She laughs through her tears. “Yeah, but…”
“But?” A spark of hope flares behind my ribs.
“It might also be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. Which is probably just more evidence of how fucked I am. Might need to tell Dr. Swan about this one.”
My pulse picks up. “Romantic is good, right?”
“Yeah,” she whispers.
Blood thuds in my ears as I belatedly retrieve the small box from my pocket. Her eyes are huge as I take one of her hands in mine.
“Seraphina, Little Warrior, feral monster that you are, will you marry me?”
She gasps, staring at the ring, and then, on a long exhale, she says, “I’m going to tell people to call me Mrs. Gangster.”
When the emerald and diamond ring is nestled against her knuckle, she meets my eyes. “You’re sure?”
I hate the vulnerability in her eyes. That anyone ever made her feel like she was anything less than wanted, makes me furious.
“Other than walking into what might’ve been a death sentence for you that night…” I hold her gaze, voice low. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”
She stares, lips parted. “You thought your bratva might actually kill you?”
I lift one shoulder. “Worth it.”
Her breath catches. “Holy shit.” A visible shiver runs through her, and her pupils blow wide. She drags in a shaky inhale. “Get me back to the hotel. Right fucking now.”
Heat slams through me as her thighs lock tight around my hips. Then her mouth is on mine, hungry and desperate. I haul her closer, arms banding around her until there’s no space left between us. Her heart hammers against my chest, matching my own wild rhythm.
Sera breaks it just long enough to gasp against my lips, then shoves me back a single step so she can slide down from the ledge. Her feet hit the ground, but she doesn’t step away. Instead, she presses her body flush to mine, her fingers curled in my shirt.
“Unless you want the entire Vegas strip to hear me come,” she rasps, “we need to get back to the room. Now.”
I let a slow, wicked smile spread across my face. “We’ve got one more stop to make.”
31
SERA
If I wasn’t already seeing a mental health professional regularly, tonight’s events definitely demanded it.
One tiny moment of what-in-the-actual-fuck-are-you-doing spears through me as the first strains of Taylor Swift’s “Romeo and Juliet” played on the chapel’s speakers. I clutch my bouquet of plastic flowers a little tighter, but then I see Liev, watching me from the end of the threadbare carpet, and my entire being settles.
“Romeo and Juliet? Really?” He smirks. “Dramatic much?”
I shrug. “Ask me again after we tell my brother we had an impromptu wedding in Vegas after only knowing each other a couple of weeks.”
“You’ll have to watch my back, Little Warrior.” Then he winks at me, and my heart soared.
I’ve madebad decisions in my life. Rash decisions. Decisions that almost killed me.
But this one.
This man.
I see his flaws, and he sees all of mine. I might have been right when I thought I would never be ‘normal’ again, but I can’t help but feel like this is so much better.
The elevator ride back to the suite is a haze of charged silence, Liev’s hand engulfing mine as his thumb rolls my wedding band back and forth. I still find it hard to believe he had time, while I was buying my dress, to find me a ring. I glance at Dani and Marco’s rooms. The doors are closed, no light seeping underneath, and no sounds of their phones.
