“When I’m sad, I want you to be there because then I feel less sad. When I’m happy, I want you there because I want you happy with me. I just want you there… and I want to be there for you. If you’ll let me.” Tears form but I blink them away.
“I’ll let you,” he whispers ruggedly as he lowers his lips to the dip in my throat, giving me a chance to breathe easy. And to breathe him in.
“That’s not how you say ‘yes,’ Jase. Or how you make a girl feel secure,” I tease him although my words are still a bit unsteady. He pulls back to look at me, both of his hands still on me as I add, “When she prints out a marriage certificate, you’re supposed to say yes.”
“What if I gave her something else instead?” he asks, reaching into his pocket. “What if it was a tit for tat and I asked her a question to answer her question.” My eyes turn watery as he gets down on his knee and pulls out a small black velvet box.
“I have something for you.”
I can barely speak. “Jase.”
“I love the way you say my name,” he tells me, holding the box in one hand and my left hand in his other.
“I realized when I asked you to marry me, I probably should have done it better. I thought you’d be more willing to say ‘yes’ if there was something in it for you. I didn’t think about a ring or feel like a ring would be enough.”
Tears are warm as they fall down my face and I sniffle before telling Jase, “You are enough, Jase. It baffles me how you don’t see that.” I have to sniffle again before I can tell him that I’ll remind him of it every day for as long as he lives if that’s what it takes.
“Will you marry me?” he finally asks, opening the box. I don’t have time to even look at what’s inside. I need to touch him more than look at his surprise. I need to hold him and for him to hold me.
“I love you, Jase.” I breathe against his shoulder, letting my tears fall to the thin white fabric.
“Say yes, first,” he answers in what should be a playful voice, but feels nervous.
“A million times yes. It’s always been yes.”
Sometimes you meet someone, although maybe meet isn’t quite the right word. You don’t even have to say hello for this to happen. You simply pass by them and everything in your world changes forever. Chills flow from where you imagine he’d kiss you in the crook of your neck, moving all the way down with only a single glance.
I know you know what I’m referring to. The moment when something inside of you ignites to life, recognizing the other half that’s been gone for far too long.
It burns hot, destroying any hope that it’s only a coincidence, and that life will go back to what it was. These moments are never forgotten.
That’s only with a single glance.
I can tell you what a single touch will do. It will consume you and everything you thought you knew.
I felt all of this with Jase Cross, with every flicker of the flames that roared inside of me. I knew he’d be my downfall, and I was determined to be his just the same.
He deserves as much. To have every brick in his guarded walls brought to the ground and be left to turn into something more. I want nothing between us. Nothing but us. Even if that means this world will collapse around us and become a chaos I never imagined.
So long as I’m with him, so long as his touch is within reach, I would give everything else up.
That’s the part that scared me in that first moment.
Somewhere deep inside of me I knew I would be his.
And I’ll do it again and again. In this life and the next.
Jase
You’re welcome for your gift.
It was mine to give all along.
Marcus’s handwriting stares back at me until I crumple the small parchment into my hand.
He’s had a hand in the details, but he’s slipping. More of his intention is showing. It’s contradictory and changes on a whim, but he’s falling. I can feel it.
One small token won’t save him from the consequences of his actions. Our enemies will fall one by one, as they should. Their names will be carved in stone long before I allow anyone I love to meet the same fate.
He’s the one who chose to be our enemy. A gift won’t change that.
Balling up the note, I think back on everything that’s happened. Not just to me, but also to my brothers and to Sebastian. It all comes down to the simple fact that we found irresistible attractions. And all the while, Marcus knew. He used them against us. Each and every one of us.