Page 217 of Keeping Kasey
“The only reason I haven’t asked you to be my wife yet is because my mother’s ring is in my safe at the manor. That’s theonlyreason. It is not a question ofifit’ll happen, but how quickly I can get home to slide it on your finger.”
“The ring can wait,” she says, so soft I almost miss it.
I study her gaze, and the message is clear as day in her shining blue eyes. But in case there was any doubt, she gives me the slightest nod.
It’s all the invitation I need.
“You’re the most infuriating person I have ever met. You make me contemplate homicide and my own sanity on a daily basis.”
“Horrible start,” she deadpans, and I give a look that silently asks if she’s going to let me go on. She rolls her eyes, and I take it as my sign.
“Butyou have brought meaning to my life in a way that I never knew was possible. Marriage has always been an obligation to fulfill, but you have made it an opportunity—a foundation for everything that makes my life worth living.Youmake my life worth living. I tried living without you, and it almost killed me. And even though living with you mightalsokill me, I’d like to do it for the rest of my life.”
“There better be a question somewhere in this monologue,” she says, failing to suppress her smile.
“Kasey Camilla Miller, will you—”
“Wait,” she says, eyes wide.
“You’re the one who told me to ask!”
Only Kasey would make me want to strangle her mid-proposal.
“I figure now is probably a good time to tell you that my last name isn’t Miller.”
“What?”
“I legally changed my mom’s and my last name after Dad died,” she says, a bright flush flooding her cheeks.
“What the hell is your last name?”
“McKay,” she says through a laugh, then nods. “Keep going, keep going.”
I shake my head.
This woman.
“Kasey, soon-to-be Consoli, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she says, her smile triumphant and breathtaking.
“You’re awake!” my sister exclaims as she throws the door open and rushes to the side of my bed that isn’t occupied by my fiancée.
I hear the others filtering in after her, but I don’t look at them. I take in the pure joy that has settled between Kasey and me—a refreshing change from the heaviness that’s plagued us for too long.
“How do you feel? Has the doctor been in here yet? What were you thinking going to that cabin without telling anyone? Do you have any idea how lucky you are to be alive?” Elise barely breathes between firing off questions. “How long ago did you wake up? Do you need something for pain?”
Reluctantly, I pull my eyes from my fiancée just as the door closes. James has joined Elise at my side—a look of pure relief on his face—and Damon and Moreno reclaim their seats.
Kasey looks at the clock above the door, then at Moreno.
“Eight minutes? That’s the best you could do?” Without waiting for an answer, she turns to Elise. “Joshua was antagonizing Logan when he woke up.”
The speed with which my sister’s head snaps to glare at Moreno should break her neck. “Are you serious? You promised to be on your best behavior.”
Moreno points to Kasey. “You’re the worst, you know that?”
Elise scoffs, but Kasey just laughs.
