Page 29 of Need (Men of Inked Sinners #3)

LULU

Six Months Later

The waves lap against the sand as the sun moves lower in the sky, hovering above the horizon. “This is paradise,” I say, closing my eyes to feel the warmth of the last rays of the day.

“I can’t imagine every day being like this,” Oliver says on the blanket next to me.

“We can come down here whenever we want. It’s one of the perks of having family here.”

“Maybe we should become snowbirds.”

I turn my head, letting my gaze linger on his tanned skin for far too long. “You want to get a place here?”

He pushes his sunglasses onto his head as he sits up, resting his weight on his elbows. “Something small, maybe. ”

“I like that idea, but are you sure? Winter is big business for you in Chicago.”

“Liam’s there, and we can hire someone to take my place when I’m out of town.”

My smile widens because maybe we can pull this off. I’ve changed how I run my business since the incident with Mark.

I hired two employees and always have one of them with me when I’m working. No one is ever alone, so there’s no chance of something like that happening again. Well, not no chance, but it wouldn’t be as easy with another person in tow.

“The girls can handle the work while I’m gone too. Maybe we don’t stay all winter, but we can pop down here for a few weeks at a time to warm our bones.”

“I’m getting too old for the cold,” Oliver says.

I roll onto my side and push myself up to straddle him. His hands find my thighs as I settle on top of him, pressing my middle to his. “You’re not old, baby. You’re well seasoned.”

He chuckles, the vibration sending a spark through my body. “You like the splashes of gray, don’t you?”

My fingers find the white hairs in his beard, toying with the strands. “It’s distinguished.”

“My girl,” he whispers, his rough fingertips skating over my skin, sending goose bumps across my skin, which should be impossible in the oppressive Florida heat.

“I’m her.”

“Mine. Only mine,” he says as he pushes himself up to sitting, taking me with him.

I wrap my arms around his shoulders, hanging on as he shifts us to find a comfortable position. “I don’t know what I did to get so lucky,” I whisper against his lips as my gaze searches his.

“Lucky? You have a lack of self-preservation I had to keep saving you from.”

“You are my hero. You know that.”

“I know, and there’s nothing else I’d want to be,” he whispers back.

I press my mouth to his as the sun warms my skin. The only thing hotter is his palm against my back, holding me to him like a tether.

He pulls away, breaking the most perfect kiss. “Lulu.”

“Yeah?” I ask as my eyes flutter open.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Okay.”

“Do you want this forever? Want me?”

My fingers graze the back of his neck, near the ends of his hair. “Of course.”

“I want forever with you, sweetheart.”

“Me too.”

“I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, and I know you’re it for me. I knew from the moment we met that my life would never be the same.”

Oh my God. Oh my God.

My eyes widen as he holds a box between us. Not just any box, but a ring box covered in green velvet.

“I don’t want to date anymore. I don’t want you to be only my girlfriend.

I want you to be my wife. I want forever with you.

I want babies, lots of babies, and a family.

I want to spend eternity here with you and beyond, if there’s something else after this.

Lulu Gallo, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? ”

“Oliver,” I whisper as my vision blurs and my eyes fill with water.

I’d hoped this day would come. We haven’t really talked much about the future, deciding to take things day by day. The last six months has been a roller coaster with the trial for Mark and waiting for there to be blowback against Oliver because sometimes the justice system is ass-backward.

“Yes,” I say as I start to hyperventilate when the reality that Oliver’s proposing washes over me. “I want that. I want all of that with you.”

“I love you,” he says, still holding the box and not opening it.

It doesn’t matter if there is a bubble gum wrapper in the shape of a ring inside the box. None of that matters as long as he’s my forever. The ring is decoration. A declaration to others that we’re dedicated to each other. He’s my everything.

“I love you too,” I say and lunge forward, smashing my lips against his in the most ungentle way.

Oliver laughs before he kisses me back, but he takes it deeper, demanding more, and I give it to him. This is my man, my forever.

If you had asked me a year ago if I’d fall in love, I would’ve said no. I wasn’t in the headspace, and every guy I’d met to that point had been a shithead who cared more about himself than anyone else, especially his girlfriend.

Oliver is the first man who isn’t self-absorbed. He is the first one who wanted to make me happy, even if that meant putting himself second. I put him first, but he doesn’t always do that for himself.

I’ve never felt safe with anyone else before. I don’t think any of them would have jumped in front of a bullet for me. But Oliver would. He put himself in danger more than once to save my life, and I know he’d do it again without a second thought.

“The ring,” he says against my lips.

“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him.

Oliver pulls his lips away, and his hand disappears from my back. “It does. I spent a small fortune on it.” He pops the lid of the box open, revealing the ring.

My eyes grow wide as the diamond sparkles in the setting sun. “It’s beautiful,” I whisper, getting choked up.

Oliver doesn’t look like the type of man who could pick out something so pretty on his own. He looks like a solitaire guy. Something classic.

“Zoey helped me,” he says, like he’s reading my thoughts.

“She kept this a secret?” I ask, shocked because no one in my family can keep their mouth closed, and Zoey is sometimes the worst offender.

He pulls the ring from the box, holding it out for me. “She did. You like it?”

“Stunning.” The diamond is a princess cut and has to be at least a carat. It’s almost too big for my finger, but I’ll wear the shit out of it. Not because it’s obscenely big, but because it represents something I thought I’d never have…a forever.

“Someone looks happy,” Aunt Izzy says as we walk into Inked, having booked a late-night tattoo session before we got to Florida.

“You’re here late,” I tell her, glancing around.

“I just stopped in to drop some things off to the kids.”

I smile when she says kids. Her kids are grown and have their own, but I guess that’s part of being a parent—your kids never really grow up to you .

I hold out my hand, showing off the flashy ring Oliver got me.

Izzy’s eyes widen as soon as her gaze homes in on the bling. She reaches out, taking my hand to pull it closer to her face. “Oh my God, Lulu. Congrats, kid. And good job, Oliver.”

“Thanks,” Oliver says from behind me, standing so close I can feel his body heat that’s only exacerbated from all the sunbathing today.

“I can’t wait to come up to Chicago for the wedding.”

“Oh God,” I breathe, suddenly hit with the realization that we were going to have a big wedding. I like attention, but I’m not sure I can handle that many people at one time.

“Don’t worry,” Aunt Izzy says, giving my hand a squeeze. “Weddings are more fun than you think they’ll be.”

“Maybe we’ll have it here on the beach,” I tell her, turning to see Oliver’s face to get his reaction.

“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“Smart man,” Aunt Izzy says, giving Oliver a smile. “You two tattooing your names on each other?”

“Oh, hell no,” I tell her.

She laughs. “Good. Don’t do that. Not ever. Got it?”

I nod. “Do people still do that?”

“Yep, but at least they’re repeat customers when they come back for a cover-up. ”

“Hey. Hey. Sorry. I was cleaning up and prepping things for you two,” Gigi, my cousin and another kickass chick, says as she walks out from the back area.

“I’m out,” Aunt Izzy says. “James is waiting for me, and the man isn’t patient anymore.”

Gigi brushes her hair over her shoulder, always looking beautiful. I don’t know how she does it. By this time of night, I resemble a train wreck, while she looks like she walked off the set of a photo shoot for a tattoo magazine. “Was he ever patient?”

“No,” Aunt Izzy says as she grabs her purse and moves toward the door. “But his punishments have gotten more creative.”

Gigi holds up a hand. “We don’t want to know.”

Izzy laughs as she pushes open the door and disappears into the darkness.

“Punishments?” I ask my cousin.

Gigi shakes her head. “You don’t want to know about their creative sex life. I know way more than I ever wanted to. Trust me.”

My eyebrows rise as I turn my gaze back toward the direction where Izzy just was. “Really?” I whisper.

“Wow,” Oliver says, echoing my sentiment.

“They may be old, but they sure as hell don’t act like it sometimes.”

“Who’s old?” Carmello, another cousin, asks as he walks out from where Gigi just was.

“Your parents,” Gigi tells him .

“Yep.”

“Your mom was just talking about your dad punishing her,” I say to him, hoping to get more details because my aunt Izzy has always been a wild one and someone I looked up to when I was little.

Carmello’s face turns pink. “They’re too much sometimes. I wonder if they’ll still be chasing each other around when they’re eighty.”

“I bet they will,” Gigi says to him. “Especially if your dad has anything to say about it.”

He holds up a hand and glances down at the floor. “I don’t want to talk about their sex life anymore.”

I don’t blame him. The very thought of my parents doing it turns my stomach.

But I know how Zoey got here and how babies are made.

I had already been born when they met. It is a complicated story that my mom doesn’t like to talk about much.

The memories from her childhood are too painful for her because the man who’s genetically my grandfather was a real piece of work.

I didn’t even know Lucio wasn’t my biological father until I was almost a teenager. He never treated me like I wasn’t his. Zoey and I were equals in his eyes, and I never knew another father besides him. I am blessed to have him in my life and couldn’t ask for a better dad.

“So, what are we doing?” Gigi asks, leaning against the counter. “You have a design? ”

I reach into my pocket, grabbing my phone. “I have the artwork saved.”

“Shoot it to me, and I can work it up real quick. And you?” she asks, looking over my shoulder at Oliver.

“She has it.”

“Send them both to me. Pike is just finishing up, and he’ll be ready by the time the final touches on the designs are finished. Are we doing black or color?”

“Color for me and black for him.”

“Excellent,” she says, clicking away at the computer screen as I send her the two designs via email.

“Got them,” she says a second later. “Want some water or something while I work on these?”

I shake my head. “We’re good.”

“Have a seat and relax. We’ll be ready soon.”

I smile at my cousin and nod. “Got it.”

Oliver takes my hand, pulling me toward the bank of chairs along the wall. I’m nervous. I don’t know why. I have tattoos, but every time I get a new one, I feel an energy that buzzes through my system. Whether it’s anticipation or fear, the feeling is one that puts me on edge.

“Relax,” Oliver says, placing his hand on my knee that’s bouncing up and down like it’s connected to a motor somewhere.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

“You want to skip it? ”

My eyes snap open. “No way. I want this.”

“You don’t look like it.”

“This is how I always look before a tattoo.”

“Man, I don’t know if I’d get another one if I freaked out as much as you are right now.”

“It’s a good energy.”

He laughs. “Sure, sweetheart. Whatever you say. You sure you want it on your hip?”

“Is it bad there?” I ask him because he has tattoos everywhere and knows which spots are more sensitive than others.

“Not any worse than anywhere else.”

“Okay. Good.” I take another deep breath, getting my heart rate to slow a bit.

“It’s a good thing we leave tomorrow because sunshine and new tattoos don’t mix,” he says.

“Well then, it’s a good thing we’re about to roll into winter again.”

“Fuck,” he hisses. “I’m not ready.”

“We’ll come back after Christmas and maybe plan a destination wedding here.”

“Perfect,” he says, lifting my hand to his mouth and brushing his lips against the soft skin on top.

“It will be,” I tell him, knowing the future we’ll have together will be exactly that.

Absolute perfection.