Page 143 of Downfall

It doesn’t feel like fucking. For the first time in our lives it feels like we’re not just responding to the world around us, responding to our own emotions, or our lust. It feels like love-making, true genuine love making. It feels like our souls are uniting, that right now we’re healing each other, forgiving our sins, connecting on a level we’ve never been able to before.

I kiss him. I can’t stop kissing him. I run my hands over his body, reminding myself of every muscle, every line. I’ve never touched someone the way I’ve touched Roman. Never been touched the way he touches me.

He groans as he gets nearer and nearer to his climax and I rest my head against his, staring into his eyes as we both find our release.

We lay there, curled up in each other’s arms, listening to the others breathing.

And then Roman shifts, getting off me for a moment.

I frown watching him walking over to the desk, pulling out a drawer before he turns walking back to me. He’s got that wry grin on his face, and his eyes, they’re sparkling more than ever.

“What…?” I begin.

He slips onto the couch beside me. “I wanted to wait till the right moment.” He says holding what looks like a small box up.

I frown, my head already telling me what’s in it, even as I process what’s happening.

He pops it open. Inside is a sapphire surrounded by diamonds. It’s old, vintage. I know just by looking at it that it was his mother’s. That this is a family heirloom. That this means something very special to him.

“Rose, will you marry me?”

I nod, half laughing, half crying. “Of course.”

He kisses me, sliding the ring onto my finger. “I already had it resized.”

I raise an eyebrow shaking my head. “You were that confident I’d say yes?”

He grins. “Why would you not?” He replies before scooping me up and he’s carrying me, through the house clearly not concerned that he’s naked, that I’m naked, that anyone could see us right now.

He lays me in his bed. I sink into the mattress and then curl into his body as he gets in beside me.

“I kept that ring, the whole time I was in exile I kept it with me.” He says.

I gulp looking up at him. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

“I was going to ask you. I was going to propose, I knew we couldn’t continue as we were and that time was running out. And then, when I was exiled, I kept looking at it, every night, thinking of you, wondering at first why you hadn’t come, why you never replied.”

“I’m so sorry…”

He puts a finger over my lips. “We need to make a new rule. No more apologising to one another. What is done is done.”

I nod. Yeah I can agree to that.

“Why did you do it?” I say. “Why did you kill Tybalt?”

He pauses, frowning, before meeting my gaze. “What do you know about that day?” He asks.

I shrug. “Not much. I found out I was pregnant the same day. I was trying to contact you and well…” I trail off because we both know how that turned out.

He tilts his head. “Fuck.” He murmurs. “I’m so sorry…”

“I thought we agreed not to apologise anymore.” I say.

His lips curl. “I guess old habits die hard.”

“So Tybalt?”

“We broke down. Me and Ben, on the way back from our trip. Tybalt used to have that gang he hung out with.”

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