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“And I can get behind you,” I say as I waggle my eyebrows at him.

He laughs and turns to face me fully. Sunlight spills across his chest, and I’m struck all over again by how much I love him. How beautiful he is. How much softer his eyes have become now that stress isn’t living behind them.

“I love you,” I say.

He softens immediately, walking toward me until he’s standing so close I can feel the heat of him. “I love you, too. Thanks for bringing me here, Ry.”

“I’d take you anywhere.”

He smiles, and I could live inside that look forever.

So I take a breath, reach into my pocket, and say, “Actually, there’s one more thing.”

He watches me curiously until I pull out the small box I’ve been carrying all day and drop down to one knee. His lips part, eyes wide as they flick down to the ring inside. It’s black and sleek, with a textured center and polished edges.

“I know it’s only been a year of us dating,” I start. “But after everything we’ve been through, after all the ways you’veloved me and held me and helped me come back to myself, I don’t want to waste another second not calling you mine in every way I can. You’ve been my best friend since the moment we met, and I feel like we were always supposed to end up here. You’re it for me, Logan. You’re everything, and I can’t imagine a future where we’re not husbands.” I swallow hard, eyes locked on his. “Will you marry me?”

He blinks at the tears forming in his eyes, and he nods fast. “Yes,” he breathes, pulling me up off one knee and into his arms. “God, yes. I love you, baby. I want forever with you.”

When I break away, I slip the ring onto his finger, and he kisses me with so much passion. I can feel his dick start to get hard against my leg, and when we finally break apart, breathless and grinning, he says, “So, should we break in the bed first as an engaged couple?”

I laugh at that. “I was thinking the pool, actually.”

Logan hums thoughtfully. “Then the bed. Then the shower. Then the balcony.”

“Then probably the floor because you’ll be too weak to make it anywhere else,” I add and waggle my eyebrows.

He shoves me. “You are such a cocky little shit.”

“Only because I know it’s true,” I beam. He’s right, though, I have become cockier since I realized I like dick.

We both laugh before I take him in my arms and tackle him into the pool. We both pop out of the water laughing before he jumps into my arms and kisses me senseless.

This time last year, we were fighting for our lives. And now, we’re fully living them.

And we’re not done yet.

There’s so much more I want with him—more places, more quiet mornings, more days where the only thing thatmatters is the way he looks at me across a room, and I forget how to breathe.

We’ve already survived the worst. Now we get to build the best.

Together.

THE END.