Page 172 of High Reward

“This doesn’t feel obligatory,” I say.

“No.” He presses a kiss to my hair. “It doesn’t.”

He looks between me and Lili like he’s trying to memorize the moment, and his expression makes my chest go tight. I want this, whatever it ends up looking like, for as long as they’ll have me. Lili still isn’t living with us full time. But I’m holding out hope she’ll get there. I think we all are.

By the time the limo pulls away with Skylar half hanging out the window blowing kisses and Matteo laughing beside her, most of the wedding party has drifted back toward the reception hall for the last of the dancing. Victor doesn’t move.

“Walk with me?” He laces his fingers through mine instead of waiting for an answer, pulling me away from the noise toward the quiet side garden strung with the same fairy lights as the ceremony space.

Lili catches my eye as we go and winks, which does nothing for my nerves.

“What’s going on?” I ask once we’re alone, the music from the reception fading into something softer.

Victor doesn’t answer right away. He just looks at me for a long moment, the way he still does after all this time, like he’s cataloging every detail before he lets himself say something serious.

“I told you earlier tonight I intend to marry you,” he says. “I’ve been trying to figure out for two hours if this counts as showing up the bride, doing it the same night as her wedding.”

My heart stutters. “Victor.”

“She’s already gone.” A corner of his mouth lifts. “Technically I’m in the clear.”

He drops to one knee right there on the garden path, and every sensible thought in my head goes straight out.

“Gracelynn Marsh.” His voice doesn’t shake, not even a little, even kneeling in the grass with his hand already reaching into his jacket pocket. “I told you I don’t want a ceremony this big, and I meant it. I want something quieter. Something ours. But I’ve known since the night I found you stranded in that parking lot that I was never going to let you go, and I’m done waiting for a better moment, because there isn’t going to be one.”

He opens the box, and the ring inside catches the fairy lights, simple and beautiful, exactly what I would have picked for myself if I’d ever let myself think about it.

“Marry me.”

He isn’t really asking. He never has been, not since the beginning, and I love him too much to pretend I want him to.

“Yes.” It comes out somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “Yes, obviously yes.”

He slides the ring onto my finger and pulls me down into the grass with him, kissing me until I forget we’re supposed to be walking back to a reception at all.

When we finally do make it back, Lili is waiting by the door, and the second she sees the ring, she lets out a whoop loud enough to turn heads across the room.

“Finally,” she says, hugging me so tight I nearly lose my breath. “I thought I was going to have to do it for him.”

“You knew?” I accuse her.

“He asked my permission a month ago.” She grins at Victor over my shoulder. “Don’t worry, lover. I have zero interest in a ring of my own. This one’s all yours.”

Chapter 47

Lili

“Lover,what’sgoingon?I’ve never seen you this nervous.”

Grace turns to stare at me as if I’m crazy for asking.

“I’m about to meet my future sister-in-law for the first time at my bachelorette party. And I saw the bag of dicks you and Bellamy stashed in the limo. I don’t know what you’re planning, but I already object.”

I snort and snag her wrist, pulling her away from the vanity in the bathroom of Victor’s bedroom.

“It’s nothing bad. We’re just going to have some traditional fun.”

“With a giant bag of dildos?”