Page 48 of The Boyfriend Gamble

I chose to ignore the barb. “And so now, what, you expect Felix and I to…?” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Because over the past month, all I’d thought about was how I wanted tofill in the blankwith Felix. Kiss? Fuck? Marry? But it’d all been out of reach, so I hadn’t gone there. Like, at all.

So you tell yourself.

“I’m moving to Romania in just over a week. I’ll be here for the wedding.” She held my gaze. “Go for it, big brother.” Then she walked away. Right out the door, down the porch, to her little green sedan, and off. Likely heading back into town.

My head hurt. Slowly I pulled away from Felix, who I’d still been supporting with my hand against his lower back. I shut the front door, then leaned against it. "So, you two aren’t getting married?"

"Nope." Felix blinked those huge dark-brown eyes several times. Like he couldn’t quite believe what had just happened either.

"And Josie’s not brokenhearted about it?"

"Nope." He shrugged. “Like she said, she’s off to some castle in Romania. Which I think sounds a little suspicious, and I hope you’re planning to do some due diligence to follow up on this count guy before she actually flies to Europe.”

My head spun. I’d do what he suggested. At the moment, though, I had a more pressing issue. "And you're not brokenhearted about it?"

"Nope." Not a flicker of disappointment in his gaze. Aside from still looking a little sleep rumpled—had he been taking a nap? —he appeared completely unconcerned. But he’d had longer to absorb this, since Josie had come here first.

"Right. But our mothers are still expecting a wedding?" As much as I’d worried about Felix’s feelings, our mothers’ hearts were right up there in my concern.

"Yep."

We just stared at each other as the moment hung in time.

I cleared my throat. "You do have a cheerful house. It's very big."

"Yep." His monosyllabic answers gave nothing away.

"You still want to get married in the middle of the woods?"

"Yep."

Slowly, ever so slowly, I saw my life before me. It didn’t scare me. In fact, I wasn’t certain anything had ever felt so right. Again I cleared my throat. "Will you be upset if I ask your brother to be best man? I mean, he can be best man for both of us, can't he?"

"Are you proposing to me?"

No hint of his feelings about this. If he hadn’t jumped me a month ago, I doubted I’d even be saying these things. Still… "Maybe. Do you want to be proposed to?"

Felix shrugged. "I don't think I actually ever proposed to Josette. Everyone just thought we were getting married. So, uh, do you mind if I do the proposing instead?"

"I fucking well don't care, as long as you fucking well get on with it so we can get to the kissing part."

"Oh. Okay.”

To my shock, he got down on one knee. I towered over him but the surprise overrode most of the discomfort.

Most.

“Jacob, will you marry me in the woods with your sister as maid of honor and my brother as best man and our two mothers crying copious amounts of tears? And then will you live with me in this cabin. Together? And have kids?"

This time, I blinked. And not so much from confusion—although that was part of it—but because I was holding back tears. Everything I’d ever wanted but hadn’t known I wanted, was before me. I knelt to join him.

He rolled his eyes.

“Yes. To all of it. I didn’t think I could have those things, but I sayyes.” I winked, "Okay. Can we kiss now?"

“Oh my God, yes, please.”

I rose, gently guiding him up with me. When we were upright, I cupped his cheek and drew him close. Where I expected his eyes to drift shut and for us to enjoy a nice, languorous kiss, he wrapped his arms around my neck, grabbed my hair, and yanked me down to him.

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