“I might have felt that way, Cas, but I never would have let you go,” I said. “I can’t believe you thought it would have changedus.What we are together.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” he said, kneeling before me, and placing his hands on my thighs. “My head was messed up with all sorts of fears about you, and Max, and your future with the other guys. That was wrong. All of it was wrong.”
I looked at my hands, tightly woven together in my lap. “Thank you for apologizing.”
He held his hand out to me. I let him pull me to my feet. “I know you feel like you don’t have a choice but, princess, you do.”
I looked back at the guys and all of them watched us, with seemingly supportive looks on their faces. Cas said they’d all talked, and all agreed. Had they accepted his apology, too?
I turned back around, only to suck in a breath. Cas was on his knee, with a velvet box in his hand.
“The five of us talked, and we agreed that if you said no to this, we’d deal with whatever the consequences would be. It doesn’t matter if we don’t get the men on our side. The six of us are together, and that’s all that matters. We’ll figure it out.”
A lump choked my throat. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? Was this happening?
His fingers pulled back the lid of the box, and inside sat a ring. It was a beautiful yellow gold setting, peppered with diamonds on both sides, and a massive central stone that glittered in the natural light.
Tears pricked my eyes. “Are you proposing? Like for real?”
He nodded. “For real. I want to marry you, Leona. I always have. But you can say no. You aren’t trapped in this decision.” He nodded toward the guys. “We’re all on the same page.”
Ryuji snorted behind me. “For once.”
I looked around at each of them. “You guys talked about this?”
“Yes,” Obi responded. “Whatever your decision, it changes nothing about our team. We’re still the same. We all want the same thing. You.”
“Ciel? Wynn?”
“It’s up to you,” Wynn reassured. “Nothing else changes.”
“I belong to you,” Ciel said. “It doesn’t matter what you wear on your finger.”
“Ryuji?”
He cocked his head. “Just remember that he might have bought you a ring, but I bought you a nightclub.”
I laughed, a tear spilling onto my cheek. “You bought that for you, you dummy.”
“I named it Lioness,” he said with a shrug, then looked out the window.My name. He named it after me. He looked back at me, his gaze smoldering, containing the words he wouldn’t say. I smiled, and he met it with his signature sexy smirk.
Cas grabbed my hand, and I looked back at him, with his pink-tinted cheeks, and shining blue eyes. “Princess…Leona, will you marry me?”
Tears spilled onto my cheeks.
All of them hadtalked. Had decided on this together. They weren’t running for the hills. They weren’t trying to use me to gain something. They just wantedme. With all my flaws, failures, and hopes for the future.
“You can think about it. We just want you to know we’re serious.”
I didn’t need to think. I knew. I cupped Cas’s cheeks and pulled his face to mine. He stood, wrapping his arms around my body as his lips set my whole body on fire.
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“Yes!”
He pulled the ring from the box and slipped it on my finger. The rock was heavy, but the band fit perfectly. It was so beautiful.
It meant so much.
