holding the ring out although she’s staring into my eyes. Her skin is soft beneath my touch.
“Jules, I love you and I want to spend every day of my life with you.” I hesitate to say the words but I have to, even if she says she can’t. “I want you as my wife,” I tell her and watch her facial expression crumple with a hint of pain reflected in her eyes as I say the words.
“I love you too, Mason.” She barely gets out the words as she covers her face with both her hands and then wipes under her eyes. Her eyes are glossy with tears and her voice is choked as she says it again. “I love you and I didn’t know if I could …” Hearing her start her confession breaks my heart and I rise just enough to hold her. She wraps her arms around my shoulders, gripping onto me as though she needs me to stand. And in so many ways, she does. She needs someone there and I’ll always be that person for her.
So long as she’ll let me.
She pulls away slightly, trying to pull herself together as she brushes her hair out of her face and looks away, taking a calming breath.
“I want all of you, Jules,” I tell her as I cup her chin in my hand and force her to look at me. “When you’re upset, I want to know so I can make you smile. When you’re angry, just tell me. I’ll let you take it out on me however you need, then make you cum so hard you’ll forget you ever felt anything other than bliss. I want the real you. Always. I never want you to hide from me.”
Those lush lips part and a soft breath escapes her as she stares into my eyes. She’s searching for something. She better not fucking wonder if everything I’ve just said is true or not.
“I want the same from you, Mason.” I’m surprised at her response. I stay still on the ground, wondering how she could think for a second I wouldn’t share all of me with her. Not my past, though. She doesn’t know shit about that and she never will. None of it. I’m going to fix it all and keep it hidden in the shadows and buried nine feet deep where it all belongs.
She kneels on the floor in front of me and takes my jaw in both her hands, planting a soft sweet kiss on my lips. Her touch calms all my worries. It dispels the demons threatening to surface. She does this to me. She makes me a better person and I desperately want to be that man for her.
She speaks with her eyes closed, her lips close to mine and her hot breath filling the air between us. Her long, thick lashes are damp with her tears as she tells me, “I love you for you. The good and the bad. And I do want to be with you, Mason.” Her voice is pained and I can’t help but reach out and hold her, pulling her closer to me. “I need you,” she whispers.
I kiss the crook of her neck. “All I need is your love.”
“You have it, Mason.”
She has yet to answer; I need to hear her tell me yes. I want to be good enough to be her husband and if I’m not today, then tomorrow I’ll be better. I’m determined and she needs to know that. I put my hands on her shoulders.
“I love you, Jules. Will you marry me?” I ask her, looking deep into her eyes.
She gives me a sweet smile, almost a shy one as she sniffles and finally gives me everything I need by saying, “I love you too. Yes.” Her words come out as if it’s obvious. As if it’s only natural.
I finally breathe a deep sigh of relief, heaving in the air and holding her close to me. I stand up, still carrying her and swing her in my arms as I rise.
I kiss up her neck and every inch of her exposed skin, making her let out a small, feminine laugh and push away from me slightly. This is the only kind of pushing I ever want her to do again. From this day forward, she’s mine.
I only set her down so I can take out the ring from the box. I watch as Jules’s eyes widen once again. “Oh my gosh,” she says