Page 74 of Captivating

“Is that all you’re going to say, princess?” I ask, smiling like a lunatic.

She rolls her lips together as she shakes. “You haven’t asked me anything, champ.”

“Marry me, Lilah Belle. We’ve wasted so much time already. I don’t want to waste another minute. Marry me. Let me spend my life loving you and protecting you. I want to be your best friend and your biggest fan. I want my life to start and end with you in it. Every day. In every world. It was always going to be us. Marry me.”

She nods and throws herself into my arms. “I would have said yes when I was sixteen.”

“I should have just asked you then. It could have saved a shit-ton of heartache.” I laugh as I capture her mouth in a searing kiss. “I love you, Lilah.”

She holds her hand up and lets me slide the three-carat, brilliant-cut, pink diamond onto her finger, then brings her eyes back to mine. “It’s stunning.”

“I had a little help,” I admit and enjoy the confusion playing over her face. “I asked your mom and dad for permission, and your mom may have offered up an idea or two.”

“You asked my parents.” She sighs sweetly. “I bet that meant a ton to my dad, Killian.”

“He warned me that you and your mom are nuts and to never say he didn’t warn me.”

There’s a knock at the door before Maddox walks in. “It’s time, man. Mav’s waiting to take Lilah back to her seat.”

She cups my face in her hands and smiles bright enough to light up the sky. “I love you, Killian St. James. Now go kick his ass so you can make good on that after-fight promise.” She leans into me and kisses my ear. “I have on very special panties, just for you.”

When she pulls away this time, she kisses me quickly, then drags her hand along my jaw, and I pull her back and kiss her ring. “You’re gonna be my wife one day soon, Lilah.”

“You bet your sweet ass I will. Now go win me a fight.” And with that last word, she sashays out of the room, her hips swaying and ass teasing me in that short dress.

“She’s fucking nuts,” Maddox mutters, smiling.

“Yeah, she is. And she’s gonna be my wife.”

LILAH

She’s a queen, but she’ll always have a tiny bit of crazy hiding beneath the crown.

Test her at your own risk.

—Lilah’s Secret Thoughts

“Chill, Tink,” Maverick lectures as we take our seats, and I growl. Legit growl.

“Tell me to chill when it’s the man you love about to be beaten up for five rounds,” I snap, and Rome, who’s already sitting down, curses me.

“First, bite your fucking tongue, Tink. He’s not getting beaten up. He’s gonna do the beating. And this fight isn’t lasting all five rounds. I say he’s got him before the end of the second. This is ending in a knockout, not in points.”

“I don’t even know what that means.” Damn it. I should have paid more attention.

Rome shakes his head. “Title fights are five five-minute rounds. But your man doesn’t ever take five minutes, does he?”

My face flushes, and I bite my tongue. No one needs to hear about Killian lasting so much longer than twenty-five minutes.

I run my nervous hands over my dress, and Rome looks down and smirks.

“Damn . . . he did good.”

I can’t stop my smile, and my sister yanks my hand to her, nearly taking my whole arm with it. “Holy shit, Tink. Is that?—”

“Damn,” Noah kinda groans. “That son of a bitch finally did it.”

Jamie pulls a twenty out, and so does Noah, and they both hand them to Maverick.

---