Page 80 of The Sexy Ex's Brother
“Even if I wear sequins?”
Jack smirks. “Especially if you wear sequins.”
“Let’s talk rings,” I say, wiggling my fingers. “Do you want something classic? Or flashy? Or are you going to pretend you’re too manly to wear one?”
“I’ll wear the damn ring,” he mutters. “You think I’m letting anyone mistake me for available again?”
That lands harder than I expect. I look at him, soft now. “You’re really all in, aren’t you?”
He nods. “You’re it. There’s no halfway here.”
My throat tightens. “Same.”
I used to think the idea of forever meant confinement. Obligation. A gilded cage dressed in tulle and family expectations. But now? With him? It feels like something I get to choose. A door I walk through willingly, barefoot and grinning, because he’s on the other side.
He strokes a thumb along my jaw. “So what’s your vision, then? Full glam? Cathedral veil and a string quartet?”
I grin. “I used to want all of that, the magazine spread, the Vera Wang, the rooftop ballroom with ice sculptures. But now?” I trace the edge of his collarbone. “I want something that feels like us. Somewhere beautiful but a little undone. Maybe we get married barefoot in the sand. Or under string lights in the backyard with people laughing and Sienna bossing everyone around.”
Jack chuckles. “That actually tracks.”
I let my hands rest on his chest. “I just want it to feel like a beginning, not a performance.”
He nods again, slower this time. “Then we’ll make it that. No press. No spectacle. Just us.”
My heart thuds quietly in my chest, grounded by his certainty. “You realize our families are going to riot.”
“They’ll get over it,” he says. “Or they won’t. Either way, they won’t stop us.”
I kiss him, slow and smiling against his mouth. “God, I love you.”
“Good,” he murmurs. “Because you’re stuck with me now.”
The quiet stretches between us, easy for once. Until he remembers. He unlocks the phone, the tension returning like a shadow at the edge of morning.
“I need to show you something,” he says. “I’ve been holding off. I shouldn’t have.”
He scrolls, then hands it to me. My name is in the subject line. My breath stalls. My hand trembles, just slightly, and I curl my fingers tighter around the device to hide it. The glow of the screen hits my skin. The air shifts.
I don’t open the message yet. I just hold it, every nerve suddenly taut. My pulse kicks against my ribs like it remembers. There’s a flash of memory, an envelope. Cream-colored. Heavy. Left on my doorstep like a warning. That day changed everything. And this… this might be another one.
“Who sent this?” I ask.
He hesitates. “It came through Santiago. He thinks it’s tied to Derek’s last push…maybe someone on the inside. Even from jail, he’s still trying to sabotage us. We’re vetting it now.”
I nod slowly, but I’m not really hearing him. I turn from Jack and walk to the edge of the balcony, letting the sea air hit my face. I hold the phone like it might bite. Everything in me wants to throw it into the ocean. Let it sink. Pretend there’s nothing left to uncover. But that’s not who I am anymore. Not with him.
Jack steps up beside me and doesn’t say a word. He just wraps one arm around my back, grounding me with the weight of his silence.
I glance down at the message again. The screen dims. I touch it, and the glow returns, casting both our faces in pale light.
“Whatever it is,” I say quietly, “we’ll deal with it. Together.”
Jack’s eyes meet mine, and they’re raw again, like they were when he first told me the truth about my engagement. The look of a man who’s carried too much for too long and finally let someone else bear it with him. I reach for his hand again.
“No more shutting down. No more secrets. Promise me.”
“I promise,” he says, voice hoarse. “No more walls.”
