UNTIL TALON

“I missed you.” I lean forward to kiss her as the kids use me as a jungle gym, climbing over my back and under my chest.

I pull a pink ribbon with a diamond ring attached to it from the pocket of my jeans and hold it up, going down on one knee. “So, baby, will you help them make my wish come true?”

“If you’re getting cold feet, you should know I already promised Talon that I’d pick you up and carry you down the aisle to him,” Chaz says, and I laugh as I tip my head back to look up at him.

“If this shit was going down with Hadley, no one would be able to keep you away from her,” I say, and his jaw twitches, because he knows I’m right. “I won’t stay all night. I’ll go for dinner. It would be stranger for me not to see Mia.”

“Hey, honey,” she says quietly, the fear in her voice making me want to shove my fist through the wall.

“You doing all right?”

“No.”

“What the fuck is going on?” I shrug him off, ready to take him and everyone else out in order to get to Mia if needed.

“About what?” Bax asks, putting himself between me and everyone else in the room.

“Where’s Mia?” I demand with Bax pressing closer to my side.

“I’m not fucking around anymore, Mia. If you’re willing to give me that, you can move in with me, wear my ring, and be my wife.”

“Your daughter has to agree to marry me before you two start planning a wedding,” Talon cuts me off, and I turn to glare at him.

“Don’t encourage her.”

“Why? I did ask you.”

“No, you didn’t,” I deny, then my eyes widen when I remember him asking me after I gave him a blowjob, and he grins like he’s reading my mind. “That didn’t count,” I tell him, hearing Cece laugh as I shake my head.

“I should go shower.”

“Yeah, but first you need to tell me you love me.”

My face softens and I touch his cheek. “I love you, Talon Mayson, even if you are bossy and slightly crazy,” I whisper.