Page 45 of The Trauma Response
“I lo...uh…I like to know you think that,” he says, stuttering through the first part. My heart leaps because I know, Iknowwhat he was going to say but chickened out. It’s okay. We have time, and he doesn’t have to say it right now. I see it in his eyes when he stares down at me, in the way he relentlessly pursued me even when I wasn’t sure how I felt, and in the gentle yet insistent way he shows me he’s here, willing to be my support system no matter what.
When we reach my house, he lets me off the bike first and follows me to the door. For the first time in months, I’m excited for the unknown. I can’t wait to see what comes next for us, but I know that no matter what it is, we’re in this for the long term. It took us a long time, one horrible accident, and a few miscommunications to get here, but we’refinallyhere.
I unlock my door, ready to invite him in for a while, when I catch him mouthing something to himself. He’s laser-focused on his feet, fidgeting with his helmet. He licks his lips and clears his throat before looking back up at me with wide eyes, his handsome face filled with worry.
“Why do you look so nervous?” I ask, barely able to control the giddiness that surges up from my stomach when he looks at me. Did wereallykiss? Is this even real? Are my wildest dreams coming true after all these years?
Cai steps forward and brushes the hair from my face before palming my cheeks. “I am nervous, but I’m going to do this anyway. Back then I was never brave enough to ask you this question, but it’s killing me not to ask you now.”
“Yes?” I whisper. “What is it?” The man has stolen my breath. I’m in so, so deep.
“I’d be honored if you’d be my girlfriend. Will you, Whits?”
I giggle. “I thought that was a given after the kissing and talk of the future, but yes, I’d be just as honored tobeyour girlfriend even though that was a dorky way of asking me.”
“Dorky?” he shouts playfully. “Dorky? I admit I’ve had feelings for you for literal years and you call me dorky?” He picks me up and hauls me over his shoulder to carry me into my house. I relax and let him take me. It makes no sense to fight him, since he is literally trained to carry people out of fires. I doubt any wiggling or pushing on my part will free me from his embrace, not that I want to be freed. I don’t, not at all.
“It was very high school of you, honestly,” I tease.
Cai throws me on my sofa and cages me in with his arms on either side of me. “Well, I started practicing back then. Maybe I should have reworded my question a little since so much time has passed.”
I run my hands up his arms and clasp them behind his neck. “It did echo a certain teenage hope, I admit, but I can’t see how you could have changed it much. Incidentally, if you had asked me back then the same way you just did, I would have said yes.”
“Good to know, but Idothink I could have improved on it.” He lowers himself and kisses my forehead.
“How so?” I run my hands through his hair and his eyes darken.
“Will you marry me, Whits?”
I freeze, my fingers tangled in his dirty-blonde locks. “Are…are you serious?”
“I am.” His jaw flexes and his teeth clench, but he maintains eye contact with me. I absorb this moment, let it burn into my memory forever. This is the moment I see my whole future ahead of me, and it all begins and ends with this man. My future husband.
“I will,” I whisper seconds before his lips claim mine. This kiss is as sweet and tender as the others, and when he pulls back he lifts me into a sitting position.
“I love you. I was going to say that on the ride home, but I held back because I wanted to say it to your face. I didn’t want you to hear it over some crackling comms radio. I love you, Whits, and I want to marry you.”
I press my palms to his cheeks and kiss him again.
“I love you, too, Cai. And I already said yes.” I smile and pinch his cheek.
“I know. I was giving you a chance to back out, just in case,” he teases and pulls me closer.
“Not a chance. I’ve been waiting literalyearsfor you to kiss me. No way I’m playing take-backs. You’re stuck with me forever, which means you’re stuck with Jax too.”
Cai chuckles and settles back into my fluffy sofa he hates. “It’s a price I’m willing to pay for forever with you. Besides, I hear his wife is pretty great.”
“Oh, good answer, future husband.” I lean in and kiss him again, excited for what comes next.
Chapter twenty-four
Three days later…
“Ilove you.” Whits slides into the seat beside me on her oversized, fluffy, man-eating sofa and rests her head on my shoulder before looking up at me. “I love you, Cai. I know we said we’d take this slow but I need you to know that I’m so foolishly in love with you, it makes me giggle all the time. I’m happy, and I’m not so sure I want to go slow.”
My heart elates and I shift so I can kiss her. “I love you, too. I don’t ever want to be apart from you, never again. Which is why I proposed, remember? I literally kissed you for the first time, asked you to be my girlfriend, and proposed marriage in a matter of an hour.”
“So you agree?”
