Page 64 of Blown

“How much time?” Jake mumbled, rubbing his hands over his face.

“Less than you think,” Early said, stepping away from the window with a broad smile. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk.”

“What?” Jake blinked and glanced at Early as they strode across the office.

Hardly stopping, Early grabbed Jake’s arm and pulled him out of the chair. “The fresh air will do you some good,” they said. “All this sunshine, the flowers in bloom…you never know what you’ll find out there to make everything feel better.”

Jake wasn’t blind enough to miss that something was going on. He let Early march him outside and noticed a few excited grins from other members of the Hawthorne family or students who were there for late classes.

As they rounded the house and headed toward the rose garden, Jake heard the strains of romantic French music playing. His heart sped up, and by the time Early marched him into the garden, which was not only filled with late-blooming roses, but most of the Hawthorne family, a bunch more flowers, and several clusters of white and pink balloons, he had a really strong idea of what he was walking into.

Sure enough, Rafe stood in the middle of the scene dressed in a tailored, pink suit that made Jake laugh out loud.

“Pink?” he asked, continuing to move forward as Early shifted to the side to join Rhys in the audience. “You’re doing this in a pink suit?”

“It was one of the only ones in the clothes room that fit me,” Rafe said, grinning broadly. “But I think it suits me.” He turned this way and that, posing in his finery.

Jake laughed again. “You look wonderfully ridiculous and ridiculously wonderful,” he said, marching right up to Rafe and slipping his arms around him.

“And you look gorgeous just the way you are,” he said, then slanted his mouth over Jake’s.

Jake should have minded the fact that they had an audience, but he didn’t. It was the Hawthorne family, the people who had taken him in and treated him as one of their own in a way his own family never had. They were the only people he could call family that he felt safe around, and he knew they had a lot to do with what was happening just then.

“Did you get your visa paperwork filed?” Rafe asked as he ended their kiss and took a half step back, taking Jake’s hands.

“That’s the most romantic opening line I’ve ever heard,” Jake said sarcastically, “but yes.”

Rafe’s smile widened. “Good.” He grabbed the back of Jake’s head and stole another kiss. “Because I don’t want there to be any doubt in your mind, not even a shred of it, going forward.”

Jake sucked in a breath even before Rafe sank to one knee. That was what the whole Global Talent visa was all about. It wasn’t a way to get rid of him or to push the responsibility of the visa away. It was proof that the two of them really were in love.

The sentiment brought tears to Jake’s eyes even before Rafe reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a grey velvet ring box.

“Jake Mathers,” he began. “You appeared in my life like an explosion of shattered glass that ruined everything. I thoughtyou dashed all my hopes and cut short my dreams. I should have hated you for your antics in Corning, and maybe for a while I did, but something about you stuck with me.

“I should have said no when you called me up and asked me to fake marry you,” he went on. “Who does something like that?”

“Someone with nothing left to lose,” Jake said with a shrug, blinking to keep his tears from blurring his vision.

“Well, I’m glad I agreed to the mad scheme, because this summer has been the best of my life,” Rafe went on. “It’s been frustrating and beautiful, irritating and exciting. We’ve fought over silly things and made some of the best art of my life.”

“And mine,” Jake added, holding his hands to his face.

Rafe’s smile grew. “I don’t ever want it to stop. I don’t want this to be a pretend engagement for something as banal as a visa. I want the real thing. I want to work with you and be with you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

He opened the box to reveal a breathtaking band of gold set with gems that matched the colors in their English countryside work.

It wasn’t the ring that had Jake so breathless he couldn’t answer at first. It was the kindness Rafe had shown him. It was the acceptance when he shouldn’t have been accepted and the willingness to work with him when anyone else should have thrown him over. It was like fate had brought them together, and no matter what happened going forward, their lives would be immeasurably better because they were together.

He finally managed to nod quickly, then breathe out the word, “Yes.”

One of the Hawthornes watching called out, “Hooray!” as Rafe stood, took the ring from the box, and reached for Jake’s shaking hand.

“Calm down, it’s only an engagement,” Rafe said as he slipped the ring on Jake’s finger. “This just means that you’re stuck with me now, no matter what the Home Office says.”

Jake laughed out loud, looked at his hand with the ring on it for a moment, then threw himself into Rafe’s arms with a wordless sound of joy.

The family applauded and hooted as Rafe hugged him back, then shifted so he could rest a hand on the side of his face and kiss Jake with all the passion Jake could ever need. Jake kissed him back, his head spinning. He couldn’t believe his luck. He didn’t deserve Rafe in any way, but there he was, wrapped in Rafe’s arms, kissing him sloppily with far too many people watching, knowing that one way or another, they were going to be together. It was so much more than he ever could have dreamed of. He might have been a fake fiancé, but he was determined to be the best real husband in the world.

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