Page 108 of Conflict
It’s our last night in Vegas and we’re lounging in bed, trying to decide what to do with our night. Branson and Ariana have their own plans, so we’re on our own. Not that I mind. Sure, I love my cousin and his wife, but alone time with my girl in Sin City? Yes please.
I trace the curve of her lower back with my fingers, watching as she scrolls through her phone, looking for something to do. “Do you ever hear a song that stops you in your tracks? That reminds you of some profound moment that you never actually knew was profound until you’ve heard the song?”
She surprises me with her immediate response. “Dan + Shay’s ‘Tequila.’”
“I’m unfamiliar with that one,” I admit.
Alyssa types something on her phone then the song plays. “Every time I hear this song, it reminds me of leaving you that morning in Florida. Of what I could’ve lost. It always makes me think of you. How about you? Is there a song that makes you think of me?”
“So… don’t call me a copycat. But going with the country theme, I have to go with Lady Antebellum’s ‘If I Knew Then.’ Because I wish I’d known exactly how drastically you’d change my life.”
Alyssa’s eyes soften. “Shane…”
She cuddles up to me, and we rest in peace for who knows how long. Eventually, she stirs.
“So, what do you want to do with our last free night?” she asks, sprawling across my chest and peering down at me.
“Marry you.”
The words slip out before I can stop them. Alyssa’s dark eyes widen, and I reach across to the nightstand where I stashed the ring my mom gave me the weekend after she met Alyssa. I didn’t plan on doing this. Not here. Not like this. But nothing about us has been conventional, so why start now?
I sit up, resting my back against the headboard. Alyssa settles between my legs, watching me with awestruck eyes, her lower lip sucked in between her teeth.
My heart races with the realization that not only am I doing this, but I really fucking want to.
“I didn’t want this, Alyssa. I wasn’t looking for it, but you just landed in my life and took root. Now that I’ve had you, there’s nothing—no one—I need more. It’s fast. It’s crazy. And I don’t care. I love you. I love you with everything in me, in a way I didn’t know was possible, and the idea of losing you? It kills me. So love me back, sunshine. Marry me. Be mine for the rest of our lives, because this life is nothing if you’re not by my side.”
“I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes.”
Alyssa takes a step back and my heart drops to the pit of my stomach. “When I was out there in the sand, unsure if I’d even make it back to you, all I could think about was all the time I’ve wasted with you. I pushed you away when my heart told me to draw you close. I’m not pushing you anymore, Shane. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t care if it’s fast. I don’t care if it’s crazy. Yes. I’d marry you this very second if I could.”
And this is how Alyssa and I end up in Vegas, married without pomp or circumstance, and with a reception for two filled with endless orgasms, champagne, and a whole lot of love.
The Wellington Way captured its last victim, and damn, life has never felt so damn right.
