Page 230 of Staying Selfless

“To be perfectly blunt, I wanna do this shit with you forever, baby.” He lightly laughs, causing me to do the same.

“I’m going to love you for the rest of my life, Logan Jo, and I need you to be my wife. I want you to have my babies. I need to grow old with you. I want to do all the hard, all the ugly, all the painful stuff with you, because you make those moments beautiful no matter what. You make life beautiful.

“So,” he smiles through the tears. “Logan Josephine Leo, will you please marry me?”

He pops open the small velvet box in his hand, but I can’t even look at it. I can only look at this man in front of me—my best friend, the other half of my heart.

My chin begins to quiver as I nod my head to tell him yes.

“Logan, you know me better than that by now,” Eli laughs. “My needy ass is gonna need you to say the word.”

Eli’s humor breaks the emotional tension as a laugh escapes my lips.

“Yes,” I breathe out. “Yes, Eli, I’ll marry you.”

“Yeah?” he exhales, leaning forward, placing his warm lips on mine.

“Yes.”

He smiles into my mouth, both our cheeks coated in tears as I wrap my arms around his neck, burying my face into him.

“I love you so much,” I tell him while hidden in his embrace.

“Can I put this on you?” He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand.

Finally, I look down at the small red box in his hand, a stupidly gorgeous diamond ring delicately sitting on the cushion.

“Eli,” I pause. “That’s insane. It’s...it’s...”

“Big enough for people to see a mile away? Damn straight. I want everyone to know that you’re mine.” He slips it onto the ring finger of my left hand. “And that I’m yours.”

I hold my left hand up in front of me, examining the stunning pear-shaped diamond taking up the majority of my finger below the knuckle.

“I can see your practical wheels turning from here. But this time, the romantic in me wins out.”

“I love it,” I tell him truthfully, even though I would never expect something so extravagant. Though, it’s Eli. I shouldn’t be surprised. “And I love you.” I push his shaggy brown hair out of his handsome face.

“I love you.” He kisses my collarbone to tell me that again.

“Do I get to kiss your tattoo now to tell you how much I love you?”

“You can kiss me all over to tell me you love me.” Eli’s lips slide into a devilish smirk. “No one is stopping you.”

I wrap my arms around his shoulders, falling into him.

“By the way, Zanders is in Minneapolis, and Trev, Stacey, and the boys are at the house. Cam and Ali will be there too. Tonight isn’t really a graduation dinner,” he explains. “It’s an engagement party, so thanks for saying yes so I don’t look like a complete idiot in front of our friends.”

“Like I would ever say anything else.” I kiss him again. “We’re moving to Chicago, and we’re getting married,” I add with an excited giggle. “Holy shit.”

He snakes his arms around my waist, pulling me into his lap as we sit on the ground at the edge of the pond.

“You know what else is great about Chicago?” Eli asks.

“Hmm?”

“We’re really good at making babies there.”

I lean back to look at him, his brown eyes glistening with hope and a little mischief.

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