Snack (22 page)

He bites his lip. “No, no time for that, Minnie. If you even breathe on my dick I’ll lose it. I need to be in you, like yesterday.”

I give no argument and only guide him into me. I’m so wet and ready he slides in easily in two thrusts. Then he stills and I can feel his girth expand even as he’s in me. Snack closes his eyes, cocks his head, and sucks his lips together.

“Mmm,” he moans. It’s like he just tasted something delicious. He looks so happy.

I thrust against Snack and he meets me. We slowly rock into each other until the languid pace is not enough. I grab at his ass and the rhythm becomes pounding, punishing, perfect! I become dizzy as we both orgasm, screaming each other’s names, arms grasping for each other.

God, I’m so glad my brothers made me take a shower and get my shit together!

I’m embarrassed to say I think I may have had that last pair of underwear on for three days. I chuckle to myself.

Snack tried to catch his breath. “What are you laughing about?”

I can’t tell him about the dirty panty thing. “Just something Clip said.”

Snack smirks. “I don’t want to hear it. You said never to listen to him again.”

I rest my head on Snack’s chest and smile. “He said we were two of the stupidest smart people he ever met.”

Snack laughs aloud. It resonates in my ear. “I hate to say it, but in this case, I think Clip is right.”

Coming downstairs in the morning after our night of confessions and declarations and much more lovemaking wasn’t awkward at all. It was perfect.

We slept in so SNACKS is in full swing when we join the café. Snack carries Wookiee, who with the exception of whimpering a bit and needing a pain pill in the middle of the night, was doing fine with the trip to Downers Grove.

Aiden and Fifi come running the minute they see us.

Fifi stops in her tracks at the sight of Wookiee, bandaged and broken, “Oh no, Wookiee. Gil told us he got hurt. Poor baby!”

Wookiee wags his stubby tail and I swear his eyes brightened.

“Can I hold him?”

Snack looks to me and I nod. “Maybe sit down and we’ll put him in your lap. We don’t want him to fall.”

“Good idea.” Fifi clambers into one of the café chairs. Snack places Wookiee on her lap. Fifi kisses him over and over and tells him what a brave boy he is and how much she loves him. Aiden comes over and gives Wookiee the sweetest little boy kiss on the head. They really love my fur boy.

I sit next to Fifi and Wookiee in case he wiggles too much and she needs help.

Snack gets coffee and scones from Colette and comes back to the table. He sits next to Aiden who promptly asks, “Did you have a sleepover?”

Snack smiles and bends down to kiss his son’s forehead. “Yes we did, Aiden.”

“I’m glad. Sleepovers make you happy. Are you going to stop being sad now?

Nodding while looking at me, Snack tells him, “Minnie makes me happy. And yes, I’m definitely going to stop being sad now.”

The door opens and my dad, Sid, Clip, and Jennifer Jacksy enter SNACKS. Dad stops to take Colette’s hand and they move over to the table.

Fifi’s head has been moving back and forth, carefully monitoring all the elements of the conversation, verbal and non-verbal, when she suddenly chirps, “Are you gonna be my new mom, Minnie?”

The others arrive at the table just as Fifi asks her question. They, each and every one, laugh without reserve.

My jaw drops in disbelief

Snack lets out a huge guffaw. “I can’t believe my seven-year-old just proposed to you.” But after a beat he adds, “But what do you think?”

Wookiee loudly barks his approval. The first full bark out of him since the accident.

Raising an eyebrow and looking around at all the people I care for most in this world, I say, “I think you have at least one of us sold.”

I know just the words I want to say.

“Minnie, you are my best friend. I’ve loved you since the day we met. I fell in love with you every day since. When we went to college and met other people—I still loved you even though you had made the jump across the hyperspace of time. See what I did there?” Wink.

“But in my heart we were NBU. I love you now in the most impossibly desperate way. Never leave me. I think you and me and Wookiee and Fifi and Aiden make a great team. And I miss having a team. I want a bigger team of little Snacks. Please make me the happiest I could ever be and marry me.”

Then I’m gonna kneel down and give her a little chunk of sparkliness in a teal blue box.

Yeah, and I’m probably gonna fucking cry.

What do you think? You think she’ll say yes after twenty-six years, three weeks, and eleven hours?

Thank you:

Lauren Schmelz and Janine Weathers from the Write Divas. Thank you is not enough. You’re tough and thorough and make me work harder and therefore, better.

Oh, and Mr. Lauren – Thanks for the HVAC tip.

Sarah Hansen from Okay Creations. Thank you for my beautiful cover. I don’t know how you do it, but you do it right.

Jason and Marina at Polgarus Studios.

My Beta readers: Isabelle, Karrie, Brian, and Theresa .

Anne Wathen, my legal consultant. Thanks for keeping me organized and legal.

My fellow authors/friends and book bloggers, some I’ve never met in person, but who have inspired and helped me even if they didn’t know it:

Isabelle Peterson

Liv Morris

Rachel Robinson

Theresa Troutman

Z.B. Heller

And Jamie McGuire-for your FAQs for Writers page on your website.

The talented authors of BFFS and 101.

And last-the loves of my life, BC, The Connor Boys, and Jasper. You give me the best ideas and lines.

Emme Burton is the author of the Better Than Series: Better Than Me, Fix It For Us, and Still Into You. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her amazing husband and sons, and her “fur boy.” Emme has never, ever been lost in a mall either as a child or an adult. Her mother, and now her family, have always known where to find her. At the bookstore.

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