good thing.

I damn sure had fun earning them.