Page 109 of The Spare
“You helped make it,” he whispered in my ear. It was the hint he gave me a couple months ago about my next surprise.
I turned to Marcus and looped my arms around his neck. “I love it.”
He leaned in and pulled me into a soft kiss. My body arched into him instinctively. And today, that was what turned something sweet into something wicked. A low groan vibrated out of his throat, and my hands began to get lost in his hair.
“I don’t get it.” Xander’s voice rang through the lust-filled cloud. It was his way of reminding us he was still in the room. His head tilted, and he looked at the artwork with confusion.
“You better not.” Marcus’s tone lacked any sharpness.
“Whatever.” He shrugged and made his way to the door. “Ready for lunch?”
“Tumhari.”Yours,I whispered in Marcus’s ear before I turned to join Xander.
“I know.” He followed us out of the office.
Four Months Later…
MARCUS
Henry was hosting a New Year's Charity Gala. To be more accurate, the entire family was hosting it. I asked Henry and Xander to come by beforehand while Sloan was out taking care of a few last-minute details. And I asked specifically that they came alone.
I paced back and forth while I waited for them. I’d poured a glass of whiskey for myself and left a couple of glasses and the bottle on the coffee table for when they arrived. The glass I’d had already didn’t ease the nerves.
“What is so important that you need to drag me away from absolutely nothing?” Xander walked into the main living area. His carefree expression changed to concern when he looked at me. “Jeez, what’s wrong?”
If it was this hard to ask for their blessing, how the hell was I going to ask Sloan?What if she says no?My mind began to reel at the possibility. She would say yes, right? It was fast. Maybe it was too fast.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Henry arrived, and I stopped pacing. Xander took a seat on the couch, and Henry joined him.
“Sloan’s pregnant?” Henry and Xander looked at me as if Xander’s question had any merit.
It probably had some merit. We didn’t have much in the way of restraint when it came to sex.
“What?” I shook my head and sat on the couch across from them. “No.”
The room was silent for a few minutes. Henry and Xander awkwardly drank their whiskey before I finally spoke up.
“I asked you both here because I wanted to ask you something.” They exchanged confused looks before the realization began to dawn. No other part of my life made me nervous, but anything that had to do with Sloan would give me a reaction I wasn’t expecting. I felt like I was going to be sick, and clearly, I wasn’t hiding it well. “I’d like your blessing to propose to Sloan.”
We were moving quickly, but I didn’t want to wait. I wanted her to be my wife. I wanted to have children with her. I wanted things with her that I never thought I could have. She found the parts of me that I thought were lost for good.
“Of course, you have my blessing.” Henry smiled warmly, refilling my empty glass and lifting his for a toast.
“Xander?” I asked. He looked at his glass, making me pause.
“Duh.” A smile stretched along his face. He lifted his glass.
“To the acquisition that finally put Marcus Sutton through his paces.” Henry proposed a toast. Our glassesclinked.“And please never tell Sloan I referred to her as an acquisition,” he added with a laugh. “In classic Rishi Amari fashion, our grandfather wanted the family ring passed to whoever got married first. I think he left it to my mom.”
“Yeah, that’s also what I needed to talk to you about.” I pulled three rings out of my pocket. All three sat in the same velvet box. The Amari family ring, the one I picked out, and my mother’s ring.
“We get it. You love her.” Xander laughed and picked up the rings before stopping at the familiar one. Our mother’s ring. “She doesn’t need three.”
He stared at it for a moment.
“Mom left me her ring,” I told him.
Xander’s expression was unreadable. He never actually read the will or anything that had to do with our parents’ estate. I took care of all of that. Lost in thought, he chewed on his lip, emotion threatening to overcome his carefree demeanor.
