We had returned home with pizza and no sign of Kyler or Dani having come out of her room and nope, I was not about to go knock on the door. Haylee heads to our bedroom as I finish cleaning up the kitchen, putting the leftover pizza in the fridge.
I mumble under my breath, “If they want leftovers, at least they are there, so you’re welcome.”
I lean against the doorway of our bedroom, staring at my beautiful fiancée currently sitting with one foot propped up on the bed, unlacing her Converse.
That beautiful woman right there agreed to be my wife. I have been carrying that ring around for what seems like forever and finally popped the question, and of all things, she said yes. This has been one of the longest days of my life. I may have decided last minute to finally pop the question to her, but I didn’t plan, once she said yes, to spend it worrying about my sister, calming Kyler down, and definitely not walking in on my sister and Ky in a compromising position.
Thank God I wasn’t just another second or two later. I shiver at the thought and focus back on Hails. I walk over to her while she is working on the other shoe.
I bend down to one knee and reach for her left hand that already has my ring on it. My thumb drags over the ring. It seriously is a beautiful ring, and being a dude, I know absolutely nothing about jewelry, but this ring…it’s personal. I would never have thought about adding Em
mett’s birthstone to the ring—that was all Brian.
“What are you doing?”
I look up from the ring to meet the most stunning pair of blue eyes I have ever seen. “When I decided I was going to propose today, I didn’t expect the rest of today’s events to unfold the way they did. That put a little bit of a damper on our celebrating, so I thought I would do a redo and then give you a proper celebration.” The curves of her lips go upward in a smile as she looks down on me, still on one knee.
“In the last conversation Em and I ever had, he told me one day a girl would knock me on my ass. I laughed at him then. I never thought I would find a girl who would not only turn my world upside down, but would capture my heart completely. I found that in you, of all people. I knew early on that you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. In fact, I’ve had this…” I place my thumb and forefinger around her ring and slide it off her finger. “…for quite some time—since my graduation, actually. Your dad had this custom-made with your grandmother’s ring. He wanted you to have a part of your brother for the rest of your life.”
Her hands cover her nose and mouth as tears fill her eyes. Shit, I made her cry. Get to the point, Jacobs.
“There never seemed to be a right time to give you this ring, but if there is anything that we have learned over our years together, it’s that nothing goes as planned, so this morning, I knew that there was only one thing that could make life even better, and that was you agreeing to be my wife. I didn’t need anything fancy to ask you—just you.”
Tears are running down her cheeks, and her body vibrates as she sniffles away the tears. I reach up and cup her cheek and run my thumb along her cheekbone.
“Haylee, I never imagined my life turning out the way it did, and that is all because of you. You are my life, my world, my everything. Thank you for never giving up on me and always being by my side. You’re it for me, Haylee Hanks. I love you so much. Marry me?”
She nods. “Yes, baby, my answer is still yes. I love you so much.”
I slide the ring back on her finger and rise up, cupping both of her cheeks and pulling her face to me. She draws in a small breath as my lips press against hers. I explore her mouth with my tongue, and when her tongue seeks mine, I lose all control. I wrap one hand around her waist and lift her closer to the top of the bed. Her hand slides to the back of my neck, and she deepens the kiss. This kiss tells her everything I didn’t say or couldn’t say. I’m not sure there are words that could adequately describe how much I love Haylee Hanks.
Clothes are ripped off in a flash; hands are grabbing, teeth clashing, lips consuming. This is the proper way I had planned to celebrate her saying yes today. I roll over to my back and bring Haylee on top of me.
I hiss out an elongated “Fuck!” as she sinks down on me.
As much as I love being in control in the bedroom, there is nothing sexier than this woman on top of me. My fingers press into her hips before she can begin to move, and I take a breath to commit this moment to memory. Her nails grip my chest, and we lock eyes. For just a moment we stare at each other. This woman has actually agreed to marry me, and I will love her until my last breath and then some.
Just as she goes to open her mouth to say something, I begin to move my hips, and whatever she was going to say is replaced with a moan. I bring my right hand to the back of her neck and pull her down to me as I grind into her.
“I love you so much, baby girl.” I don’t even allow her to respond by claiming her lips again.
1.5 years later…
“Hey, how was your night with Kyler?” I ask Zach as he closes the front door.
I grab the remote and hit Pause on the rerun of How I Met Your Mother I was watching. It still feels weird that Dani and Kyler don’t live here anymore. It’s been four months since they got a place of their own, just down the street. Of course, it has a fantastic kitchen.
Zach leans down and the moment his lips touch mine, I feel electricity shoot through my body, my nipples pressing against the inside of my bra. Don’t even get me started on the butterflies he causes down below. The contact breaks too quickly, and I let out a groan in response.
Zach sits down next to me, smirking, throwing my legs over his and extending his arm along the back of the couch.
“Well…” That Jacobs smirk overtakes his face, and his features light up. Guess he had a good time. “Tonight was interesting.”
“What do you mean? Everything okay?” I begin to worry and sit up straighter.
Zach leans over and steals a sip of my ginger ale, prolonging telling me what happened on boys’ night out.
I gently shove him. “Come on, don’t hold out. What happened?”