Page 233 of The Perfect Wrong

Everything swells brighter like a flame catching wind as he fishes around in his pocket, kisses me deeply, and slowly sinks to his knees.

“Cordelia,” he whispers, grabbing my hand with the same fierce confidence that always shines in those sea glass-green eyes.

Only, is there something else in that look today?

Is henervous?

When I blink and look down at the little black box he’s holding, offering it like I really am his princess and that’s not just a cheesy nickname, I almost black out.

“Holy crap. Wait. Chris, are you...?” I bite my tongue and wince.

Real smooth.

But if there was ever a time to shut up and let him speak...

If this is what I think it is, I don’t even know how I’ll ever switch off tonight. Maybe for the next century.

A single flick of his thumb pops the box open.

I catch a glimpse of a gold ring inside studded with jewels.

Bigrocks. Way bigger than a well-paid security specialist ought to be able to afford. It looks old, too,—gorgeously antique.

I want to pick it up for a closer look, but my arms are paralyzed.

My eyes are totally glued to him, my face hot, my lungs stalled and waiting for him to break the windy silence that falls over us like a spell.

“Marry me, Cordelia Burr.” It’s a command, not a request. I smile so hard my cheeks sting as he says, “You lit me up the first time I ever got my hands on you. In Vegas, you said you knew. So did I. I knew you’d bewitch me for life. You made me feel shit I never thought I could, much less describe. You showed I had it in me to fight for you, to fall for you, to give you the best of myself. Hell, you showed me what the best partsare.” He pauses, drawing in a shaking breath.

My hands tremble as I reach up, covering my mouth, hot tears streaming down my cheeks.

“You, baby girl, are something rare. Something intense that only comes along once in a man’s life. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let it slip away, or just string it along, pretending I’m happy having you as my girlfriend when I want you as mywife.” His breath catches. He comes so close to breaking I’m flippingscreaminginside. “We... we started out just having fun. Fucking around. I teased you like you were my bratty stepsister, and I loved you like one too. But you were always so much more than that from the second I laid eyes on you. And now that I’ve had a thousand glances, I love you to death. Literally. So, will you give me the whole package? Will you give me forever? No retreat, no going back, no regrets.”

He stands, shoving the warm ring against my palm, letting me feel it.

For a second, he holds it, this small circular thing so hot against my palm it’s almost magical, warm as a heated stone.

“Feel that? It’s the heat of our entire future. Everything I want to do to you tonight and every night we’ll share. This world’s a gloomy-ass place sometimes, but you, Delia...you’re my light. My sun and moon and stars and galaxy, my spotlight, my torch, my—fuck. You see that? You blind me till I can’t even talk,” he says with a chuckle. “Be my wife. Be the hottest, sweetest mom my kids could ever ask for—the one I never had. Be mine and let me be there for you. I swear, I’ll help you shine on forever.”

“Pretty big ask,” I say softly, barely able to speak through the giddy sugar rush in my head. “What if I say no? What if I want to take things a little slower, just to wear you down and take the edge off?”

He grins and laughs.

“Then I’ll break you first tonight. I’ll tie you up and you won’t get to come till you give me a yes.” That hot glint in his eye warns he might be serious. “I suggest you stop fucking around, woman. I know you want this as bad as I do. Plus, I made your old man like me—who else does that?”

I can’t help it anymore.

The way his palm keeps pressing into mine, moving the hot gold against our skin, like he’s opening a portal to the rest of our lives...

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, Chris. I’m ready to be Mrs. Triton.”

There.

I said it.

And I’m suddenly wishing for a cool breeze to come blasting in from the ocean. Something to keep me from feeling like I’m about to melt through the Earth’s crust.

Chris goes predictably nuts.

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