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He swiped a hand over his mouth and stared at me with a tight jaw as his hand dropped back into his lap. “What would you be asking my dad right now, if he was here?”
If this was hard for me, I couldn’t even imagine what it felt like for him—the sense of responsibility he’d always felt to take care of his family, the weight he’d carried for years, even when he didn’t need to.
“I’d ask his blessing to marry her someday,” I said, emotion tightening my voice. “Not right now. But someday. Poppy and I are adults; we don’t need permission to be together, but it’s important to me—for her sake—that her family supports us. I’d want to know that he trusted me to take care of her. I’d want to know if he could rest easy knowing I’d love her in the way she deserves,” I said brokenly. “You know I’d never say those words if I didn’t mean them down to my fucking bones. Because I will, Cameron. I’ll love her better than anyone ever has, I swear that to you.”
Cameron’s eyes were red, and he pushed his tongue against the side of his cheek while he glanced away and blinked a few times.
Slowly, he stood, chest expanding on a deep exhale. He held out his hand.
I stood too, and when I clasped his hand in mine, he pulled me in for a tight, back-bruising hug.
“I know you will.” Then he pounded my back with his fistas we pulled apart. His eyes were clear. “Blessing granted,” he said thickly. “Because I know he would’ve given it to you a long time ago.”
Any remaining pressure banding tight around my chest snapped, and I let out a sharp puff of air. “Thank you.”
Then he smiled, small and restrained and genuine, clasping my shoulder with one hand and holding my gaze steadily. “I’m glad it’s you, Jax,” he said firmly.
The casually spoken statement had my throat closing up tight again, and I couldn’t find the words necessary to try to answer, so I managed a short nod while I struggled to keep myself in check.
“If you cry, Ivy will never let you live it down,” he said wryly.
I exhaled a laugh. “Don’t I fucking know it.”
Right on cue, the door opened, and Poppy came out first, her eyes locked on mine. I held my arms out, and she walked straight into my embrace. I sighed as my arms folded her close to my chest, allowing my chin to rest on the top of her head.
Ivy dabbed at her eyes as she watched us, and the flash of a large diamond on a very meaningful finger had me narrowing my gaze.
“Is that what I think it is?”
She froze, trading a sly glance with Cameron, who looked down at her like she hung the damn moon. Poppy was contentedly snuggled against me, so they must have talked about it inside.
“We would’ve gotten there eventually,” Ivy said. “I’m tempted to believe he proposed to distract me from making him try my cookies, but I can’t argue with the results. And I didn’t want to steal your thunder when you walked up. We’ve only been waiting how long for this announcement?” she said, gesturing between us.
Poppy looked up at me and grinned. “Some of us have been waiting longer than others,” she teased.
I quirked a brow. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Not a chance, Cartwright.”
Chapter 35
Poppy
What did it say about me that watching Jax do yard work felt like foreplay?
Who was I kidding? Watching himbreathefelt like foreplay for the past couple of days.
And if the man wanted to spend his evening breathing and weeding landscaping beds wearing one of those really nicely fitted Wilder Homes T-shirts, who was I to say no?
It did wonderful things to his forearms every time he yanked one of those little suckers out of the ground, and I sat on the back deck at his place, a bowl of sour gummy worms in my lap while I unapologetically gawked.
He caught me once, rolling his eyes good-naturedly when I sat there grinning at the way he tugged his shirt up and wiped some sweat off his forehead, affording me a delicious glimpse of the stacked muscles on his stomach.
I could’ve been at my house doing something less fun than this, but in these early days of our relationship, we were both feeling a bit like time apart was dumb, and there was no point. If we were apart, there would have been no talking, kissing, sex, or staring at each other when we did mundane homeowner activities like weeding.
Before work that morning, he sat at the kitchen island atmy place, watching me make some eggs for breakfast. And boy, he was watching me in some sort of way.
It ended with my skirt pushed up around my hips, my underwear tangled around my knees, dried out eggs in the skillet, and Jax screwing me from behind while I held the very sturdy counter.
