Page 24 of Adored

“First, you’re not‘just a Marine’,” he admitted. “You’re a damn good Marine who kept us alive and out of danger. So stop with that nonsense. Secondly, you’re incredibly smart, Gamble, and had you been given the same opportunities in life as I was, there would be no question about your abilities.”

Gamble listened, and he noticed the man didn’t say he wasn’t marrying him.

Well, that was a good sign.

It looked as if he could carry on with his plan. After all, he’d never asked a man to marry him before. This was new territory.

“I’m just saying, I would have come. Next time, ask me. Don’t assume.”

Poe got it.

“I won’t. I’m sorry that I underestimated you. In my defense, Gamble, I was under some duress.”

And that was theONLYreason Gamble wasn’t angry about it. Poe had just found out that his brother’s‘accident’was homicide, and that his parents had been killed days earlier.

That would make anyone do questionable things that were not the norm.

“My point is, I’m not embarrassed of who I am. Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?” he asked, holding his breath.

Poe stared at him.

“I’m not. In fact, be my person at the memorial for my parents, and at the small event after to celebrate me becoming a Duke,” he said. “Be my date. I’ll come out to everyone there, and I’ll own who I really am after the memorial for my parents.”

Gamble wanted to make sure.

“Is that really what you want?”

Oh, it was.

Now that Gamble was here, he didn’t feel empty and alone. He felt whole and alive. That told him everything he needed to know.

He.

Needed.

Him.

Poe said nothing.

At first.

Why?

He was trying not to giggle like an idiot because he was feeling all kinds of things that made him giddy as hell.

Finally, he composed himself.

“Absolutely. I want you to be my person. My other half—my better half.”

Gamble’s heart skipped.

“Are you sure?” he asked for the final time.

Sometimes, actions spoke louder than words. Leaning over, Poe kissed him. When their lips met, he knew that this was the man he was meant to be with for the rest of his life. He recalled how he felt before Gamble got there, and now, he felt alive again.

Oh, he was still lost in the grief, but he wasn’t sinking in the quicksand. Being here with Gamble made life easier and enjoyable.

“I’m positive,” he stated. “Be my date. I’m not ashamed that I’m gay. I just didn’t want them to talk shit about you in the media. You know how the tabloids are here.”