Page 47 of Always Heated

Rolling her eyes, she opens the small box with her ring, and gasps. “Travis! You’re supposed to let me propose to you! Are those…garnets?So, that’s why Davis told me to add a garnet to your band! That sneaky bastard.”

“Come here, baby.” She climbs onto my lap, straddling me, and I slip on the band she bought. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I’d marry you right fucking now if you wanted.” I tuck a few windswept strands of her platinum hair behind her ear. “I love you, Cassidy, and I want you to be my wife. We’re going to spend the rest of our lives full of banter and so much fucking, and I can’t wait.”

Cass throws her head back in laughter. Though I’m not surprised, it wasn’t in the top five responses I anticipated. Once her giggles have subsided, the rejection must be painted on my face. She quickly schools her expression. “I love you so much.” Leaning in, she presses a chaste kiss to my lips, then my cheek. “Do you have any idea how much my heart aches when you aren’t here, the way it sings the moment you walk into a room. It’s always been like this with you. How manytimes did I quickly leave a room when we were kids when you were dropped off for a sleepover? Sixteen is a little old for a sleepover, by the way, but you were the first boy I saw as a man the day we vowed to marry each other. I’ve wanted you for…fuck, for decades! We danced around it, we flirted with a bullshit marriage pact, but in the end, we both knew it was also supposed to be the two of us.

“Baby, I?—”

“No, I’m not finished. I’m the one proposing, not you. I love you, Travis. Not like I love Ingrid or my family. I love you with my whole soul, which is way fucking better than fireworks.” I attempt to interject again, but she places her fingers over my lips. “I need to get this out. Travis Ulysses—we need to talk about that, because we arenotcarrying that on if we have kids—Harrison… My mind, heart, body, and soul are yours.” She swipes her thumb over my frown. “We’re doing the work. It’s going to be hard. But I love you, Travis, so fucking much. I’ll always fight for you.”

“Fuck, why do I want to bend you over right here?”

“Because you know you can’t with my family—our family—inside.”

My heart squeezes that I’ll not only have my feisty as fuck woman, but that small word “our” tugs at me. Caleb will be my brother, Pop will truly be a second father, and Cay’s kids will actually be my niece and nephew. More than that, Cass will be mine, my family. She always was, always has been, but this is different.

“Are you sure about this?” I confirm, and a sweet smile splits her face. “I love you Cass, but if you’re not ready, we can wait.”

“No, I’m ready for you to put a ring on this finger.” She wiggles her left hand expectantly. “Make me yours, Travis,permanently. And before you dare pipe up with some smart ass remark about how nothing is permanent and divorce exists, you know the only reason I would leave. You’ll never hurt me, so it’s not in the cards for us.”

I pull the ring from the box and her eyes don’t leave mine as I slip it on her finger. “I should’ve married you years ago, Cass.”

“We weren’t ready. Now? Well, we probably still aren’t, but we’re no longer two lonely people looking for love and acceptance. We needed time to get here.” Cass interlaces our fingers, toying with my ring. “I wanted to be the one to propose, here on this swing where I first fell in love with you. I know it’s not much; you deserve a grand gesture.”

“So do you.”

Cass brings her lips to mine, and if her family wasn’t here, I’d take things further. “Why are my brother and Ingrid here? Can we send them home?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” I laugh, then lightly smack her ass. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

We make our way into the house, finding Caleb and Ingrid in the kitchen. Her arms are wrapped around his middle, giggling at something he said. When they spot us, Ingrid asks, “Did he say yes?”

“Fuck, is that why you’re here? To spy on me?”

“To be fair,” Ingrid defends, “Caleb knew Travis was proposing, and I knew you were too, and when we compared notes, we thought you would’ve done it in Linton when you picked up the rings.”

Cass groans. “Well, he said no.”

“What?” Ingrid spots our rings and smirks as she plays along. “Travis Harrison, you dared to say no to my best friend?”

I squeeze Cassidy’s side, making her yelp, then reply, “You all know I would have married her forever ago.”

“So, when’s the wedding?” Cay asks, surprisingly still okay I’m marrying his sister.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Not everyone has access to a pontoon boat for a surprise wedding,” Cass teases.

“Actually… I’m picking one up next weekend. It was my backup plan if you said no. I’d drag you out to the middle of the lake and ask you again.”

Cass playfully smacks my chest with the back of her hand. “You’re ridiculous. As if I’d say no to you.” I slide my hand lower, discreetly grabbing her ass. She rushes out, “Speaking of which, why don’t you two have a night out and we’ll see you tomorrow for the party?”

Caleb pinches the bridge of his nose, muttering, “I knew this was a bad idea. At least we didn’t walk in on you two.”

We hug both of them goodbye and the minute the door clicks shut, I grip Cass’ thighs and pull her legs around my waist. “All right, wildcat, your ass is mine tonight.”

cassidy

. . .

“You have exactly three seconds to get naked,” Travis growls, dropping me onto his bed.

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