I wrap my arms around his shoulders, hanging on as he shifts us to find a comfortable position. “I don’t know what I did to get so lucky,” I whisper against his lips as my gaze searches his.
“Lucky? You have a lack of self-preservation I had to keep saving you from.”
“You are my hero. You know that.”
“I know, and there’s nothing else I’d want to be,” he whispers back.
I press my mouth to his as the sun warms my skin. The only thing hotter is his palm against my back, holding me to him like a tether.
He pulls away, breaking the most perfect kiss. “Lulu.”
“Yeah?” I ask as my eyes flutter open.
“I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want this forever? Want me?”
My fingers graze the back of his neck, near the ends of his hair. “Of course.”
“I want forever with you, sweetheart.”
“Me too.”
“I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you, and Iknow you’re it for me. I knew from the moment we met that my life would never be the same.”
Oh my God. Oh my God.
My eyes widen as he holds a box between us. Not just any box, but a ring box covered in green velvet.
“I don’t want to date anymore. I don’t want you to be only my girlfriend. I want you to be my wife. I want forever with you. I want babies, lots of babies, and a family. I want to spend eternity here with you and beyond, if there’s something else after this. Lulu Gallo, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Oliver,” I whisper as my vision blurs and my eyes fill with water.
I’d hoped this day would come. We haven’t really talked much about the future, deciding to take things day by day. The last six months has been a roller coaster with the trial for Mark and waiting for there to be blowback against Oliver because sometimes the justice system is ass-backward.
“Yes,” I say as I start to hyperventilate when the reality that Oliver’s proposing washes over me. “I want that. I want all of that with you.”
“I love you,” he says, still holding the box and not opening it.
It doesn’t matter if there is a bubble gum wrapper in the shape of a ring inside the box. None of that matters as long as he’s my forever. The ring isdecoration. A declaration to others that we’re dedicated to each other. He’s my everything.
“I love you too,” I say and lunge forward, smashing my lips against his in the most ungentle way.
Oliver laughs before he kisses me back, but he takes it deeper, demanding more, and I give it to him. This is my man, my forever.
If you had asked me a year ago if I’d fall in love, I would’ve said no. I wasn’t in the headspace, and every guy I’d met to that point had been a shithead who cared more about himself than anyone else, especially his girlfriend.
Oliver is the first man who isn’t self-absorbed. He is the first one who wanted to make me happy, even if that meant putting himself second. I put him first, but he doesn’t always do that for himself.
I’ve never felt safe with anyone else before. I don’t think any of them would have jumped in front of a bullet for me. But Oliver would. He put himself in danger more than once to save my life, and I know he’d do it again without a second thought.
“The ring,” he says against my lips.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him.
Oliver pulls his lips away, and his hand disappears from my back. “It does. I spent a small fortune on it.” He pops the lid of the box open, revealing the ring.
