Page 120 of All I Feel

“Your plans for your wedding.”

Tessa looked even more confused. “What do you mean?”

“Years ago, you and Lark went out shopping and somehow came back with your hair and makeup done, and you were wearing a veil. You told me that you two wanted to know what you’d look like on your wedding days and had decided to spend the rest of the night working on planning your wedding. I’m just curious if you still have those plans.”

Her eyes searched my face for several long moments before she answered, “I do.”

“Maybe that’ll help.”

“Help what?”

“For you not to feel like things are too chaotic,” I said. “Between work and holiday parties and birthdays and Christmas festivities, having to plan a wedding might make you feel overwhelmed. I wouldn’t want to cause you any unnecessary stress.”

Again, Tessa simply stared at me in silence. My hand shifted and came to rest against the center of her chest. Her heart was pounding wildly.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Why would I have to plan a wedding?”

I smiled at her before I reached out to the nightstand, yanked open the drawer, and pulled out the ring box. Then I held it up between us.

Tessa’s eyes rounded, and she squirmed beneath me. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Are you… Are you serious?”

I lifted myself enough to free her body, and when she was sitting up, her hands covering her mouth in disbelief, I slid off the side of the bed and onto one knee.

“Ace,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Reaching for her left hand, I held on to it as I said, “Tessa Stone, you are the love of my life. I wish I would’ve known sooner that you were the woman for me, but now that I’ve got you, I never want to let you go. Will you do me the honor of giving me a lifetime with you, Princess? Will you marry me?”

The tears had escaped and spilled down her cheeks. But she managed to nod and respond. “Yes. Yes, I want a thousand lifetimes with you, Ace. Yes, yes, yes.”

Chuckling, I opened the ring box, pulled out the ring, and slid it onto her finger.

“Oh my gosh, it’s so beautiful.”

Returning to the bed, I kissed her and said, “I wanted something that would come close to being as beautiful as you.”

Tessa framed my face in her hands. “I love you, Ace Townsend.”

“I love you, Tessa Stone.”

She kissed me, tore her mouth from mine, and asked, “What are we doing today?”

“Whatever you want.”

“I want to go visit all our family and friends and tell them the good news. And when we come back home, I’mgoing to pull out those wedding plans, so we can go through them together.”

Wrapping my arms around her, I fell to my back in bed and took her with me. “Two things, Princess.”

“Okay.”

“First, I can’t tell you how much I love it when you call this place home.”

She nibbled on her lip. “Well, it is. It started out as temporary and turned very permanent a couple of months ago. And you’ve never made me feel like this wasn’t my home.”

It was nice to know that. After everything went down with Georgia at Tessa’s old place, Tessa wasn’t keen on going back to live there. So, we’d taken the steps to get her things out and move her here permanently. It was a huge relief to know she believed this place was just as much hers as it was mine.

I stroked my thumb along her cheekbone. “I’m glad.”