It’d taken me a long time to get to this point, though. Perhaps too long. I wasn’t unaware of how frustrated Jesse must be with me. I also wasn’t blind to all the hurt I’d caused him. It didn’t really matter that I’d hurt myself too.
Stupidity, ignorance, and a blind belief that I knew everything I needed to know about the Westwoods had brought us here. That was my fault. My own stubborn streak had kept me from opening my eyes and ears earlier, but I wasn’t going to let him walk away without a fight.
Not now that I’d finally had the blinders removed from my eyes.
When I finally looked up at the room again, Jesse had already found me. Across the room, surrounded by people, expectations, and everything that’d always made me feel small, he’d found me.
None of that stuff ever touched him. I knew that, but tonight, it didn’t even look like he was aware of it. His gaze was locked onto mine like he’d known the moment I’d walked into the room. Everything else blurred into nothingness as our eyes met and held, the laughter and music falling away until there was only him.
My throat tightened, my vision stinging as tears rushed up to press at the backs of my eyes. I wanted to go to him, but I suddenly couldn’t move.
Jesse, however, didn’t hesitate. He started walking straight toward me, not glancing at anyone else or acknowledging the people trying to speak to him. He just cut through the crowd like there was nothing and no one else in the room.
As I watched him, those eyes such a bright, devastating blue even across the distance, my heart slammed so hard against my ribs that it felt like it was about to take off. Jesse closed that distance, the same distance I’d created between us, at an astonishing pace.
Like he already knew that I regretted putting it thereandalready knew that I didn’t need it anymore. God, I’d been so stupid, thinking I had to push him away to keep myself safe.
He stopped right in front of me, not slowing until we were toe to toe. He was so close that I could feel the heat of him, that familiar pull making everything inside feel too tight and too full.
I didn’t trust my voice, but the way he was looking at me was so intense and searching that I knew he wouldn’t say anything. He was waiting on me to speak and I owed him the truth. Jesse had done plenty of talking the last time we’d seen each other. I knew how he felt. It was time to let him know that it was the same for me.
“I was wrong,” I blurted out, my voice shaking and my hands curling into the fabric of my dress. “I was so wrong, Jesse. I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to you. I just didn’t want to let myself hope.”
Hope meant risk. Risk meant hurt. Hurt had been what I’d tried to avoid, but in the end, we’d both felt it anyway.
His jaw tightened, but his gaze didn’t waver. “Do you accept it now?”
He asked the question quietly, but I heard him loud and clear, surprised that he hadn’t askeddo you love meorare you sorry. Rather, he wanted to know if I accepted that we could be together. That this was real. That I was allowed to have it.
While he hadn’t voiced it all, I still knew what he was asking and I didn’t hesitate to respond. “Yes, I do.” I nodded repeatedly, desperate for him to understand. “I do accept it, Jesse. I just didn’t think I was enough. I didn’t think I?—”
He didn’t wait for the rest of my apology or explanations. Instead, the next thing I knew, he was kissing me, hard and decisive, until he’d shut me up in that way only way he could.
A soft, startled sound left me and my hands flew up to his jacket, gripping it tight. This room was so damningly public, so wildly inappropriate for a kiss like this, but he didn’t care and I didn’t think I did anymore either.
I kissed him back just as fiercely, and when he finally pulled back, it wasn’t far. One of his hands came up, warm and gentle as he caressed my cheek. His thumb brushed beneath my eye, catching a tear before it could fall.
“I want to marry you,” he said, just like that, without any buildup or hesitation.
My brain tripped over itself. “I… What?”
For a moment, I was convinced I’d misheard, but he repeated the request a second later, his voice as confident as ever. “Marry me.”
My heart felt like it might explode, but his forehead came back down until it was practically brushing mine, his fingers still cradling my face. “Right now. I don’t care about anyone else, Jacque. I don’t care who’s watching or what they think. I just want you. I’ve been wealthy since the day I was born, but I’ve never been as rich as I have since you came into my life,” he said, his voice rough and his eyes locked on mine. “Marry me.”
A fresh wave of tears blurred my vision. I nodded, unable to form words around the feelings lodged in my chest, but everything in me was screamingyes.
“Yes,” I finally managed, though it was barely audible.
His eyes widened. “Really?”
I nodded again, laughing through my tears and feeling like I was coming completely undone. “Yes.”
What I’d forgotten, however, was that Jesse Westwood was completely crazy. A wide, stunned grin spread across his lips and he straightened to his full height and grabbed my hand, lifting it into the air with his like we were victors in some kind of battle.
“I just got engaged!” he announced loudly.
My eyelids went haywire and there was a split second of collective confusion around us before reactions started rippling outward. Some people clapped, a few softohhs andawws floating through the air.
