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He takes a pause from digging through the pancake carcass and looks up at me. “I know you’re leaving in a couple of days. Not from you, but from your dad. And there’s something I needed to ask you before you took off.”
“And you needed pancakes to do it?”
He digs around, his face pinched with anger and annoyance. It makes me grin to see him so flustered and over pancakes, no less.
His eyes widen after a couple of seconds of frantic digging, and he reaches into the mess and plucks out a scoopful of melted chocolate. “Got it!”
Kylian lets out a low moan. “So good. Another few seconds, and I’d have devoured the rest.”
Zak glares at him. “It would have been a really rough time in the bathroom tomorrow if you did, jackass.” He walks over to the sink and flips on the faucet. When he turns toward me, he holds up what used to be a lump of chocolate and now…
I blink fast.
No fucking way. It can’t be.
Taking a step toward him, my mouth falls open.
Holy crap on a cracker.
It is.
A glittering diamond engagement ring.
His lips lift into the widest smile I’ve ever seen as he crosses the room toward me and drops to his knee.
I put both of my hands to my heated cheeks. “What are you doing?”
“I told you I had a question to ask.”
“Yeah, but… but… I told you it’s over. Whatever it was. I’m leaving. I have to go—”
Zak takes me by the hand and laces his fingers with mine. I’m not wearing the sling anymore, but my arm is still a little sore so he’s gentle, gentler than I’ve ever known him to be.
“You don’t have to go. You’re gonna be a great doctor no matter where you graduate from. But if you don’t agree, that’s fine. I’m going with you.”
“What the heck are you even saying? I told you after everything happened that we’re finished, that I can’t come in second place to your family forever, wondering when another enemy target will land on my back. I don’t want that life, Zak. It’s not what I have planned for myself.”
“I had a lot of shit planned for my life, too.” His eyebrows knit together. “But it didn’t work out. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to because I needed to be here with you. There’s a reason why it was your wedding I ambushed. There’s a reason why I found my way back to you after all this time.”
“Yeah, because you wanted revenge for your family,” I groan. “See the pattern?”
He shakes his head. “I told them today I wanted out. For good.”
“Youwhat?”
“Yup. I said you’re my priority, and I want to have the freedom to choose you.”
“You can’t just turn your back on your family for me.” I squeeze his fingers the slightest bit, feeling a stab of pain at the pressure. I ignore it, though, because I’m too focused on his words. “I can’t let you walk away from them.”
He sits back on his heels. “So you aren’t good with me working with them, but you’re also not good if I walk away from them?”
“Welcome to Venus, bro,” Kylian mutters, turning on his crutches and hobbling out of the kitchen.
“Look, I know you don’t want to give up your family. And I’d never ask you to do it. But I deserve to be someone’s top priority. Not because they think it’s what I want, but because they feel it.”
“You think I’m full of shit?” His eyes narrow. “Because you’re wrong. I’m fucking crazy about you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I saved your life because I love you. I did shit my family would never have agreed to because I love you. I want to marry you becauseI love you. And if you want to go back to Brown, I’m going, too. Because I don’t want to spend another day like I have for the past three weeks without you. I need you, Skyla. And this whole thing that your brother fucking wrecked was supposed to show you I’m serious about a future with you.”
He flashes the sexy smirk that makes my knees wobble. “I gotta make the big gesture. I never wanted to be like my brothers. Yeah, I’m fucking bomb at what I do, but it’s not my dream. I lost out on one dream. I don’t want to miss out on the other one.”
