"What's that?"
"Mine."
The word hangs in the air between us, possessive and absolute.
She looks up at me, and I can see the war happening behind her eyes. Fear and want and confusion all tangled together. Her hand comes up, fingers hovering near my chest like she wants to touch but doesn't quite dare.
"I don't understand this," she says softly.
"You don't have to." I catch her hand, pressing her palm flat against my shirt. Against my heartbeat. "You just have to say yes."
"And if I say no?"
The question shouldn't hurt like it does.
"Then I'll set you up somewhere safe. Give you money, protection, a new identity if you want it." I force myself to say it even though every instinct screams against it. "You'll never have to see me again."
Her fingers curl into my shirt.
"That's not what I asked."
I look down at her, at this woman who's somehow managed to crawl under my skin in less than twelve hours, and tell her the truth.
"If you say no, I'll respect it. And I'll regret it for the rest of my life."
Her breath shudders out.
"I don't—" She stops. Starts again. "This is insane."
"Yes."
"You're asking me to marry you when my brother isn't even buried yet." She shakes her head softly from side to side as if that would help it all make sense.
"Yes."
"I'm wearing clothes that don’t belong to me and I don't even have shoes—"
"Matilda."
She looks up at me, and I see it. The moment she stops fighting what she already knows.
"What if you wake up in six months and realize you made a mistake?" she whispers. "What if whatever this is, isn't enough?"
I slide my hand into her hair, tilting her face up to mine. "Then we'll figure it out. But I'm not wrong about this. I'm not wrong about you."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because," I say, lowering my head until our mouths are a breath apart, "I've never wanted anything in my life the way I want you. And I've never lost anything I wanted badly enough to fight for."
She makes a small sound, something between a gasp and a sob.
"Say yes," I tell her. "Say yes, Matilda. Choose me the way I'm choosing you."
Her eyes search mine, looking for the lie, the manipulation, the trap. But there isn't one. There's just truth…raw and desperate and more honest than I've been with anyone in my entire life.
"Okay," she breathes.
"Okay what?"
