My cheeks turn pink, and my hands begin to tremble with excitement. “I did just learn about the existence of twenty-four-hour wedding chapels in the city.”
His expression brightens and he shifts his weight, turning me onto my back so that I’m halfway beneath him. “Is that a yes? You’ll marry me?”
In answer, I throw my arms around his neck, arching closer to him as I wrap my legs around his waist. Desire pulses deep in my core, merging with the pure joy that hums through my heart. I reach for his shirt, ready to start working his buttons, when he pulls slightly away. I frown, unsure of what made him stop. Then I notice what he holds before me. During my distraction, he managed to retrieve what appears to be a ring.
My nose twitches as I study the rose gold band, the enormous pink pearl surrounded by two smaller diamonds. “I told you I’d get you pearls someday.”
“It’s beautiful.” Another twitch of my nose. Dorian takes my hand and slides the ring down my finger. It rests above the simple gold band he placed there during the final Blessing Ceremony. I meet Dorian’s eyes, and the tingle in my nose only intensifies. “I…I might actually sneeze on you.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he says with a chuckle. Then he pulls my hand to his mouth and plants a kiss just above my ring. His smile turns mocking. “Your Highness.”
I swat him playfully. “Don’t you dare call me that.”
“What should I call you then? Temptress?” He presses his lips to mine. “Maisie?” Another kiss. “Mrs. Ariko?”
My stomach thrills. “I like the last one.”
He kisses me again, slower. “Maisie Ariko. My wife.”
“Yes,” I say.
We lose ourselves in each other’s lips. I melt into the feel of his mouth, his tongue, sensations I’ll never grow tired of, never take for granted. Every kiss between us is a gift. A blessing. Something wild and precious. More so because Dorian loved me even when he thought we’d never be able to kiss. And I loved him back. I would have continued to love him if I’d breathed my last breath and turned to seafoam that fateful sunrise last year. I would have merged with the sea and loved him as a wave. I would have loved him as a tide, caressing the beach that once felt the weight of his feet.
By the time we stop kissing, sounds from the theater downstairs have gone quiet, the last show of the night drawn to a close. Dorian lifts his face from mine, swollen lips twisted in a smirk. “Sooo,” he says drawing out the word, “about this twenty-four-hour wedding chapel you mentioned. Did you mean it?”
I take a deep breath and slowly nod.
His answering smile robs me of breath. Glittering light from the string of orbs hanging from my ceiling dances in his eyes like stars. “Good. Shall we then?”
My heart kicks up. I’m brimming with excitement, but I admit, there’s trepidation there too. Not fear though. Never fear. A lot changed this last year, and marriage means more changes on the horizon. But I’m ready for that. For all of it. I know I want to experience all those changes with him. Whatever life brings us, we’ll face it together. We’ve already faced each other’s darkness. We’ve proven we’d die for each other.
But now, for a very long and maybe indefinite time, we get to live.
“Yes, Dorian,” I say, grinning at the man I love. The man I’m ready to call my husband. “We shall.”
* * *
