But...all of them were superficial in the face of what he’d said and how I felt in return.
There was something between us.
Something that couldn’t be explained, rationalized, or stopped.
I’d felt it the moment I first saw him, naked and furious, racing up the stairs to strangle me. And he’d felt it through every fight, every curse, every heartfelt evolution.
So, yes, it was fast.
Yes, it was scary and strange, and I’d most likely be called stupid for falling, but...I’d found my soul mate too.
Kas didn’t say a word as I turned to face him fully.
I reached up to cup his cheek.
Our eyes locked, and that buzz, that energy between us multiplied until it hummed in my blood and buried deep into my bones. It was there to stay. A faint unexplainable, inescapable knowledge that I was his.
A few months ago, marriage would’ve been as unfathomable for him as a wedding for a mountain lion, but now...now it seemed almost necessary.
He hadn’t just asked me to marry him so he could claim every part of me. He did it so he was free to give me every piece of himself in return.
To be bound by paper the way we already were by choice.
I’d saved his life.
There would be plenty more moments where he would need my help.
And I was okay with that.
I was ready for it.
I wanted the good and the bad, the happy and the sad.
I wanted to be beside him every step of the way.
Because I love him unconditionally.
It wasn’t even a question that needed an answer.
We’d already made it.
“Kas, I—”
The front door swung wide, interrupting the fragile, brilliant moment.
My gaze slid from Kas to my mother as she tripped into my house, dropped her handbag by the side table, and sprinted for me.
“Gemma!” Her arms went around Kas and me as tears poured down her face.
My mother hugged me as well as a perfect stranger she’d never met. She clutched Kas close, spilling tears on both of us, and in a crazy moment of symbolism, she proved that Kas did have a family. A legal family. The Ashford family.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I hugged my mom back all while seeking Kas’s messy, miraculous stare.
I smiled.
I nodded.
And I whispered...
“Yes.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“SO...IF YOU’RE SOME sort of kid raised in the forest by raping bastards, how do you know what marriage is?” Josh asked, handing me a bottle of vibrant-colored liquid that claimed to provide a body’s requirements of electrolytes and minerals after a hard workout.
Josh caught me eyeing the label suspiciously. “It was the only thing in Gem’s fridge. She always has a stack of Gatorades for her late-night climbing sessions.”
I nodded in thanks and twisted the cap off, sniffing the sugary water. Supposed it couldn’t hurt—especially since the doctors said I was low in a bunch of vitamins.
He sat next to me at the outdoor table in Gem’s backyard. The afternoon sun granted a warm ambience, dappling the leaves above us.
I stayed tense, just in case his cease-fire was a ruse, but I did my best to relax too.
I was outside.
I was back in a place I could function.
This was my favorite spot at Gem’s house.
When she’d herded us all out here after a tearful reunion with her mother—and a hug that’d both put me on edge and also calmed me—I’d been able to take another proper breath since holding her in my arms.
She said yes.
Holy shit.
I hadn’t planned on saying any of that. I didn’t know where all that stuff came from or why, in that moment, it’d become the most important thing in the world to me. The only thing I ever wanted. Something I never thought I’d have.
Fuck.
Did I really...propose?
I didn’t get down on one knee. Wasn’t that what those characters did? I didn’t buy her fancy flowers or slay a dragon to make her choose me. Christ, I didn’t even have any money to get her a ring.
Jesus, what had I been thinking?
I know what I was thinking.
Gemma.
I wanted her for myself. Forever.
I wanted the world to know she was mine. To show everyone who might try to take me away again, who might try to claim me, that I was already claimed.
I’d chosen my new master.
I’d chosen her.
It was my choice.
My decision to fall and dedicate my entire life to hers.
It was a fucking honor to love her, and I never wanted to have that taken away from me—never wanted to feel the way I did this morning, worrying that I was one screw-up away from destroying everything good between us.
She’s mine.
And God, that knowledge settled the jagged parts of me I couldn’t control. Hopefully, my mind would behave now. She owned me, body and soul, so it made sense that she could help me control my triggers better.
After all, hearing her say yes had granted a strange kind of pride and a wonderful kind of peace.