Page 36 of Forbidden Ride
“Then you’ve lost your goddamn mind.” Without another word, Chase spins on a dime and storms back to his truck. He slams the door and eyes me while he starts his engine, and then he closes his eyes in frustration.
Finally, he shakes his head at me in disgust and drives off.
I can’t take my eyes off the road. I keep waiting for Chase to turn around and come back. “I can’t believe what just happened.”
William drapes an arm around my shoulder. “It’ll be okay. C’mon, let’s go back inside.”
I didn’t realize I must’ve been shaking the whole time until we start walking. William keeps his arm around me and leads me back to the couch.
“I wish there was a magic button I could press to rewind and delete the last ten minutes.”
“I’m glad the situation didn’t escalate,” William says, quietly sitting beside me.
“But what would’ve happened if he’d hit you?”
William purses his lips and stares off at the wall.
“Well?”
“I would’ve protected myself. He wouldn’t have gotten close enough to touch me.”
“I don’t know how you can be so sure.” I gulp a breath, waiting for my heart to stop racing.
“Your brother might be a bad-ass in the movies, but I’m a trained soldier. It’s been a long time since my last tour of duty but, bottom line, when it comes to combat, I win.” He lifts my hand off the couch and squeezes it. “We had words. That’s it. Nothing irreversible happened. It’s over.”
“Somehow, you have the ability to make everything seem okay.” I sigh. I might as well get everything on the table, because there’s no way I’ll ever forget. “You told Chase you wanted to marry me.” I look over at him. “Were you just trying to calm him down?”
William chuckles. “No, but I wasn’t planning to ask you like that.”
My heart picks up a happy beat again. “So you were serious?”
“Serious enough to start looking at rings.” He reaches into his pocket.
“What?” I raise my brows, grinning. It feels like a million balloons just launched inside me. “But the roads were closed, and we were together almost every second.” I scoot forward and turn so I can look at him head on.
“I said,lookfor rings, and I had plenty of time last night. What do you think of this one?” He scrolls through his phone and shows me a picture of a square-cut diamond ring in a vintage setting. “Or this?” He thumbs to another photo. “Do you like the round one better?”
Flabbergasted, I bring my hand to my heart. “I... ah, don’t know. I—”
He gets down on his knees in front of me, and my thoughts race every which way. I think I’m going to explode. “I was going to make it a big thing. You know, candlelit dinner, flowers, musicians, the works.” He laughs. “But we can do that after we pick out your ring.”
I’m unable to move, fixated on his intense stare. His blue eyes are tinged with a silvery shimmer. William takes hold of my hands, and my heart does crazy palpitations.This is really happening.
“I’ve been crazy about you since middle school, Jenny West. I fell in love the second I saw you in that blue-and-gold cheerleading outfit.”
He loves me. I throw back my head, smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. “You remember my uniform?”
“How could I forget? I was at every game. My brothers played, but you were the only one I was watching.”
“But what about our age difference?”
“Five years is hardly a difference.”
I grasp his hands and bring them up to my heart. Does he really know what he’s asking? “My kids, William. You’re a single guy. You’re getting a full family andthreekids with me.”
“My family. Our family. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, Jenny. I’ll protect and love your children like they’re my own.”
“But after everything you’ve been through with your mom and your brothers—”
