Chapter Forty-Two

KICKING THE COMFORTER off, Olivia arched her back with a loud crack. No amount of stiffness could suppress her self-satisfied smirk. She hadn’t planned a surprise this complicated in a long time, and it felt good to put her energy into looking forward after years of looking back. Last night had gone perfectly, and with an unexpected bonus. Her smile grew as she remembered Ellie checking the supply room before they left the club, her grin when the handle turned. Her orgasm in the small space sounded even better than Olivia had imagined.

“This is exactly how I like you—wearing nothing but a satisfied grin,” Ellie said, returning from the bathroom. She dug a leather cuff out of the sheets and tossed it next to its sibling on her nightstand.

“You liked what I was wearing well enough last night.”

Ellie moaned as she crawled across the bed. Her breasts swayed with the movement, sending her large, dark nipples into transfixing orbits. “That outfit. I love your scruffy, sexy vibe—”

“Is that what they call it, my lack of style?”

“But you in leather…it gets me wet just thinking about it.” Ellie’s kiss swept her away—a snick of teeth, champagne-faded breath, the slick scour of tongues. She opened wider, taking in more until nothing was left but the thrust and the swallow, until Ellie’s moan vibrated in her own teeth.

“Kiss me like that, and I’ll wear anything you buy me.”

Ellie’s eyes twinkled. “Since you offered.” She held out a small box, a twin to the one Olivia had used last night.

“What—”

“I wanted to propose, but you got there first. I needed you to know nothing would keep me from you. It could be next year or ten years from now or never, if you couldn’t see yourself marrying again, but I was absolutely committed to you and Ben.”

Stunned, Olivia cracked the box open. Inside was a matte metal band flanked by bright platinum strips. Two square stones were set flush in the middle. “Arti…”

“I asked her to design the perfect ring. She must have been working on this while she was adjusting Abuela’s, the sneak.”

It was sheer bravery, Ellie approaching Arti about this, a request for permission in her own way. And the ring was a perfect testament to her open heart, gracious to include Arti, not threatened by their decades of friendship.

“The band is steel edged with platinum. The ruby is Ben’s birthstone, of course, and the diamond—” Ellie’s voice grew thick, and she cleared her throat. “She said the diamond is forged under intense pressure that would have destroyed anything else, yet it comes out stronger, like you.”

“Dammit, Arti.” Olivia choked back tears.

“The steel band is—”

“—is you. Right? Keeping Ben and me safe.”

“Those were almost her exact words.”

“And the platinum?”

Ellie laughed now, a burble of joy popping the heavier emotions. “She said if it didn’t sparkle, how would you know it was from her?”

“I love its thick weight, how indestructible it feels.”

“So, Olivia Northman, will you marry me?”

She rained tender kisses on Ellie’s eyelids, her cheeks, her lips. “Yes, I will marry you.”

Ellie took the ring and slid it on Olivia’s finger. The cool circle warmed quickly, and she stared at this new symbol. It was nothing like the ring she had worn with Sophia, but the weight felt familiar. It felt like home.

The rings clinked when Ellie threaded their fingers together. “I love that sound.”

“Me too.” As Olivia kissed the back of Ellie’s hand, the compass in her mind swung to the fixed constant of her world. “It’s been an incredible twelve hours, romantic and sexy and wonderful, but we should talk about—”

“Ben.” Ellie pushed her softly to the bed and curled against her side.

A question hovered, one Olivia had pondered in the peaceful gaps before she followed Ellie into sleep each night. She took a deep breath, Ellie’s pillow-tossed curls shifting with the motion. “In case he asks—”

“I want to adopt him after we’re married, if you both agree.”

Her heart clenched at the certainty. “If something happens… Becoming a single parent unexpectedly is—”

“Harder than you will ever admit.”

“There’s no guarantee he’ll live on his own, and I’m ten years older than you, so there’s a decent chance—”

“I’ll be alone with him?” Ellie rolled to her stomach and rested her chin on Olivia’s shoulder. “Do you think I’d leave Ben, no matter the circumstance?”

When Ellie asked that way, she had no answer but the obvious one. “No.”

“Then it’s settled. I’m in all the way with you. And with Ben. What do you think he’ll say?”

“I’m not sure. He adores you, obviously, but adoption… Please don’t be hurt if he says no.”

“Oh, I’ll be a little devastated if it happens, but I’ll understand. Did you warn him about the proposal?”

“Last night. Any earlier, and he would’ve spilled the beans. We stopped for ice cream on the way to Christina’s, and I explained the plan.”

“What would you have done if he hated the idea? You had it all arranged.”

In her heart, Olivia believed Ben would be fine about the proposal, but her practical side, honed by years of “if this, then that,” had demanded backup. “If he was ambivalent, I’d still propose, so you would know how I felt, but we’d keep it private until he had time to adjust. If he hated the idea, I would’ve cancelled the club. I booked an alternate reservation at a rooftop bar to make the night feel special, if I couldn’t propose.”

“Can I tell you how sexy this planning brain of yours is?” Ellie pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. “Since we’re here, I assume he was fine.”

“You’ve been all but moved in since July, so it doesn’t feel much different. But you know him. He’ll blow up in a few weeks because he’s been stewing on it.”

“Why does that sound familiar?”

“Zip it, you.” Olivia took a playful bite of Ellie’s shoulder. They had a small window until the real world asserted itself. She wanted to fill it with love and lust and peace. Nudging Ellie to her back, she nipped her way down the curve of her breast and the soft ladder of her ribs until she reached the valley where her leg met her hip. She buried her face in it and inhaled. Musk. Salt. Ginger. Hay. The exact scent of Ellie remained an intoxicating puzzle. “I can’t get enough of you.”

“Good. Because everything I have is yours.”

She nuzzled Ellie’s stomach. “I love you.”

“I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

“I love you, I love you, I love you.” Olivia punctuated each declaration with a soft kiss. When her phone pinged, she sighed into Ellie’s belly button. “We’re supposed to have two more hours.”

Ellie grabbed it from the nightstand, squinted at the screen, then held it away from her like it had grown fangs.

“What?”

Ellie turned the screen to show a text.

I am at Christina’s to see Benjamin. If it is convenient, we could bring him home whenever you are ready. Then we could congratulate the two of you in person.

“Nonna?”

“Yeah.” Olivia took the phone from her. Only three days back from Italy, and she was making her presence felt.

“They both know?”

“It was unavoidable. To keep things contained, my first choice would’ve been Mom, but she and her cousin are on that cruise. Arti would’ve done it, but Ben’s never stayed overnight with her. Christina was our best chance for an uninterrupted evening.”

“And you didn’t want her finding out from Ben and not you. When did you tell her anyway?”

“A week ago, when we set this up. Nonna wasn’t even back from Italy yet, but I told Christina she could either fill her in or wait for me to see her.”

“Looks like she filled her in.” Ellie raked a tangle of hair from her face and sighed toward the ceiling.

“I can’t blame her. If Nonna found out Christina knew but didn’t tell her…” Olivia gave a helpless shrug. “I’m sorry so many people were involved, but I couldn’t organize the surprise any other way.”

“It’s okay. The text just threw me for a second.”

Her phone pinged again.

OMG I just found out Mamma texted you. Not appropriate. So sorry. I’ll call her off.

Olivia passed the phone to Ellie so she could read it. “Christina’s on it. Just type ‘ok’ and hit send. I’ll follow up with her in a bit.”

Ellie snorted a laugh. “You can’t stop an immigrant grandmother. You can only hope to contain her. Hey, do you think Nonna planned this, or is it spontaneous?”

“Oh, it’s planned. Nonna’s letting me know she’s not happy being left out. She should’ve met you back when I met your family, but her last-minute trip to Italy derailed things.”

Ellie plucked at the sheets, her face thoughtful. “Of course she’s not happy, she hasn’t met the woman who’s going to be part of her grandson’s life. Abuela would’ve been beyond upset.” She handed the phone back. “If it’s okay with you, tell Christina they can come over.”

“Really?”

“I was never not going to be anxious about meeting them. This way it’s only a few hours, instead of fixating on it for a whole day or a week or whatever. Let’s say eleven o’clock, to give ourselves some time.”

Meeting Nonna had not been part of her plan, but if Ellie preferred this to any alternative, she wouldn’t stand in the way. Olivia pecked out a response, then held up the phone. “Last chance to change your mind.”

“If you can survive Mamá’s dark portends, I can survive this.”

She tapped send, then tossed the phone on the nightstand. “Since we’ve given ourselves some time, as you say—”

Ellie clapped a hand on either side of her face, stopping her before she could work her way lower. “Oh, no. I cannot focus on sex knowing those two women will be here soon.”

“I’ll be really fast.”

“No.”

“But—”

“No.” Ellie grinned now, but she still didn’t release her face. “Shower. Tidy up. And a quick trip to a bakery because we have nothing decent to serve with coffee.”

“Fine, fine.” Olivia rolled from Ellie’s grip and headed for the bathroom. “When you say shower, you mean together, right?” A leather cuff flew by and bounced off the door jamb. “Can’t blame a woman for trying!”