Ellie's Point of View

Daniel swirls his fingertips across my skin as they inch up my thigh. He inches them under the hem of my shorts and squeezes my thigh, tugging me impossibly closer. I hook my arm around his neck and tangle my fingers in his soft blonde hair and tug on it. I tug a little hard so his head slightly tilts back and I can trail kisses up the length of his neck, across his jawline, and to his lips. He bites my lower lip, then wildly kisses me.

The doorbell rings and I lean back to glance at Daniel. We blankly stare at each other, and then it rings again.

"Are you expecting anyone?" he asks.

I check my phone just to make sure I didn't miss a message from Craig, but there are no messages from anyone.

"I have no messages from Craig unless something bad happened and he came straight over." I jump up and race to the door with Daniel hot on my heels. He ducks in front and opens the front door. I peer over his shoulder and smile at the sight of Henry and Harvey.

"Hey guys," they say.

"Hope we weren't interrupting anything." Henry laughs.

Daniel adjusts his shorts and shoots them a glare.

"Clara told me you were child-free tonight, so we thought we'd surprise you with food and drinks," Henry says.

Daniel looks over his shoulder and raises an eyebrow.

"What a wonderful idea! You've been saying it would be nice to have another guy's night."

His blue eyes search mine for an excuse, but I stay firm with a smile and nod for reassurance. Sometimes Noah doesn't want to spend the night with Craig, so our child-free nights are hard to come by, but after our family picnic, he needs this more than ever.

He opens the door wider and points to the kitchen. I catch Daniel's hand and weave my fingers between his.

"I'm going to visit my Mum so you three can have the house to yourselves."

"You don't have to leave."

"I want you three to have space and talk shit freely. Besides, Mum's been nagging me to come and hang out with her. The only house rule is to keep the noise down because Mrs. Potts isn't happy with us for some reason. She glared at me the other morning when she was watering her agapanthas."

"Maybe she wasn't wearing her glasses?"

"She doesn't have glasses."

"Welp, she needs them then." He chuckles.

"Have fun."

Daniel cups my face and plants a soft kiss against my lips.

"I love you," he whispers.

"And you."

* * * * *

Daniel's Point of View

"I hope neither of you have work tomorrow," I say as I place the case of beer in the fridge.

"Just Harvey but he'll be fine." Henry bumps his shoulder into Harvey's.

"I'll be fine in the name of brotherly bonding, plus we have heaps of food." Harvey holds up the tin foil tray and a bag of snacks. He places them on the table and Henry helps unpack it while I grab three beers from the case.

"We went a little overboard with the food, but we couldn't decide what to bring and Aubrey offered to make her honey BBQ wings." Henry grins.

"Perfect. Thanks for bringing it over," I say.

"Anyone for a game of cards?" Harvey asks.

"Sure." Henry nods.

"Presidents and assholes?" Harvy asks.

"Hopefully I have cards somewhere." I check through the draws in the buffet and luckily in the last drawer, there's a fresh deck. I deal the first round and slide the cards to them. They hold their cards to their chest and rearrange them.

"If you can't place a card, you have to drink," Henry comments.

"Oh, we're playing drinking games now?" I chuckle.

"It's the first time the three of us are child-free, I think we should make the most of it."

"It's very convenient we're all child-free on the same night." I eye the pair.

"I was surprised when Aubrey suggested this." Harvey tries to play cool, but I can see through it.

"I wonder if Ellie was involved in this scheme Clara and Aubrey seem to have cooked up."

"We wanted to check in on you," Henry comments.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Who has the three?"

Henry places two cards on the table and looks at Harvey.

"You can talk to us about anything; we're your brothers."

Harvey squeezes my shoulder and shoots me that sympathetic smile I hate seeing on people.

"I didn't know how to talk about the abortion or how I was supposed to feel about it."

"You can feel however you want, say whatever you want. There's no judgment here." Harvey raises his hands.

"Thanks."

Harvey plays his cards and I take a swig of beer because my terrible shuffling seemed to have given me no doubles.

"How's things with Ellie and Mum now?" Henry asks.

"She wants to have dinner with the four, maybe five of us if we include Noah. I think we'll finally make progress now she understands everything."

"We can take Noah for the evening if you need," Henry offers.

"Thanks."

"You deserve Ellie and all the happiness she brings you."

"I want to propose."

"Will she say yes?" Harvey laughs.

"Are you sure the timing is right?" Henry asks.

"Everything is on the mend, so I think yes."

"Maybe give it a couple of weeks; let the dust settle."

"Maybe I should wait a little longer."

"Sounds like a good idea, although we are excited for you to join the married club," Harvey says. "We can congregate on Fridays."

"Let us know if we need to do any more family events. Clara will happily organise whatever you need because she loves Ellie. I don't think she would handle a breakup." Henry laughs.

"I hope dinner will be enough to smooth everything over, then we can go back to Sunday night dinners and wedding ring shopping."

"Soon enough we'll be planning your bucks night."

* * * * *

Ellie's Point of View

Henry and Harvey are leaving the house when I pull into the driveway. I wander up the driveway and those two pull me into hugs - they're both very merry.

"I see you both had a good night." I chuckle.

"We did, thanks for having us," Harvey says.

"We must bid you goodnight future Mrs. Sullivan," Henry drunkenly calls out.

Harvey grabs Henry's arm and helps him into Aubrey's car. I wave goodbye to them before wandering inside. I find Daniel lounging on the couch with rosy cheeks. I place my hands on the side and lean over the edge.

"Did you have a good night?"

"Yes."

"Ready for bed?" I yawn.

Daniel rolls off the couch and scoops me up, and tosses me over his shoulder. He slaps my bottom and heads to our bedroom. I hook my legs around his waist and wiggle down his torso. He plonks me on the bed, then turns to the nightstand.

"Which book are we reading tonight?" Daniel glances at the tower of books on the nightstand.

"You want to read stories on a kid-free night?" I frown.

"We got up to a really good chapter which would make great foreplay."

"Oh, I see where this is going but we don't need the book."

I slide my t-shirt over my head and drop it on the floor. I hook my thumbs into the waistband of my shorts and shimmy out of them as well. Daniel's eyes slowly trail the length of my body, drinking in all the details.

"Fuck, you get more beautiful each time I see you." His hand grazes my thigh before settling on my hip. His nose circles mine and then his lips crash against mine. His other hand slides up my sternum and cups my cheek. He pecks my lips and works his way back down my body.

"I love you," he whispers over my skin.

He works his way down to my stomach and mumbles something against my skin. I pull him up and hook my finger under the hem of his t-shirt. I help him tug it over his head and discard it on the floor.

"I can't wait to be inside you," he groans.

His words pool heat to my core.

How did I ever think being single for the rest of my life would be okay? I can't seem to get enough of this man!

Daniel lays beside me and I feel the heat radiating from his body. He rolls onto his side and props himself up with his arm. He traces his fingers up the length of my arm and kisses my shoulder. I lean over and trace the length of his jaw with my fingertip.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I ask.

His cheeks are a cute flushed pink and there's a spark of excitement buzzing in his blue eyes.

"Would you say yes if I asked?"

I lean back and stretch my arms over my head and smile.

"Yes to a midnight snack? Yes to cuddling you right now?" I chuckle.

His fingers stop tracing swirls, so I glance back.

The smile fades and his brows knit together.

"Yes to marrying me."

"Maybe." I chuckle.

His brows fuse and I realise this is a more serious question than I anticipated.

I prop myself up and slide my hand over his chest and cup his cheek.

"Yes, a million yeses."

He leans over and our lips meet. Those little sparks flutter in the pit of my stomach again.

"Does that mean you're officially asking?"

"No, you deserve better."

"Why the question?"

"I was worried that my family might finally be too much. After everything that's happened, I need to a little more reassurance than usual."

"You have nothing to be worried about because we're making progress. I'm inspired by your courage with your mother, so I want to do the same about Noah and Craig. Maybe we can meet and she can ask all the questions she needs and maybe she'll finally understand and accept me."

"She suggested having dinner."

"With Noah?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Henry offered to babysit."

"Oh, you've got it all worked out."

"I just want everything to work out."

"Book the dinner with your parents."

He pecks my cheek and nuzzles into my side. I wiggle around until I'm able to rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. Daniel securely wraps me in his arms and we drift into a comfortable sleep. 

* * * * *