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The door opens and Laiken walks in, freezing as soon as she sees the scene in front of her. I’m honestly not sure I’m breathing at all as she drops her bag and looks around. Finally, her eyes land on me, but I can’t seem to get a read on them.
“Did you hit your head recently?” she asks.
I chuckle because I expected this. “No.”
“Drugs?”
Taking a step toward her, I shake my head slowly. “Nope.”
“Some kind of fucked-up dare where the guys are going to jump out and say I’ve been Punk’d, like you all used to do a few years ago?”
My grin widens as I pull the ring box from my pocket and open it in front of her. All of the air leaves her lungs in one breath and she stares at the gorgeous diamond in disbelief.
“You’re seriously proposing to me right now?”
Yes.“You say that like it’s such an outrageous concept.”
She looks a little skeptical. “Notoutrageous, just not like you.”
Her words instantly make me wonder if I haven’t done nearly enough to prove to her how much she means to me. How important she is.
“What do you mean?” I ask nervously.
“Hayes,” she sighs. “It took you until a month ago just to sayI love you.”
I huff out a laugh. “Yeah, because I’m a pussy. Not because I haven’t been completely fucking gone for you from the start.”
The way she smiles gives me a little hope. “I just don’t want you to feel like you need to rush into this. I’m not going anywhere. Okay? Just because I can’t live with you right now doesn’t mean I’m not going to be here every day.”
“No,” I say, cutting her off from saying anything else. “Let me make something very clear here, because I’m not sure you fully understand.”
Taking a step closer, I rest my arms on her shoulders and stare into her eyes—really making sure she’s listening to every word coming out of my mouth.
“You’re it for me, Laiken. I don’t care if it’s been a few months or thirty goddamn years. That isn’t going to change. So, you can say no and we can play the long game if that’s what you want. We can take it slow. But I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you, regardless.” A single tear slides down her cheek and I gently wipe it away. “This isn’t me trying to rush into something to get my way. This is me acting on what I want with absolute certainty that it’s the right move—because you are thebest thingthat has ever happened to me. And I don’t need to wait in order to know that you’re the one I want to grow old with.”
Her bottom lip quivers, and her gaze doesn’t leave mine as she swats away each tear that slips out. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I question, hope swelling inside my chest.
She nods and a smile spreads over her face. “Okay. Ask me.”
My heart jolts, nearly lunging from my chest and throwing itself at her feet. The future is always a crapshoot. There’s no way of knowing what will happen. But the one thing I do know is that this woman will forever be the one for me. There will never be a time where I don’t love her with everything I have.
I grin, trying not to tear up myself as I drop down onto one knee in front of her. She giggles as she cries happily and watches as I open the box once more.
“Laiken Rose,” I say, looking up at her and almost swaying from the intensity of my feelings for her. “If I’ve learned anything over the last few months, it’s that this life isn’t worth living if I don’t have you by my side. I’m already the luckiest man in the world for getting any time with you at all, but I’m greedy and I want every second you have to give. So, for the love of God, marry me, because anything less than forever with you just isn’t enough for me.”
She’s a mess by the end of it, letting the tears drip from her face and onto her shirt, but she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. And when she manages to nod up and down, I know this image is going to be burned into my mind until the end of time.
“Yes?” I double-check.
She nods. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
I have heard a lot of amazing things in my life, but the sound of those words coming out of her mouth easily takes the top spot. With one sentence, she makes me the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life. I stand up and wrap my arms around her, kissing her with every possible thing I’ve got.
She’s been my best friend’s sister, my only secret, and my girlfriend. Now, she’s my fiancée. And I can’t fucking wait for the day where she becomes my wife.
Pulling the ring out of the box, the two of us are all happiness and smiles as I slide it onto her finger. Just seeing it there, knowing she’s mine, it does things to me. It sets me on fire and makes me feel safe all at once.
