Page 38 of Bloom: Part 2

“That won’t be a problem forever.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m gonna marry you, Bloom.”

That stunned him into silence. It frightened me a little too. I had admitted that not just to him but also to myself. The moment the words had left my mouth, though, I knew they weren’t a mistake.

I would marry him and give him my name. He would never feel unwanted or like he didn’t belong ever again. And I just plain liked the thought of Bloom wearing my ring and having it written in ink stamped by the government that he was legally mine.

While he processed my words, I waved over the server and placed our orders. He tapped away on the tablet in his hand, repeated the order to me when he was finished, and I confirmed he’d gotten it right.

“Will have this ready for you in no time.” The server headed back to the kitchen.

“Do you mean it?” Bloom’s face looked pale under the soft lighting.

“With all my heart.”

Bloom’s breath hitched, and before I could say another word, he pushed back from the table. His eyes shimmered, dark and vulnerable, and without a second’s hesitation, he wedged himself right into my lap, winded his arms tightly around my neck, and buried his face into the crook of my shoulder.

I knew not to remind him we were in public, although the last time he’d sat on my lap in a restaurant, they had all but thrown us out.

He clung to me like he was afraid I’d vanish, digging his fingers into my back, his breathing uneven. The soft murmur of conversation around us faded as I held him close, one hand cradling the back of his head, the other wrapped around his waist, steadying him.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” he whispered. “But don’t I need a last name first and official ID before that can happen?”

“There are ways to get a fake one to start.” It could be done and has been done many times. I was on my third identity. This one time, I could break the law. Only for him. “I can work on it for you. Is that okay?”

He nodded. “Logan, this is so exciting. We’re getting married.”

“Well, I’ll still have to propose to you properly.”

“Screw that. This is your proposal. You can’t take it back.”

“But you haven’t said yes.”

Good god, what was I doing? I hadn’t meant my words as a proposal. I barely knew him. Sure, I was madly in love with him, but there was a reason almost half of all marriages ended in a divorce. But if anything happened to me, I needed him to be well taken care of. All my assets would go to him, and if I died, I could go peacefully, knowing he would never cry again because he was only Bloom without a surname. He would be a Collier. A name I had to get used to, and now he would as well.

“Of course it’s yes. I’ll always say yes to you, Logan.”

So… we were engaged now? It felt anticlimactic, as if something bigger should have happened.

Brunch had definitely taken an unexpected turn. I should downplay the whole situation and take my words back. Rings were a vital part of a proposal, right? And we didn’t have one. I hadn’t gotten down on one knee either, and the way I’d asked—well, more like told him I was going to marry him—wasn’t exactly how one asked someone to marry you.

But I couldn’t summon the words to make a joke. It wasn’t a joke to Bloom. Not to me either. I wanted to live with him, to take care of him for the rest of his life. He’d swept into mine a fighter, a tightly wound tiger ready to attack, but I liked to see him this way—all soft and vulnerable in my arms.

“How about we go ring shopping after brunch?” I said.

“Screw that. Let’s go now.”

Laughing, I squeezed his thigh. “There’s the server now with our food. Be a good boy and sit.”

“But I am sitting.” He wriggled his ass in my lap and tightened his arms around my neck. “I’d rather stay right here.”

“We might make others uncomfortable. The sooner we finish our meal, the sooner we can go shopping.”

He sprang off my thighs and returned to his seat. His cheeks were full of color, and his eyes were shining. I loved how happy he was.

He raced through the meal, so I had to tell him to slow down. “I don’t want you to choke before I get a ring on your finger.”

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