Page 122 of A Fool's Game

But I’m still focused on Taylor. “You’re letting go of your entire life?”

“You’re my entire life, witch. You and Mr. Moneybags back there. We’re going to go wherever you are.”

He drops to his knees, and I blink down at him in surprise.

“I’m not going to propose per se, because we haven’t quite figured out how that works for three people?—”

“But we’ve got some ideas,” Ainsley chimes in.

Taylor tosses him an amused glance before turning back to where he holds both of my hands in his. “But the way I see it, a proposal is just a promise. And that’s something I’m more than ready for.”

He pats his pockets and looks back up at Ainsley. “Ains?”

I feel Ainsley jump to attention behind me. “Oh, yeah.”

He passes a ring box to Taylor and rests his head back on my shoulder. I lean my head into his as we both watch Taylor.

The box contains three rings.

There’s a lovely, thin banded gold one in the center, and Taylor pulls it out. “We got these while we were driving around looking for you.”

I can barely breathe as he pinches the delicate ring betweenhis fingers and holds it up. I can see three gemstones centered on the band. A large, sparkling diamond in the center, flanked by an emerald on one side and an opal on the other. I glance down at the box and see that the two men’s rings have the same stones, although much smaller, set into matte black bands.

“This is a promise from me that I’m going to spend my life focused on putting the two of you first in all decisions I make. You are my north star, and I promise to not ever get lost again.” Taylor looks up at Ainsley, who’s still resting against me. “Ains?”

Ainsley gives my shoulders one last squeeze before moving to the front of me, where he takes up kneeling beside Taylor, shoving him to the side to make room. Taylor catches himself with one hand on the carpet and tries to hide his smile as he rights himself beside Ainsley.

I stifle a laugh as Ainsley plucks the ring from Taylor’s fingers and holds it up. Then, because I can’t stand another second of being so far away from them, I sink to my own knees, sitting down on my heels and looking up at them. The love and happiness reflected back at me makes me feel both strong and weak—and grateful I’m already sitting on the ground.

“You,” Ainsley looks to Taylor and then back at me. “Both of you. Accepted me from day one, well, almost day one,” he adds with a side glance. “I’ve always thought that I needed to know everything. That my life would start when I figured it all out. That there was no point in even trying unless I knew I would succeed. But you two? You’ve never cared about what I don’t know. You never make me feel like I’m only as good as the job I'm going to get. My life started in that bar on Christmas, and I wouldn’t go back for anything. I still don’t know much, but I do know that I’m walking with you. Wherever we’re headed.”

He looks to Taylor, who gives him a nod, a smile twinklingin his eye. It’s the love I see shining between the two of them that does me in. I watch Ainsley hand Taylor the ring back through the fog of happy tears.

He slips it on my finger. “I love you. I don’t say that enough, but it’s true.”

“I love you, Taylor.” I turn to Ainsley, who is joy incarnate, and wipe my tears so I can look him in the eyes. “And I love you, Ainsley.”

He leans forward to place the softest kiss on my lips. “I love you, too, Gemma.”

Then he sits back and fumbles to get the ring box back open, pulling another ring out and holding it up. “And you, you stubborn, pig-headed, egotistical, glowering motherfucker. I love the way you teach me to be humble and show me I’m stronger than I think. And the way you show your big heart to everyone who needs you, even if you don’t know it. I love you, and this is my promise.”

Taylor’s jaw is set so tightly, I worry for the safety of his teeth. The way his forehead crinkles gives away how hard he’s working to hold back emotions as Ainsley shoves the ring on his finger and places a kiss on the black band.

After a long moment of silence between the two of them, Taylor snatches the ring box and pulls out the last ring, tossing the box aside. “I swore I wouldn’t let you get to me. I told myself, just fuck the guy until Gem gets this out of her system.” He scoffs out a laugh and looks down at the ring he twirls between two fingers. “But you changed me. I’ve never let anyone help me a single time in my whole life. I’ve carried the world around like a burden only I can bear. You didn’t even ask. You just took some of that weight from me. And I'll be damned if life hasn’t gotten better every day you’ve stuck around. Lighter, like everyone and everything doesn’t actually hate me. Maybe you just showed me how to stop hating myselfso much. I’m going to love you for that, and for so much more, forever. Whether you like it or not.”

He slides the ring on as Ainsley laughs, shaking his head. “That was…almost a threat, I think. But I'll take it.”

“Oh, you’ll take it alright…” Taylor mutters, holding Ainsley’s hand up to make the small gems sparkle in the light.

“Seriously? Innuendos at a time like this?”

“Like I said, asshole, you’re stuck with me.” But there’s a smile on Taylor’s face as he says it.

When he looks back up from the ring and meets Ainsley’s gaze, Ains leans in and kisses him.

My heart literally melts. “I could not love you two more.”

They smile in unison mid-kiss, and I lean forward quickly, eager to be part of it. Taylor grabs me as soon as my lips touch theirs and pulls me down to my back on the rug between them. I stare up into the faces of my guys. The ones I’ll get to keep forever.

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