close, so fucking close to falling over the edge, when he stops.
And I open my eyes to look right into the caramel brown of a man who’s no longer a stranger at all.
It’s a stark reminder of how far we’ve come.
From libraries and proverbial orgasms, to bedrooms and the brink of real ones.
“Cap,” I say, and even to my own ears, my voice is almost offensively breathy. I am a shameless hussy in my time of need, and there’s no going back. “What are you doing?” I ask desperately.
His face is paved with emotion, tortured with whatever is on his mind.
“Cap?” I say again, but this time, it’s more about him and less about the orgasm.
“Marry me, Ruby,” he says suddenly, and I’m so goddamn shocked, my vagina spasms so hard, I go into immediate free fall.
My head falls back, my spine arches, and I’m riding a wave of euphoria never before experienced by humans—I’m sure of it.
Cap’s raspy, amused chuckle vibrates against me and through me and into the deepest parts of my body I never even knew existed. We are, in that moment, as physically and spiritually one as I imagine any two people can ever be.
When I finally flutter my eyes open, I’m not even sure whether the last thirty seconds of my life really happened or not.
“Marry me,” Cap says again without hesitation, but this time, he’s holding an obnoxiously huge, oval diamond on a white gold band in front of me.
“Cap,” I whisper, my voice shaky.
He nods. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life, and I’m certain about a whole hell of a lot of shit, Ruby. You’re everything I never knew I wanted and beyond. The thought of living one fucking day without you from this point forward is completely unimaginable, and I want every single person we come into contact with to know it. I want to be yours, forever—”
Tears pool in the corners of my eyes before spilling over one by one.
“Until the world stops turning and we as a civilization choke out everything good and sustaining on this planet.”
“Cap,” I snort through a wet laugh.
“I need this. I need to know I can count on an us. I need to know that I have something to fight for every goddamn day. I need to know that you know you’re the only thing in my life that’s irreplaceable, and I want you to know it now.”
The rationality in me, unfortunately, won’t let me have this without questioning it. “But, Cap. This is fast. Fast and so opposite from the life you’ve always known. What if…what if you change your mind?”
“I won’t.”
I roll my eyes. “Cap—”
“Ruby, I love you. I know I came at this from all the wrong angles, but I swear I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving just how good of a partner I can be. Because, you and me?”
I raise my eyebrows, and he doesn’t hesitate to continue.
“We’re like the stuff in every last one of your books. We’re meant to be.”
I shake my head as my brain fills with every single possibility of distrust and hurt…and then, in a sudden rush of clarity, I empty it.
I love him. I love him enough that none of the rest of that matters.
“Yes.”
“What was that?” Cap asks teasingly, curving a hand around his ear.
“Yes!” I say louder.
He shakes his head. “Is that all you got?”
“Yes!” I yell, and he scoffs.
Annoyed, I shove him back and follow him down, my body on top of his now. “Yes, yes, yes! Okay, you idiot? Yes, I’ll marry you!”
His smile is overwhelming as he laughs. “Now that’s the kind of finish my neighbors are used to.”
Cap
It’s only been a few months since I proposed to Ruby, but time feels like it’s going too fucking slow. I want her to be my wife—fucking yesterday.
This is the first time I can say my bastard friends were right. When you finally find the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with, you know, without a doubt, she’s the only thing that matters. Life before her suddenly doesn’t count, and life with her…well, you want it to start right now.
Thankfully, with the wedding plans in full swing, we’re smack-dab in the middle of the first official step toward Ruby saying I do—our engagement party.
My eyes find her across the room, and she looks like every dream I’ve never been lucky enough to have. Her hair is pulled half up at