Page 137 of Stand Your Ground

A few chuckles from his teammates and Jaxson was flipping them all the bird.

Then, he thrust his chin at Grace. “Come here, trouble.”

Grace narrowed her eyes. “If you push me in the water, I’ll go back to that snake charmer in Morocco and have him mesmerize one right into your bed while you’re sleeping.”

“No threats necessary,” he said, holding out his hand as she stepped up beside him.

I saw it again, how nervous he was, and I think I realized what was happening right when Maven did. Because she’d slid up beside where I was standing with the other girls, and she wordlessly squeezed my forearm.

“I wrote a whole speech,” Jaxson confessed, patting at his pockets. “But I realized I’ve given you enough speeches in our time together and I just wanted to speak from the heart tonight.” His blue eyes were glued to Grace’s, like we weren’t even there. “I met you on a bus full of my smelly teammates on a night I least expected you, and you asked me the weirdest string ofwould you ratherquestions.”

Laughter rippled at that, and Grace did a little curtsy at the mention of her signature party game.

“I learned a lot about you that night, but not nearly as much as I did when we took to the road that summer. It was then that I discovered you’re a world champion in quarters, you can’t hike without tripping, and the limit does not exist for you when it comes to road trip snacks.”

Grace smiled, pressing on her tiptoes like she wanted to melt right into him.

“And I know you’re not meant to be anchored to one place. I knew it the first time I said goodbye to you in an airport and you took my heart with you. You’re a tide, Little Nova. You go out and you come back, and the shore is better for it. I don’t want to change a single thing about that. I don’t want to tame you. I don’t want to cage you. I fall in love with you every time you throw a bag over your shoulder and leave, and I fall in love with you even more every time you walk back through my door.”

Maven sniffed loudly. “It’s the hormones,” she declared.

I squeezed her hand.

“I’m not asking you to stay put,” Jaxson said. He dug in his pocket, and without a box barrier to give any of us time to prepare, a ring emerged, the stone catching the light with a wink.

And even though it was mostly hockey player brutes at that party, there was still a collective gasp.

“I’m asking you to take me with you. I’m asking to be your home, wherever you go.”

Grace’s hand flew to her mouth, then to his chest, like she needed to feel his heart under her palm to believe him.

“Jaxson Brittain,” she said, shaking her head. “You act like I would rather run the Earth than be with you. I don’t need to see anything else to know that what I love most about this planet is that you’re on it.” She held up her hand. “Tie me down. Tie me up.” Laughter surged at that, and she smirked. “Put that shiny ass ring on my finger and let’s do this thing.”

And then she was airborne, launching into his arms. The cheer we all let out rivaled those of the final game we’d played, and I shared looks with the girls, knowing what a big deal this was for our little adventurer.

Grace was sobbing and laughing when her feet touched the ground again. She shoved the brim of Jaxson’s hat back so she could see his face as he slid the ring home.

Carter slid up behind me wordlessly, his hands cradling my belly as he leaned in and kissed the back of my neck.

“Maybe we’re next,” he murmured, and there was no pressure in it, just wonder.

“You did give me a collar,” I said, unable to resist teasing him. He huffed a laugh against my hair, and I tipped my face to his. Then, I rubbed my belly with both our hands, and our daughter nudged against my palm like she had an opinion. “Let’s wait for her. I think she’d like to be a part of it.”

“I can’t imagine it any other way,” he said simply, and then he kissed me.

It should have been a chaste kiss, given the audience. It started that way — soft, sure, sweet enough that Chloe made a little sound before abandoning us to find Will. But Carter lost his cool halfway through like he always did with me, and the angle shifted, his hand slid, and someone whistled and someone else yelled, “Get a room!”

Carter broke away just enough to murmur, “We could.”

“We could what?” I breathed, already smiling.

“Get a room,” he said, eyes wicked, and there it was — that boyish grin, the one that made my knees feel like they’d been replaced with spaghetti. “Think they’d miss us for ten minutes?”

“Ten?” I repeated, arching a brow.

“Five?”

I barked out a laugh, but before I could tell him how ridiculous he was being, he was toting me through the crowd, greeting his teammates and staff members as he did like we were completely innocent.