“I don’t have a ring,” I tell her, because that’s the practical part that matters. “And I’m not gonna pick something for you without you being there. I want you to choose it. Something you actually want to wear every day.”
Her lips part slightly, but she doesn’t interrupt.
“But that’s not the point,” I go on. “The point is… I want to marry you.”
The words land between us, solid and real.
Her breath catches, just a little.
“I had this idea of proposing properly,” I start. “I wanted to make it a day you’d remember. But then I realized we’ve had half a lifetime of waiting for the right moment. The right moment is now. No more waiting, I don’t see a version of my life that doesn’t have you in it.”.
“I love you,” she says. “I want us to wake every morning and experience everything that life has in store for us. I want to walk with you by my side through the good and the bad days. I want to grow with you and grow old with you.”
Something tight in my chest gives way all at once. “Is that a yes?” I ask.
She leans in, pressing her forehead to mine. “That’s a hell, yes!”
She kisses me then, slow and sure. There’s no rush to it. I pull her into my lap, my hands settling at her waist, her body fitting against mine like it always has.
Like it always will.
I put everything of me into that kiss, telling her all the things that I don’t have the words to say. When we pull back, she’s smiling, her pupils blown and her lips kiss swollen. I probably look just as undone as she does.
“We’re really doing this,” she says.
“Yeah,” I say. “We are.”
We sit there until the light starts to fade, until the air cools and the shadows stretch longer across the clearing. Eventually we head back to the cabin, hands brushing, bumping, finding each other again without thinking about it.
“I love you,” I murmur into her hair.
“And I love you,” she responds.
And for the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I’m waiting for something to fall apart. I’m not standing on the sidelines watching. I’m here, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, with the woman I love, excited to be planning our future.
And that’s not something I’m ever letting go.
Epilogue
Wizard
One Year Later
“Good morning, wife.” It’s my favorite thing ever to be able to tilt Esme’s face up and kiss her good morning.
Her eyes flicker open at the sound of my voice and my teasing lips against her temple. She smiles at me and her dark eyes flood with love in an instant. Her thick lashes flicker and her cheeks, already flushed from sleep, get even pinker.
“Good morning, husband.” She slept with her head on my shoulder, our legs twisted together. We’re always some version of tangled up with each other. Her eyes flick briefly to the window across from our bed. “Although, morning might be a stretch.”
The sunlight is dim, though more watery and cautious than all the shades of a proper sunrise. “I wanted to be sure that we had plenty of time to get ready before we have to leave.”
“The cookout is at one.” She laughs but rolls into me anyway. Her thin nightgown rides up as she flips on top of me, treating me both to a lovely show, and a whole lot of heat pressing up against my achingly hard cock. “You think that it’s going to take us roughly… seven hours to get ready?”
I flex my hips, pushing my cock against her clit. “Maybe. This will take a good hour, then there’s the shower, andbreakfast, round two, another shower, a snack, another round, another—”
“Goodness. You’re right. That is a lot.” She pins my hands above my head and arches over me until we’re flattened against each other. Her breasts mash into my chest and her lips skim over the side of my mouth, teasing me.
Willa and Atlas are having a cookout to celebrate their antique shop being open for two years. Or is it three? I forget. All I know is that it’s coming up. Or maybe it’s already passed. My brain isn’t working properly at the moment. I just remember one, and that we’re going, which is all the information we need.
