“But we are cornered,” I say, because the world keeps getting in between us. “They want to decide for us.”
“Then let me write the next line.” He bends to press his forehead to mine, breath shallow and sure. “Let me write it with you.”
“What if I say yes,” I ask, because the question is less of a doubt and more of a surrender that I’m eager to make.
“If you say yes,” he answers, his voice is iron wrapped in silk, “I will build a wall between you and the world, only allowing who you want inside. I will make the world learn not to touch your name unless you say so. I will make sure your life belongs to you first.”
I close my eyes and feel the weight of the band, the small curve against the pad of my finger, the tiny words pressed inside. “Ask me again.”
“Marry me, Magnolia Rusco. Marry me tonight.”
SIXTEEN
“Tonight?” I startle, a sobbed chuckle escaping. I let the answer rise from somewhere honest and irrevocable. I cup his face. “Yes,” I say, firm as a blade and soft as skin. “Yes, Sin. Yes, us.”
He bends his head and presses his mouth to mine, slow and claiming and gentle all at once. “My family will never forgive me.” I say.
“Then we’ll make them remember who you are,” he breathes, words folded around me. “Not a bargaining chip. Not a casualty. As the woman I love.”
Love.Dangerous. Reckless. Whole. It fills me up and makes my ribs ache in the best way.
I wrap my arms around his neck without thinking, and he tilts me back so the moonlight paints the curve of my cheek.
We stand there in the small park until the chill finally steals our breath away, until the city noise leaks back in and we are forced to remember there is a world beyond these trees. I rest my head on his shoulder, and he presses his cheek to the crown of my head like protection. The ring on my finger catches a stray beam of lamplight and throws a thin, steady line of light across his knuckles.
Some vows are whispered in cathedrals; ours is whispered under a halo of stars. It’s not perfect. It’s not polite. It is ours, reckless and tender and brave. And as he folds me into him, I know that even if everything after tonight fractures, I have chosen.
Hislips find mine in a kiss so deep, so consuming, that I don’t think I’ll ever surface.
Hishands frame my face, his body pressing into mine like he’s trying to mold us together, to erase the space that’s kept us apart.
I clutchhis jacket, pulling him closer, letting the warmth of him chase away the fear that’s been clawing at my chest for weeks.
This.
This is what’s real.
Not the Rusco estate.
Not thelife they’re trying to build for me.
Not thefuture Cameron has so carefully designed.
Just this.
Just him.
When we finally break apart,Sin presses his forehead to mine, his breath uneven.
“You’re mine now.”
Ashiver runs down my spine.
“Always have been,”I whisper.
Hisgrip tightens on me like he doesn’t want to let go.
“We don’t have much time.”
