Page 168 of Jay Bird

“I’m asking because I don’t want a life that doesn’t have you and Lily in it. I want pancakes at six in the morning and toys all over the damn floor. I want you planting things in my yard until I can’t find the grass anymore, and I want to spend the rest of my life pretending I’m annoyed every time you tell me the house needs more color.”

Willow covered her mouth as tears spilled down her cheeks.

“I want all of it, Willow. I want the good days, the hard ones, and everything in between. So...” He paused, and for the first time since she had known him, Jay Bird actually looked nervous. “Will you marry me and allow me to be Lily’s dad?”

Willow stared at the man kneeling in front of her.

Five months ago, she had arrived in Virginia Beach believing she had nothing except Lily and the few things she had managed to escape with. She had been exhausted, frightened, and still convinced that safety was something temporary, something that could disappear the moment she allowed herself to believe in it.

Then Jay Bird had offered her a room, a locked door, his name when hers wasn’t safe to use. And slowly, without ever demanding anything in return, he had given her a place where she could learn what freedom actually felt like.

She wasn’t saying yes because Jay Bird had saved her. She was saying yes because somewhere along the way she had fallen completely, hopelessly in love with the quiet, broody SEAL who bought toddler car seats without being asked, learned how to tame Lily’s hair, planted flowers even though he claimed landscaping was unnecessary, and even let Lily call him a bitch.

He was her home.

“Yes,” she told him.

Jay Bird stared at her. “Seriously?”

Willow laughed through her tears. “Yes, you idiot. Of course I’ll marry you.”

The relief that crossed his face made her laugh even harder as he stood and pulled her into his arms. Willow wrapped herself around him, crying and laughing against his shoulder while he held her tightly.

“You sure?” he murmured.

She pulled back and stared at him. “Did you seriously just ask me that after I said yes?”

“I’m just checking.”

“SEALs are exhausting.”

“So I’ve been told.”

He slid the ring onto her finger.

Willow looked down at it and smiled. It was perfect.

She looked back at him. “Now, about that other present...”

Jay Bird’s eyebrows rose. “Is that still happening?”

Willow laughed. “Unless the proposal exhausted you.”

His mouth curved into that familiar half-smile. “I’m a SEAL, remember?”

“Oh, right. Extreme conditions.”

“Exactly.”

Willow rose onto her toes and kissed him.

Jay Bird let her control it, just as she knew he would. His hands stayed at her waist while Willow curled her arms around his neck and allowed herself to enjoy something she had once believed had been ruined for her forever. When she finally pulled away, his forehead settled against hers again.

“You’re sure?” he whispered.

Willow looked into the eyes of the man she had just agreed to spend her life with.

“I’m sure.”