“I love you back, my big, strong man.”

“One thing, Em?”  I wait until her eyes come back to mine.  “Future wife, huh?” I laugh lightly when she blushes one hell of a hot shade of pink.

When she said that earlier, the only thing I could think of was how fast I could drag her ass to the courthouse.  We hadn’t even discussed it before, but now that she’s said it out loud, I can’t stop the visions of her with my rings around her finger and my name.

“Yeah…about that.  It just kind of came out.  I don’t want you to freak out or anything about it.  I understand that kind of step takes time.”

“Says fucking who?” I interrupt.

“Uh…I don’t know?  Everyone?”

“Jesus, Em.  I think it’s safe to say we aren’t just like everyone.  Everything about the road we’ve had to travel to get to this point has been pretty off the tracks of normal.  Who says we need to go in a certain order?”  I place my hand against her stomach before continuing.  “Pretty sure we proved that point over and over.”

“Yeah,” she laughs.  “I guess we did.”

“Just you wait, Emersyn Keeze.  You’re going to marry me as soon as we get home, and then I’m going to spend every day blessing you with everything I have.”

“You’re going to marry me?  Don’t you think you should actually ask?”

God, I love that sass.

“Keep it up, Em.  I’m going to start adding up all that sass again.”

Her eyes widen at my low growl before she laughs in my face. “I’m going to look forward to it, Mad.”

“You do that, angel.”

I take her lips in a slow, sweet, and intoxicating kiss.  By the time I pull back, her eyes are glossy, her cheeks are red, and her lips are swollen.  I lean forward, pull her plump bottom lip in my mouth, and nibble lightly, earning a moan from Emmy.

“Blessed,” I whisper against her lips.

**

We didn’t spend long in the hospital.  After she was monitored overnight and her bleeding stopped with fluids, we were released with the referral to follow up with her home obstetrics physician.  We got a prescription for the urinary tract infection she had, another factor that the doctor said had caused her bleeding.  She needs to keep herself hydrated, and as long as everything looks good at her doctor appointment, he doesn’t see us having any lasting issues.

We took our time getting home.  Instead of flying, we kept our rental car and decided to make a two-week road trip out of our drive home, stopping in a different hotel each night and spending time together.

Axel called three days into our trip and said that there was some man named Jefferson calling the office nonstop.  Judging by the fact that he yelled it over the line before hanging up, I’m guessing that Jefferson has been quite persistent.  I figured it would happen, but I didn’t think she would rally that quickly.

“Do you want me to sit with you when you call him back?” Emmy asks later that night when we check into our hotel somewhere in the middle of Mississippi.

“Yeah.  It shouldn’t take that long.  He’s most likely feeling me out and seeing just what I want out of that bitch.”

“And?  What do you want?”

“Honestly, Em…I’m not really sure.  I don’t want a part of Locke Oil.  I don’t even want their blood money.  I just… I just want to be done with them.  But then I think about everything they played a part in and all of the years of pain before more years of fear.  When I think about all of that, I want to be done with it, but I also want to take their hurt and turn it into something good.”

She smiles and sits in my lap.  “I can understand that.  I think we can figure something out, baby.  I’m ready to support whatever decision you make.”  She’s quiet for a second, lightly rubbing my chest with her hand.  “I’ve been meaning to ask…  How did you know about all that stuff anyway about them and the company?  I never did get a chance to ask you.”

Her hands start roaming my chest more freely, and for a second, I can’t speak because I’m too busy telling my cock to calm the fuck down.

“When we decided that eventually we would be going out there, I started looking into everything I could.  Some searches not so legal.  Their downfall with the company wasn’t hard to find.  She spends more than she makes, according to her financial history.  The fact that I still had my shares in the company was more shocking than anything.  I guess, after everything that happened, I just wanted a clean break.  I didn’t want to touch anything that they could possibly hurt me more with.  So when the random letter here or there came from Jefferson, their lawyer, or anything attached to them would hit my desk, I buried it.”