I want to kiss her, but as I lean down, I hear the screen door slam at the front door and then running feet. “He’s gone? He’s really gone?” Eli asks as he bursts through the office door with my brothers after him.
I hold my hand out to him. “Yes, he’s gone.” Eli walks toward his mother and hugs her. I watch them together, wanting to be a part of it so bad. I look at my brothers. “Can you give us a minute?”
They all nod and back out of the room. Eli lets go of his mom and looks at me. “Do you remember what we talked about? You still okay with it?”
He nods, and I look at Nat. She’s looking between Eli and me curiously.
I go to the drawer of my desk and pull out the little box. I walk back over to mother and son and watch Nat’s face when she sees the box in my hand. Eli is smiling ear to ear, and Nat gasps, pressing her hands to her mouth.
“Do you love me, Nat?” I ask her even though I already know the answer. She showed me the other night that she loved me. There’s no way what happened between the two of us could be anything else but love.
She reaches for me, and I hold her hand in mine. “Yeah, I do, King. I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Nat. I love you and Eli more than anything in this world. I want you to be my wife and him to be my son.”
She has tears trailing down her face, and when she opens her mouth, I hold my breath praying she says yes.
“I love you so much, King,” she starts, and she almost looks frightened saying it.
My whole body tenses. “You don’t seem happy about it.”
She lifts her shoulder in a shrug. “I’m scared.”
And finally, I let out the breath I’ve been holding. I pull her in against me and pull her chin up so she’s looking at me. “Me too, Nat. I’m scared to death. But for different reasons than you. I’m scared of losing you and Eli. I’m scared that the best thing that’s ever happened to me is going to walk away. I don’t want to lose you... If this is too quick... If you need time.”
She’s shaking her head and reaches up to cup my jaw. “It’s not that. I just want you to be sure, King. I wouldn’t survive it if you changed your mind.”
I lean down and press my forehead to hers. “I won’t change my mind. I want it all with you, Nat. I want you and Eli to be my family, to love and to protect.... forever.”
Nat leans her head back and searches my face, taking a deep breath, and when she exhales, she gives me her answer. “Yes.”
Immediately, Eli starts jumping up and down, and I don’t have to wait any longer because Nat is in my arms and my lips are pressed to hers.
Eli says, “I’m going to go tell Ryan, Chance, and Griffin. They’re not going to believe it.”
He runs from the room, and I’m putting the ring on Nat’s finger. “Oh my word! It’s huge,” she says.
“I wanted to make sure people knew you were taken.”
She laughs. “King, from the moment I met you I haven’t looked at another man.”
I kiss her finger. “Yeah, but they look at you. I’ve already had to talk to the hands and let them know about it.”
She laughs and curls into my arms. She has one arm around my neck and one on my chest. “You asked Eli if he remembered what you talked about. What was that about?”
“I told him I wanted to marry you, but I wanted to make sure he was all right with it.”
She rolls her eyes. “Well, obviously he was okay with it. He seems happy.”
My arms go around her tightly. “Yeah, he made me promise that no matter how mad I got, I would never lay a hand on you. I promised him I would protect you and him for the rest of my life.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh, my boy. He’s always worried about me.”
I nod. I had thought about bringing this up later, but I figure I might as well get it all out. “I wanted to talk to you first. But I want to adopt Eli, Nat. I want him to be my son. I want him to officially be a Bryant.”
A gasp from the doorway draws my and Nat’s attention. It’s Eli, standing there with his mouth hanging open. When I look at Nat, she looks surprised but nods her head.
I wave for Eli to come into the room. “What about it, Eli? Would it be okay if I adopted you and you became my son too?”