Page 176 of The Influencer

He ignores my outburst and locks eyes with me. “Jadey, baby, will you let me raise Belinda with you, do your spreadsheets for you, carry your bags for you, and pick out your best pictures with you for the rest of my life?”

Well, when he puts it that way it seems a lot less scary, but a hell of a lot more romantic. “Yes,” I say softly.

“Will you marry me?”

“I thought you didn’t want to get married,” I blurt.

“I never said that.”

“How long have you known you wanted this?” I ask. I have so many questions.

“That I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you?”

I nod.

“I feel like when I decided not to move out of your condo, I was pretty locked in at that point,” he says.

“That was a long time ago…”

“You haven’t answered my question, Jade,” he whispers, and he sounds a little tense.

“Is this how you planned it?” I ask, still mostly in shock.

He sighs, standing up, the box still snugly in his palm. “Full disclosure, I knew I’d do it sometime this weekend, but when you came out of the closet this morning in this look—I knew it had to be today. You’re too fucking perfect.”

I give him a better look at my angles with a back and forth turn of my hips. “The pants are sick, right?”

He shrugs and nods. “Again, you know, I’m a nipple guy.”

I smile.

“So? Will you? Marry me?”

I let out a held breath with a long, loud sigh. “God, yes.”

He exhales noisily, too, and plucks the ring from my fingers. “Good, now tilt your head back.”

“Ugh…”

“Your nostrils are pristine and beautiful, just like the rest of you,” he assures me as he removes the old ring and replaces it with the diamond engagement one. “Let me see.”

With his hands still on my face, I meet his dark amber gaze. I love him so much right now, I could scream. “Well?”

A smile creeps up his face, crinkling his eyes. “Jesus Christ, you’re beautiful.”

Predictably, I burst into tears. “I love you so much.”

After one quick kiss, he pulls me into his arms while I sob against his chest. “You’re all mine now, sweet thing,” he says. “All. Mine.”

epilogue

Asher

Gideon and Jax are the last to arrive, and the nine of us stay up late in the living room sipping drinks and catching up. Jade and I are new to the friend group dynamic, but everyone is determined to make us feel comfortable and welcome, free to share and be ourselves as that seems to be the theme that brought the group of them together in the first place.

I’m not a huge fan of the way Gideon, or Jax for that matter, still seem to laugh Jade off like he’s a silly, frivolous person, but I figure I’ll give them until tomorrow night before I start pulling people aside and setting them straight about the man I’m going to marry. And anyway, it doesn’t bother Jade. He just rolls his eyes and carries on, but I know what he’s thinking. WHATEVER. In all caps.

To me he’s not whatever, though. He’s forever, and I don’t mind making myself extremely clear on the matter.

---