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"I did not trick you."

"You told me you needed my help with legal paperwork!"

"I did need your help."

"You needed my signature on a marriage license!"

"Yes. That was one of the things I needed help with."

"Jackson."

I wave a hand. "It was convenient. We were already in the same building."

"Because you manufactured a reason for us to be in the same building!"

"I really did need your help that day."

"You are so full of shit."

"That's unnecessarily hostile."

"You ambushed me with a marriage license."

"Ambushed feels dramatic, Rose. I presented you with an opportunity."

"To marry you."

"Exactly."

Okay. That one may have pushed it, because she stares at me with a particular twitch in her upper lip that I’ve grown to be wary of.

"A proposal is not a technicality, and neither is a marriage license."

"It is when the outcome has already been decided."

Her mouth drops open again. "By who?"

"Me."

She blinks at me several times. Yep. I’m in danger.

"Us," I amend.

"Interesting correction."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"I choose to receive it as one."

She's trying to glare at me, but I can see the smile fighting at the corners of her mouth now, which means I am absolutely not stopping.

"The proposal is a formality that will arrive at a time and place of my choosing."

"Maybe I don't wanna marry you. Ever considered that possibility?"

Now she's really fighting the smile.