Page 124 of Vegas with my Brother’s Best Friends

Her face reddens. “She was just playing around.”

“Well, we’re not,” Jackson replies before reaching over to open the nightstand drawer. He pulls out a black ring box and sets it on his thigh, not opening it just yet.

Cassidy’s jaw drops. “Is that…”

“We love you, Cass,” I tell her. “We’ve been wanting to show you that we want to spend the rest of our lives with you, but things are a little more complicated given our situation. We’ve been trying to figure out the details on our own, but we think it’s best for all of us to talk about it.”

Cassidy nods as she listens.

“We want to marry you,” Tyler says, and her eyes quickly start to glisten. “But you can only legally get married to one of us.”

“And we want a legal marriage,” Jackson adds. “In case emergencies happen and to have more security when our child comes. They’ll need a name for the birth certificate.”

“I don’t care to do a paternity test,” I remind them. “A name should go down, and it should probably be the same name as the person you marry.”

“You’re not making me choose, right?” Cassidy asks with a worried look on her face.

The three of us chuckle.

“No, we’re not doing that because we knew you’d react like that,” Jackson replies. “We made a decision, but we want to talk to you about it and hear how you feel.”

Cassidy breathes in and nods.

“We decided that I’ll be the one to marry you,” I tell her as I take her hand. “If that’s okay with you.”

She swallows hard as she smiles. “Why wouldn’t it be? I love you. I love all of you.”

“Marcus has been in love with you the longest, and out of the three of us, he cherishes the notion of marriage the most,” Jackson explains to her. “In a non-legal way, you’ll be just as married to Tyler and me.”

Cassidy leans forward and kisses both Jackson and Tyler. “And you’re both okay with this?”

“We are,” Tyler confirms. “We think this is the best move for our family.”

Jackson nods in agreement before handing the ring box to me.

Cassidy’s breath hitches as I turn toward her. The moment I open the box to show her the engagement ring the three of us chose for her, a gasp breaks from her.

“It’s perfect,” she whispers.

I carefully take it out of the ring box and slip it onto her ring finger.

Cassidy holds her hand up for everyone to see, her eyes shining. “I love it!”

Surprised laughter bursts out of me as she throws her arms around my neck. I hug her back as she sits on my lap, my heart aching with how damn happy I am.

She draws back to meet my eyes, and I know she’s waiting for me to ask.

“Will you marry us?” I ask her.

“Yes!” she says before leaning up to crash her lips against mine.

I smile into the kiss, my fingers pushing into her hair.

For so long now, I’ve wanted to be someone’s husband. Someone’s father. I didn’t expect all of these dreams to come true, but I also didn’t expect the girl I’ve loved for so long to love me back.

Reality is a little more magical than it seems.

Chapter forty-three