“Actually, it’s not that I need to talk to you about anything. It’s that I have something to ask you,” he amended. He pulled the box out of his pocket and flicked it open with his thumb. “Will you marry me?”
Dylan blinked down at him, her gaze shifting from his face to the open ring box in his hand, and back to his face again. “What?”
“Marry me, Dylan. Let’s make it official before my mother and sister kidnap you and arrange the wedding the way they want it.”
“Are you serious?” she squeaked.
“As the pain in my nuts,” he said.
His irreverent response seemed to pull her out of shock. “Clay!” she said, smacking him on the shoulder with her free hand.
He released her hand long enough to take the ring from the box and slide it on the fourth finger of her left hand. “Please marry me and put me out of misery,” he repeated. “I need you in my life and I promise that I’ll love you for the rest of it.”
Dylan stared down at the ring on her finger, her eyes wide and wet. “It’s perfect.”
Clay’s smile was smug. “I know. As soon as I saw it, I had to buy it for you. I’ve been carrying it around for weeks.”
The white gold ring had a vine running from one side to the other, the leaves made of tiny marquis cut emeralds. Along the vine were three flowers, each with a brilliant white diamond in the center surrounded by petals of amethyst.
“Weeks?” she asked, looking back up at him. “You bought this weeks ago?”
“Two days after you moved in with me the first time.”
The tears in her eyes overflowed to run down her cheeks.
“Are you going to answer my question?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, nodding.
He hesitated. “Wait. Is that a yes to the first question or the last?” he asked.
“Both.”
Clay smiled and rose, lifting her off her feet as he hugged her. “You have made me a very happy man.”
“How disappointed will your mother be if we don’t have a big wedding?” she asked, her face tucked into his neck.
“I don’t know. It probably depends on how long you want to wait to give her grandtrolls.”
Dylan lifted her face, her eyes huge. “Grandtrolls? Immediately?”
Clay shrugged. “We could probably wait a couple years before she starts foaming at the mouth.”
She blinked. “Only a couple?”
“Maybe a little longer. She likes you a lot, so she’ll probably wait until you’re ready. Especially if she thinks she’s going to scare you off.”
“Jesus,” Dylan mumbled.
“In regards to the wedding, we’ll do what you want. I don’t give a shit either way as long as we’re married in the end.”
“How do you feel about a trip to Vegas? Maybe Lake Tahoe?”
“How soon do you want to go?”
She smiled. “It’ll be next month before I can take any more time off. I’ve used nearly all my vacation up but I get my yearly allotment on my hire date, which will be at the end of next month.”
“Then, we’ll go to Vegas or Tahoe next month and come back married,” he said.
