Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“Oh, God, no,” Marnie chokes out. “Your father asked to talk to me, so I came to hear him out and then chew him out about the way he’s treated you. That’s all this is. I promise he repulses me.”
One of Marnie’s friends pipes in to say, “It’s our fault she agreed to meet with him. She wanted to block and ignore him, but we convinced her to come down here and let him have it.”
Relief and elation flood me. “Thank God. I love you, Marnie. That’s what I came to tell you. I was a fool to let you go. I was a fool to think what we had wasn’t real. I want you and Ripley. I want our family back. For real. Forever. Please, let’s pick up where we left off.”
Marnie throws herself at me, and as I hug her, I suddenly realize my father is still standing nearby, watching us. Rage floods me. His wife left him, and then he found out the truth about my so-called engagement—probably, from Scott last night—so the bastard figured he might as well take his shot with the sexiest woman alive today?
I break apart from Marnie and furiously address my father. “You’re dead to me, Alexander Vaughn. The reasons are too many to list, but it’s enough to know your wife left you for her riding instructor, so you immediately came after your son’s woman.”
“His wife left him?” Marnie bellows. She throws up her hands. “He told me he left his wife for me!”
“Typical,” I mutter. I glare at my father again. “Stay away from me and my family. You got that? They’re mine.”
Dad scoffs. “Fine with me. If you want my sloppy seconds, have at ‘em.”
Fucking hell. My fist connects with Dad’s face before my brain even knows what’s happening. And mere seconds later, I’m being dragged through the crowded bar toward the front door by a pair of exceedingly strong arms.
“I’ll walk out!” I shout. But whoever’s dragging me doesn’t let go of me. In short order, the front door is flung open, and I’m suddenly thrown onto the sidewalk onto my ass. When I look up, it’s that same big bouncer from before who’s standing over me.
“You’re banned,” he grits out. “I actually don’t blame you for decking him. I heard what he said. But I can’t bend the rules for you.”
“I understand. You won’t see me again.”
The big guy smiles. “I bet that felt good, eh?”
I return his smile. “Yeah, it felt fucking amazing.”
As he turns to head back inside, Marnie and her friends barrel out the front door and straight to me on the sidewalk. When Marnie sees me sitting on the ground, she screams and drops down to me, her breathing labored. “Are you hurt?”
“Not at all. I feel great.” I peek over Marnie’s shoulder to find all her friends crowded around and staring down at me. But there’s no sign of my father.
“Where’s Alexander?”
“They dragged him out the back door,” Selena says. “It was lovely.”
“Was he hurt?”
“His nose was bleeding,” the platinum blonde replies with a snicker. “That seemed to be the extent of it, though.”
Marnie grabs my shoulder. “I’m sorry I came here to meet with him. I wanted to tell him to fuck off. Not for myself—but for you. But it was a mistake. He’s not worth it.”
“Thanks for wanting to go to bat for me, baby. But let’s put him in the rearview mirror now, okay? It’s full steam ahead for you and me.”
Marnie bites her lip. “What kind of full steam ahead are you envisioning?”
I grin. “Stand up, and I’ll tell you.”
With a wary look on her face, Marnie slowly rises to standing, and while she does that, I grab the ring from my pocket and shift onto one knee before her. When the vignette I’m now striking becomes a dead giveaway of my intentions, Marnie and her friends collectively gasp and titter.
Marnie’s got one hand over her mouth now, but I take her free hand in mine and say, “Marnie, my love, I’ve never been happier—and I mean that literally—than when you were wearing this ring on your finger and I was calling you my fiancée. I’ve never been happier than when you and Ripley were mine—my family. Baby, please, put this ring back on and become my fiancée again—only this time, for real and forever.”
“Yes!” Marnie screams.
My heart bursting, I slide the ring onto her finger, where it belongs. “I’ll get a replacement for this—the real thing—as soon as possible. But for now, this will have to do.”
“You didn’t actually ask her the question, Max!” one of Marnie’s friends—the cute dirty blonde one—shouts.
“Well, let me do it now.” I gaze up at Marnie, smiling. “Marnie Adele Long, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”