Cole raised a black eyebrow over his silver gray eyes with surprise. “You’re going to work out with Cy? That’s not exactly your speed, is it?”
Carter felt his jaw tighten. “Why isn’t it?”
“Well, you’re the . . . it’s just that—” Cole began to say as he tried to figure out a way to voice his thought.
“You’re more of the nice guy than the punch-someone guy,” Marshall Davies, one of Cy’s older brothers, called from where he was pulling off his boxing gloves.
Carter ground his teeth together as he pulled himself into the boxing ring and grabbed the gloves from Marshall. “And because I’m a nice guy, I can’t throw a punch? Is that it? Is that what you all think?”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Cole said, trying to placate him.
“Yeah,” Marshall shrugged. “Pierce never works out with us. He’s a nice guy too, and we love him. Even if Tammy will kill him before he can see his fifth child born.” Pierce was the youngest of the Davies crew. Miles was the oldest, then Marshall, Cade, Cy, Paige, and finally Pierce. Pierce and his little sprite of a wife, Tammy, had thought she was done having babies until a surprise pregnancy left them about to welcome another child instead of the grandchild Tammy had wanted.
“In fact, you’re just the kind of guy I would want Greer to marry,” Cole said happily as if he were helping. “Well, when she’s older. At twenty-three, it’s a little soon to be talking about marriage. Thirty-eight sounds like a better age.”
Cy made a sound of agreement through his mouth guard before spitting it into his hand. “You have to earn your way to be with my daughter. You said you want to marry her, well, let’s see if you have the balls to even ask my permission. Matt did,” he challenged.
“Whoa,” Marshall said as he stopped walking out of the gym. Cole stopped the treadmill and joined Marshall as they leaned against the raised floor of the boxing ring. “Did you say marriage?”
Cy made a sound of disgust. “The boy here says that’s the plan, but from where I’m standing it looks like he hasn’t gotten the courage to ask me for permission or even ask my daughter yet.”
Carter flexed his fingers inside the boxing gloves. “Because she needs to resolve her daddy issues first.”
“Daddy issues?” Cy huffed.
“Yeah, as in her dad’s complete inability to let his daughters lead their own lives. You’ve heard of helicopter parents? Well, you’re a drone parent. You hover even closer than a helicopter and drop bombs on their happiness.”
Cy growled, Marshall laughed, Cole sucked in a breath, and Carter slammed his fist into Cy’s snarling face. It felt great. Cy’s head didn’t snap back as far as Carter wanted, but the surprised look was worth it. But then, Cy unleashed a flurry of punches that had Carter backing up and dodging for all he was worth. He blocked, ducked, and dodged, but still took a couple of hits. It felt great. Carter jumped back and put his hands up to guard his face as he smiled. This was fun. He felt the muscles he used on the farm contracting and flexing as he tried his own combination of punches. One thing went to his advantage, he was quicker than Cy.
“What’s the problem, old man? Having trouble keeping up?” Carter taunted and easily bounced on the balls of his feet, ducking another punch.
“Damn,” Marshall cursed to Cole. “I don’t know whether to put twenty dollars on a wedding or a funeral.”
“I’m hedging my bets and putting twenty on each,” Cole told him as Carter blocked a right cross.
Cy was breathing hard, and Carter was still grinning. He had sweat pouring off him, but he felt alive. “I’m going to ask Reagan to marry me. But first you are going to fix this thing between you two,” Carter said before trying a right cross, left jab combination.
“I’ll do no such thing,” Cy growled, punching Carter hard to the stomach.
“You will.” Carter said as he dragged in a deep breath and hopped out of the way of another punch. “And you’ll like it. You’ll happily walk her down the aisle, cry a little tear when she announces she’s pregnant with your grandchild, and you won’t tackle me to the ground like you do Matt because you realize we have sex.”
“Screw it, I’m placing fifty on a funeral,” Marshall muttered as he tapped his bet in the mobile betting book app the Blossom Café had set up. The Rose sisters had long ago begun taking bets based on gossip. Miss Daisy had it all written down on a waitress’s pad, but when they retired, and their much younger cousins several generations removed took over, they updated the betting books to a mobile app. At the end of the year, all of the proceeds went to local charities.
“You’re having sex with my daughter?” Cy’s voice rumbled as his whole body tensed.
“Grow up,” Carter said with a roll of his eyes. That was the mistake. He took his eyes off Cy for one second. The punch came fast and hard. The next thing Carter knew, he was on his back looking up at a very angry Cy.
“You won’t touch my daughter again.”
“I will. I love her, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life with her. I’ll be a good husband, a good father, and Reagan will know she’s loved every day,” Carter said in between heavy breaths as he stared up at Cy. “And you’re going to give me permission to ask Reagan to marry me.”
“And I thought he was the nice one. He’s kind of a badass,” Cole whispered to Marshall.
Cy used his mouth to rip off the boxing glove before taking the other one off. He paced the ring as Carter stood up. His head swam for a moment, but then everything came back into focus. “I don’t like it,” Cy grumbled. “But dammit, I can’t help but respect you. You’re a good kid, Carter. And when given the chance, you can hold your own. But we’ll need to work on your jab.”
Cy stopped pacing and stalked toward Carter. Carter held his breath wondering what was going to happen next, but Cy just grabbed Carter’s glove and pulled off first one and then the other. Cy took a deep breath and held out his hand. Carter looked down at it confused. Was he going to hit him again?
“You have my permission to ask Reagan to marry you,” Cy said softly. Carter looked down at the hand and slowly reached out and shook it. He’d done it. He’d stood up to Cy Davies and gotten permission to marry Reagan.
Carter smiled at his future father-in-law as he dropped his hand. “Can I call you Dad?”
Marshall and Cole choked and Cy snarled.
“Don’t push it. You better be the nice guy we believe you are. If you hurt my baby girl, I will slowly tear you apart regardless of your parents being good friends of mine. You got it, sonny?”
“Sure thing, Dad.” Carter smirked before bouncing out of the ring.
“He’s always been so quiet and polite. I like this side of him.” Marshall laughed as Carter ran from the room. He had a proposal to plan.
12
Reagan drove past her house and headed straight for Ashton Farm. She and Carter hadn’t discussed her spending the night again, but now that their relationship was out in the open there was no reason to avoid it. Especially when they needed to talk.
The drive from the airport to Keeneston was around twenty-five minutes of beautiful rolling hills and farmland. Black fences ran the length of the country road, keeping horses, cattle, and crops within their confines. Reagan had rolled down her windows, blared music, and gotten lost in thought. Those thoughts had taken her on a trip to the past. The first time she’d looked at Carter as something other than a friend. That night was at Zain and Mila’s wedding when he’d asked her dance.
When something exciting happened, she called Carter immediately. When she had a bad day, it was Carter she turned to for comfort. When she had a spare minute, it was Carter she wanted to spend it with. It was Carter she wanted to laugh with, to cry with, and to make love with. It was all about Carter, and only Carter. And it had been that way since he’d flown with her sixteen months before. It was so simple. She knew what she wanted. She wanted Carter Ashton.
* * *