Her hand goes to her mouth, a tremble in her fingers. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
For a second, I don’t move.
Just stare at her with all the noise from the last ten days crackling in the background. Falling away.
When I drag the ring from my pocket, my hand isn’t quite steady. But the ring slides onto her finger, catching the last rays of sunlight.
“You move fast, honey,” she whispers, her voice uneven as tears drop from her eyelashes.
A rough breath tears out of me, half a laugh, half groan of relief.
“I have to. I’m not standing around pretending I’ve got time to do this slow.”
Her eyes soften with understanding.
“It’s perfect. Everything is right. Even though it’s not always been pretty.”
That’s all it takes.
I pull her into me hard, my arms locking around her waist as I lift her clean off the ground, pressing my mouth to hers before she can say anything else.
She gasps into the kiss, hands fisting in my shirt, and I’m struck by a sharp, driving need to keep her here, keep her with me, keep her safe.
“You don’t get taken from me,” I murmur against her mouth, the words rough, not pretty, but true. “Not ever again.”
“Good,” she whispers, breath warm against my lips.
I kiss her again, slower this time, deeper, letting it settle instead of burn.
For the first time since I saw her in that bakery, bruised, and scared. A dangerous ache inside of me finally, finally eases.
CHAPTER 33
EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
One Month Later
Ryker & Jade’s Back Yard
Seeing her is a lightning strike. The world falls away. Every sound fades. All the movement stalls. Every man watching my six fades away on a single breath.
One second I’m standing in my own yard, boots planted in grass I’ve walked a thousand times.
Now nothing exists but my bride.
Light catches on the curls hanging at her shoulders. Below that…
Every inch of me snaps to attention.
The wind moves her dress, shifting the fabric against her soft curves and my heart constricts for the thousandth time since I met Jade.
But this time it’s not sharp or sudden. This is deep, and lingers. Whatever’s shifted inside of me isn’t ever shifting back.
I’m marrying her. Forever.
I drag a breath in, but it doesn’t feel like enough.
