"But now, seeing my ring on you—" His voice roughens. "I have no words. All I can think is how much I need this to be real. How much I need you to be mine."
He drops his chin to my shoulder and I feel his entire body shaking. "Marry me, Sabrina Wells. Not someday when all of this begins to make sense. Marry me now. Or at least soon. Please."
My heart is pounding so hard I can barely breathe.
Say something,his eyes beg.
I should tell him that we're moving too fast. That I need time to think. That his father would never agree.
But looking at our reflection—at the ring on my finger, at the way he's looking at me like I'm his entire world—I know the truth.
In five weeks, I'll move in with him. But I don't want to play house. I don't want to be his live-in girlfriend.
I want to go to Houston and everywhere else I've promised to follow him with some guarantee, even if only we know it. I want our promises backed up by something legal, something unbreakable before we step into his world where everything will try to tell us we don't make sense.
Right now, here in our little bubble, we make perfect sense. But if we wait, if we let reality and his father and all the logical reasons intrude—we'll lose this. We'll lose us.
"After graduation," I hear myself say.
His eyes widen in the mirror. "What?"
I turn in his arms to face him. "I'll marry you after graduation."
He searches my face. "Bree, graduation is in five weeks."
"I know," I whisper.
For one suspended moment, he just stares at me. Then he crushes me to him, lifting me onto the counter, his mouth already plundering mine. I sink my fingers into his hair, kissing him back with everything I have.
He pulls back suddenly, breathless, searching my face again. "Are you sure? Are you sure you're not doing this because you're scared?"
"Scared of what?" I challenge, although I know he's partly right.
"Of losing me." His hands frame my face, thumbs brushing my cheekbones. "I don't want you marrying me out of fear, Sabrina. I need you to want this as much as I do."
I stare at the diamond twinkling on my finger, feeling a fierce sense of rightness. "I do want this. But yes, Jordan, I'm scared too. Your father is very powerful. What if he disinherits you?"
"He can't."
"But what if he does?"
"My inheritance, the company, the trust fund…everything has been in place since before my father was born. He can't take it away."
"So he can't stop us?"
Jordan shakes his head. "Not really. But he can make things very difficult, and he will. Threats, blackmail, and the bells and whistles of playing dirty." Jordan leans his forehead againstmine. "The stakes will rise, no doubt. But as long as we always trust and choose each other, we'll be fine."
I nod, a dizzying relief flooding through me. "So we're really doing this?"
"Fuck yeah." His smile turns devastating. "Speaking of, I've always wanted to take you to Vegas."
My breath catches the moment I grasp his meaning. "Are you serious?"
"Of course." He cups my face, thumbs tracing my cheekbones. "You. Me. A half drunk priest and an Elvis impersonator. "
A laugh bursts out of me. "Elvis?"
"Or no Elvis. Your call." His eyes are dancing now. "The bottom line is, the day after your graduation, I'm making you my wife. The details are negotiable."
