Page 202 of Nobody's Girl

My mouth drops open and I am speechless. More than that, I’m mindless. I cannot accept what he’s about to ask of me. I look around the room for an escape, but there is none.

“Alyssa Shaylee Devlin, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

“How do you know my middle name?”

His face makes me laugh as he pulls it back in confusion. “Alyssa, please. I’m being serious here, baby.”

“You are?” I ask. “You can’t possibly be. We don’t even know each other. This is our second kiss. Well, a bit more than a kiss, but you know what I mean.”

Still kneeling, he cocks his head to the side and opens the box. An enormous diamond ring appears, yet he doesn’t even gesture to it.

“So, making love is not a thing you care to do anytime soon, then?”

“I’d like to. I’d do it right now if you would,” I answer.

“Your immortal soul means nothing to you?” he asks, and I can’t believe he’s serious.

“Really, Eden? I mean, I declared my love to you. There are some who don’t even do that much before they hit the sheets together.”

As he leans on my knees, the ring on my thigh takes my attention for a second before he speaks. “Alyssa, just as the vulgar language was overlooked by you as something everyone does, this has been as well. You should not give yourself to someone completely until you have made vows to each other. Feelings are involved and in many cases offspring, um, I mean, children. You wouldn’t want to do such a thing with no commitment. It’s reckless in more than one way. Not to mention, one day you will not live here. You’ll face Our Creator and then what?”

“Our Creator? You mean God? He doesn’t care if we get a paper from the courthouse or not,” I say, and my eyes can’t seem to stop catching how the diamond in that ring sparkles.

His delightful laugh perks my ears and takes my attention to his mouth. His delicious mouth, which I wouldn’t mind taking another taste of if he would just let me.

“I care nothing about the paper either. I do care about making a promise to Our Creator, though. I’m afraid I won’t be able to complete the act until we have. I love and respect you way too much.”

My mouth moves before my mind does. “How long until we can marry?”

His eyes sparkle. “Does that mean yes?”

“How long?” I look him squarely in the eyes.

“As soon as possible,” he answers.

I look into his eyes, making sure he’s serious. “I’ll be eighteen in a little over a week. We can go to Las Vegas and get it done.”

A frown covers his very gorgeous face and I don’t like it. I want to see that face only with happy expressions.

“I want a priest to do it, Alyssa. I have to insist. It’s not about the paper, which we will have too. It’s about a priest and a ceremony and our families witnessing it. It can still be on your eighteenth birthday. Please understand. I’ll talk more with you about it as we stay together throughout our engagement.”

Our engagement! That ring is gorgeous and so is he. Inside and out, he is, and he makes me feel like no one else could ever do.

“Yes! I will marry you, Eden.”

I can’t believe it!

His hands shake as he takes the ring from the box. I hold out my left hand and then I see it. The little heart-shaped diamond ring Kyle gave me.

Eden sees it too and frowns. “You’ll need to take that off, Alyssa.”

What am I doing? This will kill Kyle.

I search Eden’s eyes and find the spark I always feel with him. With a heaviness in my heart, I pull Kyle’s ring from my finger and place it on a finger on my right hand.

Eden smiles as he places his ring on my finger, which fits perfectly. That’s crazy, but no more crazy than what I’m doing now.