I caught myself smiling as I worked. Everything was moving so fast it sometimes made my head spin. But making food we could enjoy together settled me.
Just as I pulled the egg bites from the oven, the low rumble of a motorcycle cut through the quiet night. Ares was home.
I wiped my hands on a dish towel and practically ran to the front door, every worry dissolving into pure relief.
The second Ares stepped inside, I launched myself at him. Jumping into his arms, I wrapped my legs around his waist and locked my arms around his neck. I buried my face in his throat, and a shaky laugh escaped me.
“You’re home,” I whispered, clinging tighter. “I missed you.”
Ares slid one strong arm under my butt, while the other banded across my back. For a moment, he held me just like that, letting me climb him like a tree. I pressed little kisses along his jaw, breathing him in.
But then he eased me back down until my feet touched the floor, keeping me close but creating just enough space between us that I blinked up at him in confusion.
“Ares?”
He reached behind him and pulled something from the inside of his cut. A small, perfectly folded black vest.
My breath caught.
He held it out to me, the soft leather warm from his body. On the back, in crisp white lettering, were the words I never expected to see so soon: Property of Tyre
I stared at it, tears instantly flooding my eyes. My hands trembled as I took the vest from him, running my fingers over the patch like it might disappear if I touched it too hard.
“When you said that I’d need to understand club business as your old lady, I thought you meant sometime in the future,” I whispered. “Not tonight.”
Ares cupped my face with both hands, tilting my chin up so I had to meet those intense blue eyes.
“I’m done waiting, baby. You’re it for me. Have been it since the day I saw you.” His thumbs brushed my cheeks, wiping away the happy tears that slipped free. “I’m so fucking in love with you, Cecily.”
A sob-laugh broke out of me as pure joy exploded in my chest.
“I love you too,” I whispered back, the words finally free after days of holding them in. “So much, Ares.”
His eyes darkened with satisfaction and something deeper. Then he leaned down and captured my mouth in a deep kiss that was full of everything we’d both been feeling.
When he pulled back, he helped me put the vest on, his lips curving into a satisfied smile. “Meant it every time I called you mine, but now the whole world will know it.”
I clutched the lapels of the vest like it was the most precious thing I’d ever been given, tears still falling as I smiled up at the man who had completely changed my world.
Ares didn’t give me time to catch my breath. He scooped me up again, one arm under my knees, the other around my back, and carried me down the hallway like I weighed nothing. I held on to his neck, pressing kisses along his jaw the whole way.
When we reached the bedroom, I expected him to lay me on the bed. Instead, he set me gently on my feet beside it. My heart was still racing as he reached into the bedside table drawer and pulled out a small black box.
My breath stopped completely as I realized he wasn’t done making my dreams come true.
Ares turned to face me and opened the box, revealing a stunning diamond ring that caught the low light and sparkled.
As he plucked the ring from its velvet bed, his voice was rough with emotion. “I’ve known you were mine since the first time I saw you. You’re gonna be mine forever. Marry me, Cecily. Let me be the man who supports every single one of your goals while you chase gold. As your husband.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks again, but this time they were pure, overwhelming joy.
“Yes,” I whispered, then louder, laughing through the tears. “Yes, Ares. Of course I’ll marry you.”
He slid the ring onto my finger with steady hands, then pulled me against him and kissed me until I couldn’t see straight. Then he finally picked me up to place me on the bed, stripping all my clothes off…only to put my leather vest back on.
“Gonna take you with nothing but my property patch on your back and my ring on your finger.”
That was exactly what he did. Over and over again throughout the night.