I grip her tighter and give her everything I have. The angle is deep as her back slides against the door. My hands have a bruising grip on her thighs, and when I reach between us and press my thumb against her clit she detonates. She comes with a scream that she buries in my shoulder, her whole body clenchingaround me, and I follow her over three seconds later, my face pressed into her neck, her name caught between my teeth.
We stay there, her against the door, legs still wrapped around me, both of us breathing like we’ve sprinted a mile, and her forehead drops against mine.
“Marry me.” The words are out before I realize I’ve said them aloud. Raw, unplanned, and completely terrifying. Just like the ‘I love you’ at the gala. Just like every honest thing I’ve ever said to this woman, it escapes before my brain can catch it. She stares at me in shock, the room is silent except for the hum of the city below.
Shit.
31
FISH
“Did you just ask me to marry you while your dick is still inside me?”
I swallow hard because I can’t quite read her reaction.
“Yes. Marry me.” I say it again. “Right now. Tonight.”
“Are you drunk?”
“I’m not drunk. I’ve had three champagnes. I’m buzzed at best. I’m drunk on you, but I’m being serious, Lettie. I love you. And I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t lose me,” she says, cupping my face.
“I don’t want your brothers to pull us apart.”
“I won’t let them,” she tells me fiercely. “Don’t you think this is a little fast?”
“Yes. But I know how I feel about you.”
“I feel the same,” she says, reassuring me.
“I don’t want us to date in secret for the next few months, and then come summer, we come out. I know that I will be proposing during the summer anyway, and to everyone else it will seem fast because they don’t know our secret, and then I’ll want to marryyou right away because I don’t want to wait. It’s inevitable that we are going to end up married, so why wait?”
She bursts out laughing. “You have really thought about this.”
“I have.”
“Let’s deal with this first,” she says, pointing to where we are still joined. Oh, yeah, that would be a start. I agonizingly pull myself from her and walk into the bathroom to dispose of the condom. When I walk out, I see Collette staring out the window, looking over the city, no doubt contemplating what I just asked her. That’s the moment I drop to one knee, and when she turns around, she sees me and gasps.
“I had so many ideas on how I was going to propose to you in six months’ time, but I’m an impatient man. I may not be perfect, but I hope I am perfect enough for you. You’re my best friend, and being able to spend the rest of my life laughing and having fun with you by my side seems like a dream. I love you more than you could ever know, Lettie. You have my heart and my soul, and although it may not have been for long, when you know, you know.” Tears are streaming down her cheeks as she looks at me. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a ring for you,” I add.
She shakes her head. “I don’t need one. Yes. Fuck it, yes. I love you,” she says as she launches herself at me and we crash to the ground. I roll her onto her back and look down at her.
“Was that a yes?”
“Yes,” she says loudly.
“Yes?” I can’t quite believe it.
“Yes,” she says it again, and I kiss her.
“Justin, this is crazy.”
“I know, but it feels right.”
“It does. But don’t you think people will notice that we are gone if we run away to Vegas?” she asks.
She’s right. I help her up off the floor and lead her to the sofa. “There has to be somewhere close by where we can get married.” I pull out my phone and start searching, as does she.