by Toni Aleo
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare. I want this.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, you’re doing awesome.”
He tipped her chin up. “It does, and I’m so happy about the baby. I am scared out of my mind, but we’ll be okay because we have each other.”
“I know. We will.”
“Okay, back to the proposal,” he announced, wiping away a tear from his face as he scooted back, taking her hand in his. This was so them, and boy, did she love it. Falling to his knee, he looked up at her. Though, he didn’t have to look too far. “No matter how much I say I love you, I always love you more than that. That will never change, Brianna Soledad. When I first met you, I never wanted to fall in love. I was fine being this guy going through life, but then you changed me. You not only made me want to love again, but you made me want to love you twice in my lifetime. Now and forever, and that’s my plan.”
Brie’s heart soared as butterflies went crazy in her belly, and her eyes locked with those of the beautiful man who was all hers. “Wow, you are pulling out all the stops, huh?”
“I’m not even done yet,” he said with a wink, and she grinned as their eyes stayed locked. “You told me you wanted the dog, the big proposal, the love, the house, and all that jazz way back when. Well, Tricksie and I, because we’re a family, want you to join our family. So come here, baby. Tricksie, come here.”
Tricksie’s ears pricked as Brie laughed before the dog ran over, coming into Vaughn’s lap as she smiled happily up at Brie. Reaching for her collar, he took something shiny off it before he held it up to Brie. A beautiful emerald-cut rose gold diamond in a gold band. “I got it because it reminded me of the night, New Year’s, when I took you home in that gold dress and made love to you. I got rose gold because when I see roses, I want to buy them all for you.”
“Vaughn, you’re killing me here.”
“I know, it’s awesome,” he said with a wink, but then his eyes turned serious as tears rushed down her face. “I wasn’t just fucking you back then, I was falling in love with you. I was just too much of a coward to know I was.” Brie hiccupped a sob as he took her hand, kissing her ring finger before looking back up into her eyes. “I made sure Rodney was okay with this, and he even picked out the ring with me. So, I guess all that’s left to do is ask.”
“You asked Rodney?” she cried and he nodded.
“Yeah, figured that would make you happy.”
“It does.”
“Good,” he said, his own tears rolling down his face. “Brie, I fucking love you, you know that, right?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“Good, so marry me?”
Holding back her sob, she shrugged. “I guess, since I have nothing better to do and you knocked me up.”
Letting his head fall back, he laughed. “Oh, thank God I knocked you up.”
Standing up, he took her in his arms, picking her up as their mouths crashed together, and Tricksie went nuts. He held Brie in his arms, and her arms wrapped around his neck while her legs did the same around his waist. As always, his hands held on to her ass. She had thought she had hated this man, but Lord, was she wrong. She could never hate him, only love him with every fiber of her being. Pulling back, she pressed her nose to his as their eyes met, and her heart threatened to come out of her chest. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, I will marry you. Yes, I will be yours forever, be the mother of your children, and anything else you can come up with.”
As his face broke into a grin, he held up the ring, and she gave him her hand. “Repeat after me,” he said, sliding it down her finger.
“Okay?”
As the ring slid on, he said, “With this ring, I promise to let Vaughn put it in my ass—”
“Vaughn Johansson!” she yelled, smacking him in the chest as he laughed.
But then he stopped her, looking deep into her eyes as he whispered, “Yes, soon-to-be Mrs. Johansson?”
Her breath caught as she slowly shook her head. “I can’t even with you.”
“Good, that’s how I want it.”
Holding her close, Vaughn smashed his lips to hers, kissing her with everything he had in him. Which was a lot with how big he was, but she wouldn’t want it any other way.
In the middle of this chaos-filled life, there was Vaughn.
And he made the wait for her happily ever after more than worth it.
Hello, all!
AND THANK YOU!
I can’t believe how fast I wrote this book. It fell out of me in the most amazing way, and I LOVE it. Like, so damn hard. These two, Vaughn and Brie…man, they got my heart. This is my new favorite behind Shea and Elli, but then, I say that all the time. Either way, this book means the world to me.
I know usually I have some cool, insightful things to say in these notes, but lately, I’ve been just doing me. I’ve been working on my fitness, being a mom, and cheering on my future Olympian. I get to love the love of my life daily, and then I get loved by two amazing kids. They’re hard, but they’re amazing.
In all honesty, I really don’t think I could have done this without Lisa Holletta (which is not how her name is spelled, but she’s not changing it while she edits this because it makes me laugh) and my betas. Lisa continually pushes me to do better and better, and then my betas tell me what works and what doesn’t. Add in an awesome PR company, Ardent Prose, and my new friend, Neda, and I am a very happy author. Things are going well. My words are getting better, and my characters have stories to tell.
I’m excited for the next book to come out. No one knows what it is, but I can promise you, you’re going to flip when you find out. So that’s cool, I think, and I know everyone is also looking forward to the next full-length book after the one I’m talking about, which will be about a certain goalie…maybe? Ha-ha. We’ll see.
All in all, y’all, I love you. I love you so much it hurts, and I thank you.
Everything I do in this business is for y’all, and I hope you know that.
Thank you.
Love,
Toni Aleo
Copyright © 2017 by Toni Aleo
This book, Delayed Call, is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Editing by Lisa A. Hollett, Silently Correcting Your Grammar
Cover by Regina Wamba
Interior design and formatting by:
www.emtippettsbookdesigns.com