Surrender (25 page)
My mother, who I finally saw had followed him out the back door, began to scold the girls and told them to go inside. I couldn’t find my voice or I would have vetoed that.
I didn’t want to be left alone with Kaelen! I needed them to distract me. I needed a buffer.
They pouted, but they went inside, and Kaelen crossed the yard to where I was sitting. Stopping in front of me, he shoved his hands into his pant’s pockets. I stared up at him, unable to think of anything to say. Finally, he crouched down. “How’ve you been, Anna?”
SURRENDER Kimberly Zant 112
I swallowed with an effort. “Fine,” I managed. “You?” He sat down, scrubbing a hand over his face. He looked tired. It made me ache to see it. I couldn’t help but worry that something was wrong. “Actually, not worth a shit.”
I blinked in surprise. I had been expecting the usual ‘fine’ and I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry,” I said finally. “There’s not … a problem, is there? I mean, Kael’s alright?”
He sucked in a harsh breath. “He’s fine … couldn’t stop talking about Alexis and Ashley. He misses them.”
I smiled faintly. “They miss him, too. They wanted me to ask you to let him come stay with them awhile, but I explained to them that he couldn’t.” I shrugged.
“They don’t really understand.”
He frowned. “Understand what?”
There was something about his expression that urged me to proceed with care.
“That you just took them in for me … to help us out and …. Well, I’d love to have him come to visit, but we don’t really have room … not here,” I finished lamely. “How’s Gareth?” I added quickly, changing the subject.
His frown deepened. “Miserable. And before you ask, Cameron, and Dev, and Chance, too … not to mention me.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. “I’m … sorry to hear that. They’re alright, though?”
“Except for being miserable as hell, you mean?” I looked at him in distress. “Something’s wrong?”
“Every damn thing is wrong, baby!” Kaelen growled.
I lay the paper in my lap aside and moved closer, placing a hand on his knee.
“You’re scaring me, Kael. Everything can’t be all right if they’re miserable and you’re miserable! Tell me!”
He gave me a look I found hard to interpret. “And you’ll make it better?” I blushed. He hadn’t said it sarcastically, though. “If I can.
Is
there something I can do?”
He wrapped his hand around my wrist, giving me a hard yank that brought me flying forward. I slammed into him, bowling him over and sprawling on his chest.
Wrapping his arms around me, he rolled until I was underneath him looking up. His smile was unnerving. “As a matter of fact, there is
something
you can do,” he murmured, then lifted his head and surveyed the yard. “You think your mother will keep the girls in the house?”
I reddened. “Kaelen!”
He rolled off of me, but he didn’t get up. Instead, he propped his head in his hand and reached into his jacket with his other hand. Bringing out a folded sheaf of papers, he handed it to me. I stared at it for several moments, looked at him questioningly and finally opened it up. After scanning the legalese for several moments and arriving at no better understanding than if it had been written in a foreign language, I looked at him again. “I don’t really understand legal documents that well,” I said apologetically.
I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. “It’s pre-nup.” I frowned in puzzlement and looked at the papers again. “For who?” He reddened. “You.”
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Stunned, I blinked at him. “Why would I need a pre-nup?” His face went taut. “
I
need the pre-nup. I can’t get married without it.” I couldn’t help it, my chin wobbled. “You’re getting married?” Kaelen stared at me for a long moment and finally reached to hook a hand behind my head. Dragging me down, he opened his mouth over mine and kissed me until I was drunk from the heated sensations flowing through me. “
We
are getting married,” he said when he broke the kiss at last.
I stared up at him, feeling as if my eyes were rolling around independently of each other, but it hit me then, finally, that he was asking me to marry him. I promptly burst into tears. It was the worst proposal I had ever … not heard!
He studied me uneasily. “Is that a no?”
I uttered a watery chuckle. “Kaelen! You are so … you didn’t even
ask
me! I couldn’t figure out what you were talking about!” He frowned, apparently thinking it over. An expression of discomfort crossed his features. “Is that a no, then?”
Mastering the tears, I dragged in a sustaining breath and let it out slowly. I wasn’t going to get anything else out of him, but what more did I need? “Of course!” I said, dragging him down for another kiss.
“Of course, what?” he asked, peeling me off.
I looked at him blankly for a moment before I realized what I had said. I shook my head. “I love you. Did you bring a pen?”
“You didn’t read it.”
“Because I can’t understand one word out of ten, and it doesn’t matter … not to me. You’re sure you want to marry me?” I added worriedly.
He grinned at me and kissed me until my eyes rolled back in my head. “I
know
what I want,” he murmured huskily when he lifted his head at last.
I frowned at him. “Don’t I at least get an ‘I love you, too?” He chuckled. “You didn’t seem to want to get an ‘I love you’ from me out here in your mother’s backyard, but if you insist ….” He
did
love me … for hours and hours on our honeymoon—which we spent entirely by ourselves. When we got back, we honeymooned with Gareth and Cameron and quite often Chance and Dev, as well, because I had a seriously kinky husband and I happened to enjoy being with his equally kinky brother and cousins because I adored them almost as much as I adored Kaelen.
I finally got around to asking Kaelen on our first anniversary why it was that they chose me instead of each of them picking a woman for themselves.
Kaelen studied me doubtfully for several moments and finally shrugged. “We tried that the first time around, but they didn’t ‘do’ submissive worth a damn. All of us wanted to swap—not because any of the women were that great but because none of us were happy with the ones we had picked—and they fought.” It wasn’t exactly the answer I had expected, but I couldn’t help but smile. “They fought?”
He
grunted.
“Soooo … you decided just to pick one?”
His eyes gleamed, but he shook his head, leaning down to kiss me. “We decided just to pick you.”
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I smiled at him. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to be mad.” He chuckled. “I don’t, but it’s the truth. We
all
picked you. After arguing about it a while, when I saw nobody was going to pick anyone else, we decided just to go with the one we wanted—you.”
I grinned at him. “You are
so
good, I almost believe you.” He laughed. “Ask them.”
I did. They told me the same thing.
I
knew
they were smart!
The End
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