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Jenna laughed then, watery and weeping, but filled with light. Her broken, beautiful hands rested on his head, her fingers twitching as they flexed to run through his hair. “It’s only because she loves you.”
Shit. If he didn’t continue, he was going to drag her onto the floor and have his way with her. The touch of her hands sent tingles down his spine—it had been too damn long since he’d tasted her, touched her the way a man in love should worship his woman. “There are scars that won’t ever go away and wounds that won’t heal properly in our lifetime, but I’ll carry them with you, baby. Between the both of us, we can carry that burden and turn it into something you can be proud of in the years to come.
“My life is yours, if you’ll share it with me. Everything I am is yours, Jenna. It has been for…hell, it seems like forever. That’s what I want with you, baby.” He blew out a long, slow breath and asked the question he’d waited four months to ask her again. “Will you marry me, Jenna?”
Cain stepped forward, helping Jenna down to her knees as she dropped. Her hesitation in using her hands for balance wasn’t new, and she still had pain from the ribcage and punctured lung Sire had left her with. But she battled through it with the innate strength he’d come to admire and settled herself in front of him, mindless of grass stains on her pretty pants.
“Big Jenna or little Jenna?” she asked quietly.
“MyJenna. Big or little, I need you both.”
Her tongue darted out, lapped nervously at her lower lip. “Forever?”
Cupping her jaw where it had fractured, Connor used his free hand to brush the hair away from her head where fresh pink skin marked one of her battle wounds. “Forever, baby. Until the stars burn out and the world stops spinning.”
“Yes.” More tears spilled when she nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Big Jennaandlittle Jenna?” he teased.
“Both of us. Both of us love you so much.”
Kissing her was the easiest, most natural thing to do. Kissing her was coming home to a roaring fire and warmed slippers before the heat level exploded and exposed them to passion beyond the physical.
Her mouth moved tentatively under his and he was catapulted back to that first kiss. The very first. Soft and sweet, the beginning of his obsession with her.
When he drew away, her eyes were heavy, the green smoked over with desire. If not for their already delighted audience, he’d have scooped Jenna up and carted her inside to their bedroom. To their bed. But there were things still to do, vital things he couldn’t let the day pass without finishing.
Connor whistled.
From the bushes at the end of the yard, Luna bounded. Every inch a puppy in a grown dog’s body, she wiggled and quivered as she ran toward the couple kneeling on the ground, much to Connor’s amusement. She licked and danced, bouncing around them until Connor laughingly ordered her to sit, then she obeyed eagerly, tail brushing over the grass in her excitement.
Sunlight glinted off her collar.
Hands sure and steady, Connor untied the ribbon keeping the rings safely attached to the dog. He’d given thought to letting Luna carry them in her mouth but hadn’t put it past her to eat them instead of delivering them.
The engagement ring was part of a set he’d had modified. The silver band wasn’t the thickest. The three emeralds weren’t the biggest. But when Jenna all but melted over it, it made him feel like a god among men. He twisted it in his fingers, showed her the inscription running along the inside curve.
Daddy’s little girl.
“This is mine?” Heart in her eyes, she looked ethereal.
“It’s yours if you want it, Jenna. If you don’t like it—”
She shot her hand out with a delighted smile. “I love it. I love it.”
He grasped her carefully, running the pad of his thumb over her swollen knuckles. He stroked a finger along her ring finger, then popped open the band of the ring. A clasp ring had seemed the smartest way to find a ring to fit, and he was pleased with his decision—if her fingers swelled, he could unclasp her rings without causing her pain or injury.
“This is my promise to you,” he murmured, sliding the ring down over the top of her finger and clicking it into place. “I promise to wake up every morning and say your name like a prayer. To go to bed every night with you on my mind. To love you to the depths of insanity.”
Her lip trembled as she angled her hand, with his help, so she could study the symbol of their future.
“Jenna, will you marry me now?”
The love of his life blinked slowly. “Now? As in,now?”
Connor showed her the second ring, the matching wedding band to the one already on her finger. A wider band, bigger emeralds, and another line etched into the precious metal.
My Jenna.
