“Why?”

He knows why. The last time we showered together, he held me close like this, got me all revved up, then grabbed the soap, washed himself, and left for work. It’s not his fault. I did the same thing the time before that. Again, comes back to being the veggies of the sex meal.

“Okay. The guessing game,” he says when I don’t answer. “I’ll play, but you know I don’t like it.” He gently rocks me. “Your vampire show didn’t record?”

I snort a laugh into the water. “I haven’t checked. But it better have.”

He swipes my hair off my neck, and I feel his smile against my skin. “Hmm…the Jets have no shot at making the playoffs. I feel your pain. I cried it all out last night. Now it’s your turn.”

I playfully elbow him in the stomach, but despite my abuse, Landon’s arms tighten around me, thumb reassuringly rubbing my hipbone.

“No…I think I know what this is really about.” He pulls at the skin by my bellybutton. I raise an eyebrow because there is nothing wrong. I’m just horny.

“Did you want a baby?” he asks, and my jaw drops.

“Huh?”

“It’s okay if you did. I…I mean, I want to have kids with you someday.”

Someday…yes. But not today. I grin at the scared-as-hell look on his face. That’s the great thing about the longtime relationship. I know his looks. I know his smiles, his frowns, his laughs. I reach to him, and his hand slips through my wet blond hair, hugs the back of my head, and pulls me into his shoulder. I lock my arms around his torso, ignore the sweet buzzing all over my stomach and heart and sides. His fingers massage my scalp as he rocks me.

“I like the idea of having a permanent piece of you,” I admit into his wet skin.

“You already have a permanent piece of me.” One of his hands slides down the length of my back. “Hell, you have the whole thing.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Okay…if you really want…I’ll impregnate you. Open up.” He pushes at my thighs, and I smack his shoulders.

“Pretty sure I want us to be married first. And I don’t know…older.” Like years ahead of us. We can barely afford to feed ourselves.

“You…you said married.”

“I did.”

I push back on his chest, and he scratches his dark hair. “Just letting you know I’m not freaking out about it.”

“This is not freaking out about it?” I say, circling my finger at his face. It could be the steam from the shower making it smoke red, but it sure doesn’t seem that way.

“I let it slide like it was nothing.”

“You did not.”

He growls, playfully nipping at my neck. “Well, I’m not freaking out,” he muffles against my skin, creating goose bumps up and down my spine. “Because, you know, we’re in the spot.”

“Huh?”

“You know, the spot.”

“In the shower?” I laugh when his red face darkens a shade.

“No, I mean…I love you. And it’s not like I’m going to break up with you. And I’m pretty sure you want to be stuck with me.”

“You think we’re stuck? That’s ‘the spot’?”

“No. Shit, it’s coming out wrong.”

“I don’t even know what you’re trying to say.” I laugh, bending down to adjust the heat on the water.

“I’m saying there’s no reason for me to freak out because I want to marry you. I think, you know, we should get married.”

My hand stops dead on the tap, and I crick my neck to catch his expression. He’s gone from red wine to white in the blink of an eye, water dripping from his dark hair down his forehead, and he frantically wipes it away. Then he reaches for me, pulls me up against him, hiding his face.

“Um…what did you just say?” I croak, my heart suddenly beating out of my skull. A tidal wave rushes through my stomach, and my nails dig into his shoulders to make sure I’m not dreaming or something.

He slowly backs away from my neck, eyes wide as grapefruits. “I didn’t mean…oh shit…it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.”

He falls forward, pushing me against the cold tile and hitting his forehead on the wall near my cheek.

“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” I ask through a small laugh. Seconds ago, he was boasting about not freaking out, and now he’s gone bat crazy.

“I had it all planned,” he grumbles into the tile. The echoes bounce off my shoulder. “I even bought a suit. Outside patio dinner, clear night for stars…I was going to pull out all the romantic stops, and it just falls out when we’re in the shower.”

“Landon, are you being serious? I can never tell.”

“Because I’m never serious?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

He lifts his head, eyes meeting mine, and a nervous twitch pulls at the corner of his mouth. “Will you marry me?”

My heart’s still thumping through my brain.

“The test was negative, Landon,” I try to joke, but it comes out wobbly. “You don’t have to—”

“I know.” His palms cradle my face, drops of water falling from his eyelashes. “Will you marry me?”

His misty lips make contact with my nose. I’m still trying to process if he’s serious or not.

“Really? This isn’t because of that pregnancy test, is it?”

“I was planning on asking a few weeks ago. Cross my heart, the ring’s been in this apartment for at least a month.”

My eyes flick back and forth between his, searching, searching, searching for a lie, a joke, a tease, something. But it’s all honesty and nerves and love. So much love I find myself slipping on the wall, losing strength in my knees.

“You are serious.”

“I love you, Liz. Marry me? Please?”

I feel a smile tug on my mouth. The water’s getting too cold to stay underneath, but my body temperature rises, my skin boiling under his touch. I grip his forearms, holding myself steady while he continues to cup my cheeks.

I love every bit of this man, every piece of his heart and soul and mind and body. So even though I wasn’t expecting it this way, even though I was just internally moaning about not getting any spontaneous loving, I practically shout my answer at him.

“Yes.”

“Yes?” He pulls back, the stream of water hitting him square in the face. I laugh and bat it away from him. “Yes…you said yes?”

“Yes, I said yes.”

A large relieved breath leaves his mouth before he presses it to mine. Landon’s arms circle my torso, pull me up against his now hot and slick body, and every ounce of disappointment I was feeling evaporates with the shower steam.

“I thought I royally botched that.” He laughs, and a wave of minty breath travels from his mouth to mine.

“You did,” I tease before closing the gap between our lips again. “But I love you.”

He tickles just under my arm, enough for me to jerk and slip in the tub. But his arms stay strong around my waist, holding me steady as his tongue glides across mine. Happy and excited whimpers somersault in my throat, and I know Landon loves when I make those noises so I exaggerate them a bit for his benefit.

His scruff grazes the hollow by my shoulder as he grips my right breast and slides down my body. More of those noises run wild over my lips, now one hundred percent legitimate, echoing around the shower walls. Landon’s hands are all over me, slipping over the cooling water cascading over our bodies. His mouth keeps going down, down, down with aggressive kisses and nibbles, and my knees shake so bad I’m not sure how I’m standing.

Hell. Yes. Spontaneous nookie! I let my mind forget that it’s a given since we just got engaged. I’m going to ride the hell out of him in the shower just like we used to. And after we slip, we’ll keep on going in the bedroom.

I grip the top of his head and yank him up, wanting to kiss his mouth, his cheeks, his eyelids, his chin, his neck, his shoulders…but I grab too hard, and he yelps an “Ouch!”

“Oops,” I say, kissing my fingertips and pressing them to his hair.

He rubs his head, water trickling down his upturned lips. “Didn’t know you wanted it rough.” His hand tangles in the wet strands sticking to my upper back, and he tugs enough to expose my neck. His lips tease and tickle just under my jaw, and I feel him smile right before his teeth dig in, and he sucks…hard.