Page 82 of Captivated

His words make me smile as he follows suit. “Cute,” I wink.

“I thought so,” he winks back. “Anyway, at that moment I knew that I wanted to put locks on this fence for you and me. When we discovered this that night, I didn’t understand how a person could feel so strongly about someone to make a declaration like this. But it only took a few more weeks to figure out that Icouldone day, but only with you.” He bends down to the fence and holds up two teal blue locks in his palm. On one it says CASH. On the other, PIPER.

“Oh, my God, Cash!” My hands instantly gravitate to my mouth, covering my shock and awe as tears fill my eyes.

“It’s you and me, baby. I want it all with you.” His declaration is everything I need to hear, and then I remember the last thing I need to tell him.

“Cash,” my hands fall as his face does too. “I love this, I do. And I love you. But there is one more thing I need to tell you.”

“Okay,” he says as his eyes bounce back and forth between mine.

“There was a complication from the gun shot,” I start, struggling to find the courage to utter the rest. “I… I lost one of my ovaries and the fallopian tube attached to it.”

His eyes bounce rapidly between mine. “What are you saying?”

I inhale deeply. “I’m saying, there’s a very small chance I’ll actually be able to have a child one day.”

“Fuck. Okay,” he exhales. “God, I’m sorry, baby,” he says as he pulls me into his arms.

“It’s not impossible. It will just be hard. I still have one ovary, which is good. But I’ve always had irregular cycles, so ovulation will be a struggle. I may need to take fertility drugs or do in vitro to have a child… and I don’t want you to miss out on that.”

He shoves us apart slightly and then palms the sides of my face. “Is that what you’re worried about? Letting me down?”

I nod as my tears slip away.

“Fuck, Piper,” he leans down to kiss me as I struggle to breathe. “I am never missing out on anything if you are in my life. Having kids, being with the same person for the rest of my life… those were things I never imagined until I met you. Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” I manage to get out.

“I want kids, I do. But I only want them with you. And if that means we have to jump through hoops or do things the less conventional way, then so be it. I will be there, through everything, alright? Don’t ever fucking doubt that.”

My lips tremble as I take in his strength, knowing I’m going to need it when things get frustrating and I find myself in the low of disappointment.

“Okay. If you’re sure…”

“I’m fucking positive. Fuck,” he grates and then drops to his knee in a flash.

“What… what are you doing, Cash?”

“Marry me, Piper? Marry the fuck out of me? Make me the happiest man on the earth? I want you, baby. All of you. Your scars, your past, your present. I want to be by your side through everything. I never thought that the idiot I thought couldn’t read a street sign would turn out to be the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.” We both start laughing at that thought. “But heaven knows I needed you more than you need me.”

“That’s not true. I need you so much, Cash. You’ve shown me what it means to really live.”

“Then let’s be together, babe. Forever. Marry me?”

I nod frantically, bending down so I’m at eye level with him now. “Yes.”

He crushes his mouth to mine and we fall onto the grass as he rolls on top of me, kissing me breathless and showing me how much he truly loves me, how he can’t live without me, and how we could never be apart again.

“Shit, I don’t have a ring,” he mumbles against my lips as I giggle beneath him.

“It’s okay. That was the most romantic proposal ever.”

“Maybe I could just give you a big bottle of ketchup instead. I bet you’d like that even more than a diamond.”

“Oh, don’t tease me, Deputy.”

“Fuck, I love when you call me that,” he growls in my ear, pressing his hard length in between my legs as I grind against him.

---