Page 103 of Cruel Dominion

Ask him.

You need to ask him.

“Can I ask you something?”

Why? It was what I wanted to know, but the one question I still couldn’t seem to make myself ask. Why did you break my heart, Carter?

“Shoot.”

I opened my mouth, but chickened out at the last second like a total fucking coward. “What did you mean before?” I asked instead. “About it being good that I forgot to take my birth control pill?”

“I meant exactly what I said,” he replied roughly. “I want to be tied to you in every way humanly possible. Putting a baby in your belly is a step in the right direction.”

I was too stunned to speak, let alone meet his intense stare. I fingered the duvet, trying to ignore his eyes on me.

“Carter, you don’t even want kids.”

“I didn’t. For years, I was so sure I never would. But then you came back, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve never been more certain about anything, Anna.”

“And what if I don’t share this certainty?”

“You will.”

My brows rose and I finally looked at him. He seemed so sure. So secure in that sureness.

“Marry me.”

I choked, blinking, coughing as saliva went down the wrong hole, and I threw myself up into a seated position, trying to get air back into my lungs.

“I’m sorry, what?” I blurted between fits of coughing.

Carter didn’t miss a beat. “Marry me.”

“Oh my god, you’re serious.”

He nodded gravely, a knot forming between his brows at my expression. Carter Cole never liked being laughed at and that’s exactly what my eyes were doing right now. They were laughing at him.

Soon enough, my mouth followed.

“Anna,” he warned.

I held my hand out, waving it in a placating gesture as I struggled to get control of myself. “No, it’s just—did you actually just propose?”

“Would you like to see the ring?”

“You have a ring?”

“I’ve had it since the day after I found out you were back.”

No lies detected. “That’s a little presumptuous, even for you.”

“Is it?”

A frustrated sigh fell from my lips. “You’re psychotic, you know that?”

His lips pulled up in a half smirk.

For just a second I let myself imagine it. Giving Carter those last firsts.

---