Page 24 of Mountain Daddy's Girl
The referee asks me if I’m ready.
“Fight!”
He dances across to me, light on his feet, thinking there’s going to be an adjustment period, a chance for him to do something. But I can’t stop hearing what he said. Nobody talks about my woman like that. Nobody even gets to fuckingimplythey would touch her. Ever.
I duck to one side, feint with a jab, then throw everything I have into a wild, powerful overhand right. It’s a risk. He could slide out of range, cut an angle, find my jaw.
But I refuse to lose when he crossed a line no man gets to cross, ever. Disrespectingmywoman.
My fist connects, and sounds like a gunshot.
He flies back against the cage, his eyes rolling in his head as he slides down the cage. He looks up without seeing me, showing me the whites in his eyes, his body twitching.
The referee flies between us, waving his hands in the air, as the arena goes insane, people on their feet, beer flying in the air, the commentators struggling to be heard as they yell over the chaos.
I leap the cage with ease, walking through the crowd, a shirtless savage amidst these civilized people. Lila rushes to me, her chest rising and falling, a flush creeping over her neck and face. Red and young and perfect and mine.
“Boone.” She claws onto arms. “That was …”
“For you,” I snarl. “For you, my sweet Snapshot.”
“I love you,” she gasps, throwing her arms around me. “Oh, God. I love you. I don’t care how quickly it happened. I don’t care what people might say. I love you.”
“I love you too, Snapshot. And let people talk. I think our love means more because it hit us hard and fast.”
“That’s so romantic,” she murmurs, her voice breaking.
“See?” I smirk. “I’m not acompletesavage.”
Her laugh turns into a contented moan when I push my lips against hers. She slides her hand over my back, sinking deeper into the kiss, into the spell ofus, as forty thousand people cheer and clap like their lives depended on it.
“What are you doing?” she murmurs when I step away.
I look around until I spot him. Evan. He nods and rushes over, handing me a small package.
“What’s that?” my angel asks.
“It’s full of things I never believed in before,” I tell her passionately. “Destiny, love at first sight, bone-deep belonging. It’s full of the future, Lila. I don’t want you to be scared. I want you to trust your … “Soul.”
She blinks, tears in her eyes. “Boone.”
I take out a ring box from the package. Suddenly, the arena goes quiet. I don’t have to look up to know they’re showing us on the big screen.
“Lila, you’re everything to me,” I tell her. “The weeks we spent apart were agony. I love you—and I’ve loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. You hit me like a lightning strike. Like, for the first time, I might be able to hope. Lila, I love you. Lila …”
“Boone.” She sobs, touching my cheek as if checking for tears. I’m close.
“Lila Mayfield.”
I lower myself to one knee, causing her to gasp and cover her mouth with her hands. The arena draws in a collective breath.
I open the ring box, showing a full diamond set within a white-gold band. The diamond has small cameras carved each side of it, elegant and tasteful.
“Will you marry me?”
For a beat, I think she might say no. She stares at me with manic eyes, wide, electrified with our closeness, with the wild ride we’re on.
Finally, she puts me out of my misery. “Yes!” she yells. “Oh my God, yes!”
