“Is everything okay?” I ask, my voice soft in the big kitchen.
For a beat, he looks at the floor, but he pushes between my thighs, rubbing his hands up my legs, gripping them firmly. “Yeah, I just…”
My heart flutters. His unease disquiets my soul.
When I capture his face in between my palms, he meets my gaze and there’s a tortured emotion behind those warm, amber eyes.
“I was a bastard, sweetheart.” He searches my face, anger in his gaze. “I’m fucking kicking my own ass because I took advantage of your emotions and didn’t even ask if you wanted your things moved in before I did it.”
Oh no. No. He’s not going to feel like that.
“Whoa.” I press my fingers over his lips, brushing against his scruff, before he can go on berating himself. “You didn’t take advantage of me. I love what you did. Everything.”
Breath held, the man looks right into my soul. Unblinking.
And for the first time ever, I feel truly seen.
For a long time he just studies my face and I try to inhale around the gigantic thing pressing up from my chest, into my throat.
“I’ve never wanted anything like I want you, it makes me dangerous.”
“I like dangerous when it comes to you.” I pull him closer, bringing his mouth down to mine. My pulse thudding, the gravity of the moment pressing in around us. “I’m completely sure, Chase. And I love knowing you wanted me so much.”
He pauses for a second, then lifts his serious gaze to mine.
“Marry me, Celeste.”
Something bright and electric pops behind my sternum. I wait for him to laugh, to crack a joke, but I’ve never seen the man anything but serious when it comes to me.
“Yes!” I sober up, touching his cheek to make sure he sees how serious I am. “I’m already yours. I love you. Make me your wife.”
Bracing his legs wide, he reaches into his pocket. He looks right into my eyes as he slides a ring onto my finger that fits like it was made for me…
Because of course it was.
“I love you. You just made me happier than I ever knew I could be.”
He pulls me forward, kisses me with so much heart, I’m a water-streaked mess when he pulls back.
When I see his expression, I know there’s more. Something else he needs to say.
“I won’t be taking out of town missions any more. I want to be home with you. We’ll travel. We’ll make babies. We’ll do whatever it is that makes you happy. I know you love art, Celeste. I overheard you tell someone at the restaurant about the flowers on your arm and how they are a copy of your grandmother’s painting.”
He traces his fingertips over the violet and lily blossoms, making my breath catch.
He continues in a husky tone. “I saw the books you had at your apartment. I’m already planning on building you a gallery, a workshop where you can host classes. I just want to know if you’d like that to be your grandmother’s home. If so, we’ll remodel it in a way that preserves the character.”
This isn’t an ambush, this is a resurrection of my belief in good.
“Okay,” I whisper, “I’m in. For all of it. Now feed me that food you made so we can go make love. I need you, myfiancé, inside of me, because that’s where Daddy belongs.”
TWENTY
EPILOGUE
Chase
One Year Later
