Page 36 of Blurred Love

I whisper his name with a shuddered breath. “Colter.”

He shakes his head. “I’m not saying that to you to feel bad for me, I’m telling you because with all that, I’ve never been as scared or felt as hopeless as I did today when you walked away from me. I can’t go through that again. Promise me that no matter what, we stick together. Whatever tries to come between us, we fight it… together.”

My heart does a little flip in my chest. I know exactly the anguish he’s describing because I felt it too. “I won’t walk away again. We fight together.”

He nods and then leans over to seal our promise with a kiss before making sweet love to me.

CHAPTER18

COLTER

Poppy raises her head and looks at the clock then groans. She’ll have to get up to go to work soon, and I don’t want to let her go. I can’t help but notice how much my life has changed, hell I’ve changed, since I met Poppy. I used to value my time by myself and would look for ways to skip events and hang out at home alone. Now I’ll do anything that Poppy wants to do. She wants to go to dinner with our friends, I’m there. She wants me to go to the grocery store with her or for her, I’m on it. She wants to go to a baking class, movies, and group date nights, I’m all for it.

She sighs next to me, and I know she’s about to get up.

“Don’t go,” I murmur, tucking her against my naked body.

She curls into me, and I smile as she kisses the crook of my neck. It’s been a week since everything with my ex-wife, and I’ve done everything I can to assure her that nothing like that will happen again. We’ve been in a good place, and I know it’s only going to get better.

She groans. “I have to go to work.”

I thread our legs together, binding her to me because I really don’t want to let her go. “What time do you get off?”

“Hmmm. Six. And then don’t forget, I’m going home tonight.”

I raise up to look at her. “No, you’re staying here… tonight.” It was on the tip of my tongue to say forever, but I know there’s other things I need to do first. I think about the ring I’ve had in my nightstand for the last week. I’ve been fighting with myself on when to give it to her.

She shakes her head and laughs. “I need to do laundry, straighten up my apartment, and?—”

Just the thought of her not being here for one night makes me panic. “Move in here.”

She gasps. “What do you mean move in here? I can’t just move in.”

I push her to her back and lean over her. “We’re getting married anyway. Why can’t you move in?”

She laughs, and then when she realizes I’m not joking, she shakes her head in awe. “What do you mean we’re getting married?”

I cup her face. “I mean, we’re getting married.”

She just shakes her head at me. “We just met a month ago…”

“I knew the first time I met you, I wanted to marry you.”

Hope flairs on her face, but she shakes her head. “It’s too soon.”

“Do you love me, Poppy?”

She smiles instantly. “You know I do.”

I nod and then climb out of bed, grab the box from the nightstand, and then go down on one knee. “I tried to figure out the best way to do this. I’ve been thinking about it and wanted to get it right, but I don’t want to wait any longer. Marry me. Be my wife. Be the mom to my babies. Make all my dreams come true.”

When she doesn’t answer right away, it’s like a jolt to my system. “If you want to wait, we can, but I want to do it with my ring on your finger.”

“Yes,” she murmurs.

I suck in a breath. “Yes?”

She laughs and cries at the same time. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.”

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