JAX (The Beckett Boys #2) - Olivia Chase Page 0,56

beyond a shadow of a doubt that I made the right decision. My heart is fucking bursting and I swallow hard, smiling up at this woman.

I press kisses to her left hand. “Brooklyn, my life means nothing without you in it. You’ve made me realize so much about myself. You’re the woman I want to fall asleep beside every night. I’m tired of being afraid. I want to take a risk with you. I’m so in love with you, I can’t imagine ever feeling this way for anyone else. It would be impossible.”

Her breasts rise and fall with her rapid breath. “God, I love you too, Jax. I’ve missed you.”

“Marry me. Be my love. Be my wife. Let me show you every day how special and amazing you are.”

Her small gasp fills the space between us. “The way you’re looking at me…”

“Like what?”

“Like something I’ve craved with you for so long.” She swallows. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

With her words, I rise from my knee and grab her. Swing her around, raining kisses all over her face. Her giggles make me feel buoyant, alive. She wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my shoulder, and I still, press her sweet body close to me.

Vow to myself that I’ll be a man worthy of her love.

“Come on, let’s go inside. We have an announcement to make,” I declare, taking her hand.

Her face turns pink, and she smiles. “You’re going to tell people?”

“Fuck yes I am. I’m proud as hell to be engaged to the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. Why wouldn’t I want to brag about it to the world?” I pause and take her mouth one more time in a kiss, our private moment before I tell everyone else. “I love you, Brooklyn.”

“I love you too, Jax.” Her smile is sweet and shy and it fills my soul, thaws out all the numbness that had taken up residence in me since she left. I can’t ever go back to the man I was. And somehow, that’s perfectly fine with me. Because I get the best tradeoff—Brooklyn’s love.

Brooklyn

One month later

“It’s hot as balls out here,” Asher groans. He waves his hand in front of his face in an effort to cool himself off. “Great day for a grillout, dumbass,” he says to Jax with a wink. “It’s gotta be the hottest day of the year.”

“So go stick your face in the cooler,” Jax retorts, flipping the hot dogs on the park’s grill. “This is a beautiful Michigan summer day. Get used to it.”

I laugh and grab a bag of hot dog buns, bringing them over to the table. Smith’s sitting in a special camper chair with his broken leg propped up on a bunch of cushions, his crutches close by. Being cooped up inside was starting to grate at him, so Aubrey’s been taking him on trips out of the house. When I suggested last week we have a family picnic to celebrate Asher’s twenty-first birthday, she gushed her thanks and hopped right on the idea.

Aunt Sylvia closes her car door and saunters over, bearing two pie tins. “Key lime pies for my favorite boys.”

“God, I love you, Aunt Sylvia,” Jax gushes as he comes over and kisses her on the cheek.

She puts the pies down and swats at him. “None of that gushy kiss-up shit. I know you too well. Now go flip them burgers and dogs before you burn it. I’m not eating nasty-ass dinner.”

We burst out laughing, and Jax shuffles away. “Fine, but you know you love my kisses,” he tosses out over his shoulder.

I put out paper plates, giving one to Smith to hold on his lap, then handing Asher another. “So, do you feel twenty-one?”

He laughs, his deep voice resonant. It’s crazy how much he looks like his older brothers. He’s reserved, but not in the scary way Smith is. Just…quiet. “Feels just like twenty,” he says, grinning. “You ready to go back to school?”

Asher shrugs uncomfortably, tension clear on his face. “Yeah, sure.”

I frown and reach out to grab his shoulder. “You okay?”

His fake smile is so like Jax that I’m taken aback. I see that’s a family trait. “Totally fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Brooklyn, I need help,” Jax hollers from the grill.

“You’d better go before he sets something on fire,” Asher teases. The earlier tension is gone—I almost feel like I imagined the moment.

I shake it off and head to my fiancé. My fiancé—it’s so strange saying that. Strange and wonderful.