“He’s going to need someone watching him and my mom can’t do this on her own…”
“She won’t have to,” I responded before Eli could continue. “I think he should come stay with us for a while. I’ve already talked to Memphis about me continuing the operations side of things which means I’ll be working from home indefinitely…”
“No, Mav, I can’t ask that-”
I leaned over and kissed him hard to silence him. “You’re not asking. He’s my family too, Eli. And this is what family does for each other.”
I felt Eli’s hand come up to wrap around the back of my neck and he pressed his forehead against mine. “It’s gonna get easier, right?” he asked.
I skimmed my lips over his and whispered, “The hard part was everything that came before we found each other.”
Eli nodded and then he was pushing into my arms. I wrapped my arms around him and felt the tension in my body ease. I was stillscared shitless about everything we were facing, but there was one thing that wasn’t even a question mark for me anymore.
“Eli, I need to ask you something-”
“Yes, Mav. The answer is yes.” His whispered words in my ear had my whole system seizing up tight. I pushed him back a bit so I could see his face.
“You know?” I asked in disbelief. “Who…who told you?”
Eli’s hand skimmed over my cheek. “You did,” he said softly.
I shook my head, but couldn’t find any words.
“I’m thinking you made the decision to ask me a few weeks ago, right?”
I nodded stupidly. “How?”
“You started looking at me differently…you just suddenly seemed so unsure of yourself. I…I thought maybe you weren’t sure about us so I went to talk to Dom. I thought maybe if I asked you-”
I cut him off with a kiss. “I’m sorry, baby…Iwashaving doubts, but not about you or us...”
Eli put his thumb over my lips to stop me. “It’s yes, Mav. It’s been yes from the moment I met you. It will be yes for the rest of my life.”
Tears stung the corners of my eyes and I pulled him to me for a long kiss. “I should have come up with a more special way to do this,” I murmured as I reached into my pocket to pull out the ring. I’d been carrying the damn thing around ever since I’d talked to Dom and Logan. I’d kept hoping that having it with me would help me figure out when and where would be the perfect time to ask the question.
“I can’t think of a better way than this,” Eli whispered. “When it’s just us…when we’re facing so much uncertainty…”
I nodded and stood up, taking Eli with me so that we were both standing. My fingers shook as I opened the box. Eli bit into his lower lip at the sight of the ring and when I dropped to my knee, he let out a small cry. When I took his hands in both of mine, he gripped them tightly and I could tell he was struggling to hold it together. I wasn’t doing much better as the emotion became too overwhelming.
“Eli Galvez, my lover, my best friend, my heart…will you marry me?”
Eli had started nodding the second I’d said his name and as soon as I finished the sentence he let out a guttural, “Yes,” and dropped to his knees in front of me. We both laughed as I worked to get the ring on his finger and then he was wrapping his arms around my neck. I felt his tears against my skin and I had no doubt he could feel mine. He pulled back enough to kiss me and then we were wiping at each other’s tears.
“I…I got you a ring too. I was going to ask you on Christmas day,” he sputtered as he played with my fingers.
“Put it on me tonight when we go to bed,” I said softly and I leaned down to kiss him again.
Eli nodded and then he was clinging to me again. “I love you, Mav,” was whispered into my ear.
“I love you, Eli.” We held on to each other for several long seconds before I climbed to my feet and pulled Eli up with me. “By the way, I promised Sylvie she could be the flower girl.”
Eli laughed and said, “You talked to Sylvie about this?”
“Baby, I talked to practically your whole damn family.”
That silenced him. He shook his head in disbelief. “I guess you really do love me,” he finally said with a smile and then he was kissing me again.
“Damn right I do,” I murmured against his mouth. When we separated again, Eli admired his ring and then pressed his hand to my chest. It looked so fucking perfect on him that I wondered what the hell I’d been thinking waiting so long.
