Page 218 of A Curse On Black Lake
His lips kiss my stomach, and I lift my head, looking down at him.
“I want to marry you, and I want to see you pregnant with our baby.”
My eyes whip open. Is he joking?
He sits up, leaning back on his heels.
Nope. Not joking.
“I’m happy to wait. I’m not saying now. But I want a family, with you, Eliana.”
I stare at him in shock, but alsoelated. I forced myself not to think about something that I would never have, to the point I locked it away in a vault because it wasn’t worth torturing myself over. I resigned myself to being the lonely woman in the apothecary.
Tears cloud my vision. “I never thought I’d get this. I really thought I’d die alone,” I rasp.
“We have the chance to build a life, and I want to build it with you, baby. I want to see my ring on your finger. I want to watch you walk down the aisle to me. I can’t wait to be exhausted with you raising five kids. I want to make you as happy as I can.”
I laugh and cry at the same time.
“Five?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I realize that part of the plan is mainly on you, but … yeah.”
“Okay. Five kids it is.” I smile and wipe a tear.
“Are these happy tears?” he asks.
I nod and hold my arms up, needing to touch him again.
He grins and drops down onto me. Our mouths meet, and the love I never thought I would have the blessing of flows through him into me, a continuous unbreakable bond.
Killian leans to the side, reaching for the nightstand. I lift my hips, brushing against him, and he chokes on his groan. I stare at him, noting every detail of his face, the way his hair falls into his eyes. The way his body feels against mine.
“Hold on,” he mutters.
He comes back with a little black box in his hand.
“I wanted to do this very differently, though the clothes were optional. But I wanted to go on a ride with you and maybe watchthe sunset, I don’t know … romantic stuff. Then I wanted to get on one knee and ask you to be my wife.”
“Then let’s do it,” I tell him.
He grins. “Baby, do you know what it’s like to ride a horse with a hard-on? It’s not comfortableat all.”
I giggle, and he smiles.
“Then take me outside. The sun is setting, and you can take me on a ride tomorrow.”
He chuckles and leaps off of me, pulling his jeans on, and throwing my dress at me. I giggle, pulling it back over my head, and we run down the stairs.
Killian throws the door open, and I race behind him down the stairs to the grass.
The sun is setting, and the sky is beautiful oranges and pinks, with pops of blue and purple. It’s the perfect day to say yes to the love of my life.
I take a deep breath, trying to catch every detail of this moment to brand itself into my mind.
Killian grabs my hand and gets down on one knee, shirtless, in his unbuttoned jeans. Then he lets go for a second and pulls my dress out of my bra where it was stuck. He smooths the fabric and reaches for my hand.
“Eliana Lily Greer, will you marry a broken man who loves you more than the air I breathe?”
