Until Lilly (Until, #3)(57)

“What’s not funny, Daddy?” Ashlyn asks, running up to us.

“Nothing, love bug.” Lilly glares at me when I chuckle. “Are you guys hungry?” Lilly asks the kids.

“I’m starbing,” Jax says, his head going back, his arms going straight out at his sides.

“Little dude, when are you not hungry?” I ask, and he looks at me. I can tell he is really thinking about what his answer is going to be.

“When I eat,” he replies, making both of us laugh.



*~*~*



“Baby, seriously, are you sure you don’t want me to take you?” I ask. I know I promised I would trust her with the whole Austin thing, but what the f*ck? The idea of my woman going to meet another man for coffee seems ridiculous to me.

“Cash, we talked about this. I will only be gone for about an hour, if that, then I will be home,” she repeats the same thing she told me five minutes ago.

“I know,” I grumble. I’m sure I sound like Jax.

“An hour,” she repeats, kissing me. She grabs her bag and a set of keys off the counter and heads out the door. I watch her go, wanting to drag her back inside, but I know she will kick my ass if I try. I look around the quiet house; Jax and Ashlyn are out with Lilly’s dad. Her mom is sleeping, so it just me and my imagination. I need to keep busy.



“What the hell are you doing?” I spin around, coming face-to-face with Lilly’s mom, who is looking at me like I’m crazy, and maybe I am. I got bored, so I started cleaning. I had just finished vacuuming the whole downstairs when she showed up.

“Vacuuming,” I tell her, lifting the vacuum up.

“I know. I was trying to take a nap when I heard you down here. What the hell is wrong with you?” Her hands go to her waist and she looks a little scary. “Austin is just a friend to Lilly, so you need to relax, and if you don’t want to relax and cleaning helps you decompress, or de-stress, or whatever the hell it is you’re doing, then take the vacuum upstairs and finish what you started,” she says, walking past me into the kitchen. I’m just finishing my vacuuming when Lilly comes into the room. She looks just the same as she did before—no happier, no sadder—so I guess that’s good.

“You vacuumed?” she asks, looking around, then at the vacuum in my hand.

“Yes,” I say defensively. “I know the kids are messy; I just wanted to help out.”

“Oooo-kay.” She rolls her eyes. “I brought you a coffee and a cinnamon roll; they are both downstairs.”

“Thank you.” Ha! She thought of me when she was out with Austin. She starts to walk away, but I snag her, bending her backwards and kissing her, possessing her mouth. When I right her, she looks at me and smiles before skipping away. The damn woman is going to make me lose my mind.



*~*~*



I’m dying. I take a deep breath; my lungs are on fire, along with the muscles in my legs. I’m pretty sure I’m dead already. I look ahead and see that Austin and Lil’s dad are about a quarter of a mile ahead of me. We’re hiking up the side of the mountain they said was great for hunting bears. Honestly, I don’t even want to see a bear in the wild, let alone get close enough to shoot it. “Hurry up there, son,” Lil’s dad calls back over his shoulder. I shake my head in disgust; I thought I was in good shape.

“I’m coming,” I grumble, and glare when I see Austin look over his shoulder with a smirk on his face. He isn’t even sweating, which is strange considering he has as much hair on his body as a wild animal. After about twenty minutes, we get to the top of the mountain. The view is breathtaking. “This is amazing.”

“This is where I asked Lilly’s mom to marry me,” Frank says, his eyes landing on me, his arms crossing over his chest.

“It’s a good spot,” I tell him, looking out over the valley below.

“When are you going to ask my daughter to marry you?”  I look at him, then over at Austin. My hand goes to my pocket where I have kept her ring since picking it up at the jewelers. I run my fingers over the metal before pulling it out of my pocket.

“I actually wanted to ask you for permission.” I hold the ring out in his direction. The ring has three diamonds. They represent our past, present, and future. They’re wrapped in white gold, with the kids’ birthstones set in-between.

“I can’t believe she took you back,” Austin says, looking at the ring, then me.

“I can’t believe it either, but she’s mine, and I will take out anyone who stands in the way of us having a future.” I look directly at Austin; his eyes flare, but he doesn’t say anything.

“You have my blessing,” Frank says. I look at him to see him smiling.

“Thank you,” I reply, putting the ring back in my pocket.

“Where’s the box?” Austin asks.

“What?”

“The ring box, where is it?”

“In the garbage.” I sigh. “I can’t have the box in my pocket; it’s too obvious,” I say, running my fingers over the ring again. This is a new habit; touching it does something to calm me.

“How long have you had it?

“A little over a month,” I say, shrugging. I like having it with me. I don’t know when I’ll ask; I just have a feeling that when the time comes, I will know.