Page 86 of Spicy Sapphic Christmas

“Yeah!” Harley ran to her mom and snagged a pen, bringing it back over. “Right here.”

Piper grinned as she drew a heart and wroteAuntie Pon the bright pink cast. “All right, so you’re here for a reason, because I need your help.”

Harley laughed. “Mama says I get to take pictures!”

“Right, you do, on her phone and my phone.” Piper whipped out her phone and handed it over to Harley. “I assume you know how to use it.”

“Of course I do!” Harley giggled loudly.

“All right, let’s get this on.” Siena stepped forward. “And Piper, you have until the morning to come up with a plan for how to tell Bunny what’s going on.”

“I’m working on it already.” Piper sucked in a sharp breath. Why was she nervous? There was nothing real about this proposal. She shouldn’t be worried about whether or not Jo would say yes, that was the entire point. Hell, she didn’t even have to ask. They just had to pose for photos.

“Piper?” Jo asked, that sweet voice ringing through Piper’s ears.

“Yeah. Right.” Piper cleared her throat. She took Jo’s hand and led her closer to the water’s edge and right under the light so that the pictures would look better.

Without preamble, Piper got down on one knee and held her hand up with the ring sitting in the center of her palm. The words caught in her throat. It was ridiculous. She couldn’t have made herself more of a donkey’s ass. She’d proposed the idea of this fake engagement and now she couldn’t even get the words out.

Jo stared at her, wide-eyed and cautious.

Piper had to stop this. She had to make this better. Standing up sharply, Piper turned to Siena and to Jamie and shook her head. “Hold on. I need a second.”

She walked toward the water and let out a heavy breath.

“What’s going on?” Jo ran her hand along Piper’s back, small circles before she dropped it away. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Except everything was. She wasn’t sure she wanted to do this anymore. It was a bad idea.

“Then let’s go. Come on. I’m waiting for this splendid proposal you promised me.”

Piper scoffed. “You’re sure about this?”

“Yeah. Now more than ever.”

“Now?” Piper furrowed her brow and looked Jo over. “Why now?”

“Because you’re just as nervous as I am.” Jo took Piper’s hand and led her back to the spot they’d been in before.

Harley gave them odd looks, but she held the phone up to her face. Was she still taking pictures? God, Piper would look like an idiot running away from the first proposal. She was such a Looney Toon sometimes.

“Get down on one knee,” Jo murmured into Piper’s ear. “You don’t even have to say anything.”

“But I want to.” Piper’s voice caught in her throat again at Jo’s confusion. Shaking her head, Piper dropped to her knee. She didn’t even nod at the others to let them know she was ready. She just held out her hand and stared up into Jo’s beautifully brown eyes. “I want to tell you that I love you, that you are the love of my life.”

Fuck, the words were flowing now, and she couldn’t stop them.

“That you’re the sole reason I wake up in the morning and what I dream about in bed at night. That you’re what my world is centered around. I want to tell you that we’re going to build a life together, one day at a time, weaving our stories and our dances together. I want to tell you that I’m confident and purposefuland I’m not going to mess things up. I want to tell you that I’ll never leave you.”

Jo’s cheeks pulled upward, her lips curling into a smile. “Are you serious?”

Piper grinned back. She couldn’t tell if Jo was shocked or laughing at her. But Piper had never been one who was short on words.

“When have I ever lied to you?” Piper asked.

Jo laughed like a fool, bending down and pressing their mouths together, her hands on Piper’s cheeks. Jo dropped to her knees, their lips still touching as she pulled back and shook her head at Jo. “You’re ridiculously charming some days, Piper.”

“You could do worse than me.”

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