“Baby, I own the business, so yeah, I can take the day off. But I need to make sure that this is what youreallywant. Not because of the house, or because of all of the emotions of the past couple of months?—”
“No, Iwantto be your wife, Brooks. It’s all I ever wanted. If I’d only known—” She shakes her head sadly. “Well, like you said, we can’t dwell on that. I don’t want to waste another day. Anotherminute.I want to be Juliet Blackwell today.”
Well, that’s a punch to the gut.
“They’re not open quite yet.” I smile softly and ghost my fingertips over her jawline. “A quick visit to the justice of the peace isn’t the wedding you deserve, Juliet.”
“I don’t honestlycareabout the hoopla. Don’t get me wrong, I plan to be very loud and obnoxious about announcing to anyone who will listen that I finally got you to marry me.”
I snort, but she keeps talking.
“And we can have that party with close friends and family, which means it won’t be asmallparty at all.”
“Not in the least.”
“But I want it to be today. I don’t want to wait months to plan something. I’ll hire Charlie Lexington to plan our reception.”
I take a long, deep breath and nudge her lips up to meet my own. “I love you so much, Wildfire.”
“I love you, too.”
I stand and pick her up, then walk us inside and back to the bedroom, where I set her gently on the side of the bed and then cross to the dresser and pull a black velvet box out from under my socks.
When I turn around, her eyes widen, pinned to the box in my hands, and I move slowly back to her, then kneel in front of her. Her hands are clenched tightly together in her lap, and she’s chewing so hard on that bottom lip that I’m surprised she’s not bleeding.
I pull the ring that I’ve held on to for all these years out of the box, then set the box aside and reach for her hand.
“I’ve held on to this for you. It was always supposed to be yours.”
Tears spill down onto her cheeks as she stares at the small diamond ring.
“I would buy you something bigger now?—”
“I want this one,” she says, shaking her head, and I can’t help but smile and lean in to kiss her cheek, then down to her neck and breathe her in.
“You’re the sweetest thing, Wildfire. God, I fucking love you.”
“I love you, too. Do I get to wear that now?”
I chuckle and pull back to do this right. “I have to ask a question first. Will you?—”
“Yes.”
“—please do me the honor?—”
“Absolutely.”
“—of marrying me?—”
“Without question.”
“—and being my wife?”
“A million times yes. Yes, yes, yes.” She sticks her shaking hand out, and I slip the ring on her finger. It fits perfectly. I bring her hand up to my lips and press a kiss there, and then she’s in my arms, laughing and crying and holding on so tight, she might strangle me.
I don’t mind.
“We can do it today?” she asks.
