“No?” Donovan slid his hands up Tate’s back, hooking his fingers over his shoulders, pulling him even closer.
Tate shook his head.
“Then tell me why you won’t marry me.”
Tate swallowed hard. Donovan felt his muscles tense, but he didn’t let him go. They’d had this conversation only a couple of times since Donavan first asked. He accepted that it had been fast, but he didn’t regret asking. He wanted to marry Tate. Hell, he would do it tomorrow if the guy was willing to go to the Justice of the Peace. Since the man had yet to give him an answer—positive or negative—he suspected there was a deeper issue.
“I’m not—”
“Don’t lie.”
Tate frowned.
“Answer me this. Do you want to get married one day?”
“Yes.”
“To me?”
“Yes.”
“That was easy.”
“You’re not the problem,” Tate said with a sigh.
Donovan hugged him tighter, wanting Tate to know he wasn’t pressuring him. He was genuinely trying to understand. “Is the problem somethin’ I can fix?”
Tate held his stare for what felt like an eternity. When he finally spoke, his words dripped with despondency. “I don’t want a wedding.”
Donovan frowned. “Okay. Who said you had to have one?”
He shrugged. “Your family’s all excited that Reilly’s gettin’ married. They’re pickin’ out dresses and napkins and shit.”
“And you don’t want dresses and napkins and shit?”
Tate laughed, just as Donovan hoped he would.
“I don’t want to stand up in front of a bunch of people.”
“Then we won’t.”
“But what about you?” Tate’s eyes were warm. “Don’t you want that?”
Donovan pulled back enough that he could look Tate in the eye. “I want you. Forever. However, I can get you.”
“You say it like it’s been months, not weeks.”
“Do you need me to set a timer? I will. How long should I set it for? A month? Two? Ten? At what point will you know you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” He tilted his head. “Because I’m already there, Tate. If I could tell you how it happened, I would. I just know that bein’ with you … it makes me happy in ways I’ve never felt before.”
“When you say shit like that, it seems so simple.”
“I love you,” Donovan whispered. “If you need me to wait six months or a year, I will. If you wanna wait five years, we’ll keep doin’ what we’re doin’. But marriage is important to me. For the sole fact that I want the world to know who you belong to.”
Tate’s eyes were misty, and Donovan’s chest clenched.
“I want that, too.”
“We don’t have to have a big wedding. We can go to the Justice of the Peace, find someone to stand in as a witness. Or we can take Reilly and Brady with us. Or hell, we can go to Vegas.” Donovan laughed. “Reilly’ll be pissed, but I’m sure she’ll get over it.”
