Cane nodded warily.
“Okay. Imagine that you had a baby when you were 21. Imagine you had a baby with Ashley?” I smiled as he grinned and I knew he knew what I was going to say. “What if you fucked up a ton of shit, because you probably would’ve. Then imagine you getting older, like you are now, and wanting to at least say you’re sorry.” I shrugged. “Maybe she just wants to apologize. Doesn’t mean you have to accept it, but would it really hurt? She can’t hurt you anymore than she already has.”
He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, a smirk sliding across his face. “Sometimes I think you’re a fucking woman,” he laughed.
“Why? Because I make sense?”
He laughed. “Grab us a beer and let’s look at these plans.”
KARI
It had been a long day. A long three days, really. Between Samantha losing her cool, Blaine blowing up my phone, and Fern having a hay day with the wedding, my head was spinning.
Max had told his family about Samantha’s shenanigans. I’d worried that they would somehow see me as the problem, not her. After all, she’d been around their family for much, much longer than me.
Fern had went to Samantha and tried to talk to her. She was angry, but she was worried about her, too. Sam played it off, like always, and assured Fern that she was fine and living with her mother. Sam sobbed her heart out, saying that she hadn’t done the things she was accused of. Fern didn’t believe her, but didn’t want to walk away from her either. She made a call to Sam’s mom and made sure she was being taken care of. There wasn’t much more she could do.
I was leaving most of the wedding stuff up to Fern and Brielle, who had made it her mission to help show her support of our union. I told them I’d take care of my dress and I wanted purple orchids because they meant something to me. They could do whatever they wanted otherwise.
All I wanted was to be Mrs. Maxwell Jacob Quinn.
As I lay in bed, Max stroking my back with his fingertips, I really felt like maybe we were through the worst. Every relationship had speed bumps and we had hit ours, but maybe we had made it over them all.
I traced the vine on Max’s side, starting at his hip and working my way up lazily to the top . . . and to the orchid.
“I want to get a new tattoo,” I said, letting my fingers graze over the petals printed on his skin.
“You do, huh? What of?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. Something of you. You have the orchid for me, but I have one of those, too.” My heart clenched a bit, thinking back to the tattoo on my hip for my lost baby and my mother. “I also have the arrow on my wrist.”
“What’s the arrow for, anyway?”
“There have been times in my life where I’ve felt like everything was going to stop. Like I couldn’t figure out which way to go. Paralysis by analysis or whatever. I got this arrow after Blaine left and I got back on my feet again. This is to remind me that life goes on and I get to pick which way to turn. I can go back and revisit things that have already happened and get pulled into that or I can go forward and make new things happen.”
His lips turned in a half-smile. “Well, you’re gonna have a ring on your finger and my last name in a couple of days. That’s enough for me.”
“But both of those can be removed. I want something . . . permanent,” I said, smiling when he got the reason behind my choice of words.
He kissed my forehead. “Sweetheart, we are so permanent that no ink can explain it. But if you want something, we can go get it tomorrow.”
“What if I want to surprise you?” I asked.
“I guess you could, but I’d like to go, too.”
I smirked, letting my hand trail down his abs. “You know what I’d like?”
“What’s that?” he asked, his voice rough as my hand reached the waistband of his shorts.
“I’d like you to get rid of these.”
“Would ya now?” he grinned, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
I nodded. “I would.”
“Ladies first.”
I didn’t hesitate to grab the hem of his ASU shirt and drag it roughly over my skin, exposing my nakedness beneath, and discarding it to the floor.
Max’s eyes lit up, scanning me from my red-painted toenails to the top of my head. He shook his head, a rumble escaping his lips, as he removed his shorts and briefs. He crawled across the bed until he hovered over me, desire radiating off of him in waves.
“Damn it, Kar. It doesn’t matter how many times I see you, I get caught off guard by how beautiful you are.”
I felt my cheeks blush under the weight of his gaze and complement because I knew he meant it. It wasn’t a line or a ploy to get something from me.
He had all of me already.