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“Really? Does that mean you’ve made some progress on the convincing-your-men-to-marry-you front?” she asks excitedly. “Because Ireallywant to plan your bachelorette party.”
“Oh, hell no.”
“That’s not what Ayla says,” she teases me in a sing-song voice that convinces me I never, not in a million years, should have introduced my little sister to that powerhouse of a woman.
Too late now, though.
“But for real, Riley, when are they going to say yes already? Iknowthey love you.”
I sigh. “I’ll wear them down eventually.”
Logan and Dante are totally on board, even though they both agree that since I can only legally marry one of them, it makes the most sense that it be Maddoc on the actual marriage certificate. The problem is that he’s the one who continues to be a holdout.
Chloe’s right. They do love me, all three of them. That’s not in question, not even from Maddoc. But marriage is still a prickly issue for him because of our history, and even though I’m determined to get my way someday, I know that every time I bring it up, he has flashbacks about his original plan to marry my sister, and how betrayed I felt.
Not to mention what Austin McKenna did to me.
That’s the past, though, and Maddoc, Dante, and Logan are my future. One day, Maddoc’s going to accept that and get the fuck over himself, because Iwillget that man’s ring on my finger. I want all four of us to be as permanent as it’s possible to become in this world.
Chloe teases me a bit more and then drags me into the little room Logan set up a high-end computer system for her in, and shows me some of the new programming stuff she’s been working on with him. Some of it goes over my head. Okay, a lot of it. But seeing her happy and knowing she’s excited about her own future means everything to me.
I stay later than I mean to, just enjoying her company, but once she starts yawning, I give her a long hug and head back home. The house is dark when I arrive, and for a second, I’m a little thrown. I figured the guys would be home since it’s late and none of them mentioned plans to be elsewhere.
Then again, they run what’s becoming one of the most powerful criminal gangs in the city. It’s not like they operate on a strict nine-to-five schedule.
I park the sleek little sports car they surprised me with a few weeks ago and head inside, and before I can decide whether or not I need to be worried about their absence, I reach the living room and catch my breath.
They’re not gone at all. They’re here, waiting for me.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, my hand flying up to cover my heart as it stutters in my chest.
The whole room is lit by candles. It’s like something out of a dream. And the best part is my men, all dressed to the nines, standing in the middle of it.
“What’s happening?” I ask, trembling a little as I approach them, my nerves jumping with anticipation.
I’m filled with a giddy kind of excitement that makes my blood feel like it’s full of champagne bubbles, but I truly have no idea what’s happening until Dante steps forward, taking my hand and going down on one knee.
“Princess,” he starts as the hot sting of tears pricks the back of my eyes. “I’m so fucking in love with you. You’re the color in my world now. You’ve been the brightest thing in it ever since the first time I saw you. You’re the strongest woman I know, and the sexiest.”
That makes me laugh, but I’m crying too, and when his quick, cocky smirk gentles into something soulful and he turns my hand over and places a single kiss on my wrist, I feel every bit of the love he’s confessing to me as I let the tears run down my cheeks and drip onto the back of his hand.
“You’re the only one my heart is ever gonna have room for,” he says, his voice going husky. “You’re not just the color in it, youaremy world, Riley Sutton. Marry me.”
“Yes,” I whisper, my heart swelling even more at the look my answer puts on his face.
I laugh again, dashing at the tears on my face as he rises to his feet and moves my hand aside to wipe them for me.
“You had to know I’d say yes.”
“I hoped. And I believed,” he says, looking into my eyes. “But I’ll never take your ‘yes’ for granted, princess, or anything else about you. Until death do us part.”
Then he kisses me so sweetly that I can’t even be mad for the fact that he just made me cry again, and when he ends it, he puts my hand into Logan’s.
Logan, who’s already down on one knee.
My hand flies up to cover my mouth, and Logan gives me that secret little smile I fell for the first time I saw it. “I spent most of my life believing I couldn’t love, that the darkness inside me had snuffed that part of my soul out, if it had even ever existed at all. I was raised by a monster, and I thought that I was one.” He pauses, then pulls my hand up to his cheek, holding it there. “Until you.”
“Logan,” I whisper, touched more deeply than I’ll ever be able to express to him.
