Page 58 of The One Decent Thing
I mean, yes, of course I wanted to marry him. I loved him so much, and maybe we were young, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t real. Neither of us were too young in a lot of the ways that counted. But I didn’t want to marry someone who didn’t want to marry me, right? Or I shouldn’t.
Oh, God.
I squeezed the shoe box in my hands and shut my eyes, my head spinning. I’d gotten the panic attacks under control a little bit in the past six months, partly from feeling more secure in general and partly from, at Aidan’s urging, seeing my therapist more regularly and following her advice a little better.
One thing she’d been working on with me was being okay with asking for what I wanted. With expecting people to treat me well, and calling them on it when they didn’t. Aidan didn’t want to hurt me, I knew that. That didn’t mean he couldn’t do it by accident.
And I wasn’t going to answer a question he hadn’t asked. That put the pressure on me instead of on him, and I wasn’t the one who’d started this. Deep breath. In, then out.
I opened my eyes. “It counts if you ask me,” I said, shaky but sure. “If you don’t want to ask me, don’t. But I’m not going to say anything but thank you for the birthday present if you don’t.”
Aidan swallowed hard and went to one knee, right there on the kitchen floor. The overhead light was off, because I liked it dim in the morning while I woke up. The little bit of watery sunlight coming in through the window over the kitchen table gave the room a kind of dreamlike feeling.
He was really on one knee. It wasn’t a dream.
“Will you marry me?” That gravelly voice never stopped making me shiver a little.
“Do you actually want me to, or are you just asking because I made you?” Dammit, dammit, what if putting the pressure on him backfired and now —
“Jesus Christ, Sebastian, I fucking love you and you didn’t make me do anything. Will you please, please either marry me or put me out of my misery?”
That tinge of annoyance snapped me out of it. God, he meant it. No one could be that cranky over a marriage proposal if he didn’t have something invested in it. I stared down at him, where he held still at my feet. Even irritated, he had thatlook. The focused look, like everything in the world could be burning and all he’d see would be me.
Strike that. He had everything invested in this. So did I.
“No misery needed,” I whispered. “Yes. So much yes.”
Aidan surged to his feet and snatched the box out of my hands over my squeak of protest. What the — and then he set it on the table, grabbed me by the shoulders, and yanked me close, his mouth coming down on mine so hard and fast all I could do was give in.
All I wanted to do was give in, so that worked out. The box would’ve been crushed by the time that kiss ended. He had me backed up against the counter, with his hands roaming down and stroking over my sides and a leg pushed between mine.
“Aren’t you —” His lips closed on the side of my neck, and I buried my hands in his hair. “Supposed to —” Oh, and now he was grinding his cock against my hip and palming my ass. “Put the ring on me,” I gasped.
Aidan tore my shirt off over my head and went down on both knees, this time. His grin as he gazed up at me was wicked. “In a minute.” He mouthed over my erection through the soft cotton of my pajama pants, his breath hot. I gripped the edge of the counter when my knees tried to buckle. “Maybe ten minutes.”
Given how worked up I was, the first estimate was probably closer. “I love you,” I panted. “Hurry up.”
Aidan laughed against my inner thigh, the vibrations traveling all the way through me and nearly making me come on the spot. “So romantic. I love you too.”
“You’d better. You’re — oh God, right there — stuck with me.”
Aidan tipped his head back, totally ignoring the ‘right there’ command.
“Hey, baby?”
“Yeah?”
“No take-backs.” He grinned, and winked, and leaned back in.
We’d see if he was still saying that when we started wedding planning, but for now — for now, I didn’t have a worry in the world.
The End