Page 149 of Chasing Lyric
He draws in a slow breath, then his voice drops, thick with meaning. “I need you the way a grenade needs a pin. Without you, I go off. With you? We’re unstoppable.”
A sound escapes me, part gasp, part laugh, part sob.
Only Chase could propose using war metaphors and still make it feel like poetry.
Because he’s not wrong, we’ve been chaos and combustion since the beginning. But through it all, we’ve held strong and we have burned bright.
Tears slip from my eyes as he glances down, then back up.
“I love you, Lyric. I love the life we’ve built and our little Moonbeam. I know our childhoods came from different worlds, but I swear to you, we’re going to raise our daughter withlove, with presence, with the kind of security neither of us had growing up.”
My hand instinctively rests against my stomach, where she kicks, almost on cue. I smile through the blur of tears.Our baby girl.Our second chance at giving love the foundation it deserves. A family we build with intention, with fire.
Withus.
He pauses, his voice deepening as he finishes, “But I want to do it as your husband. I want our little girl to grow up seeing her parents fight for each other, every damn day. I want her to know what arealhome looks like. One built on loyalty, love, and something so solid it can’t be shaken.”
He drops to one knee again and opens the ring box.
My breath catches all over again, seeing the stunning ring inside.
“So, Lyric Griffin, will you marry me?”
I let out a broken laugh, wiping tears from my cheeks. My whole body is trembling, buzzing with emotion, clarity, and hope.
I see the future behind his eyes.
I see a life wortheverything.
And I don’t hesitate.
“Yes,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “Hell, fucking, yes.”
When Chase slides the ring onto my finger, it’s as though a current zips straight through my veins, a jolt of euphoria that rushes up my spine and blooms across my chest. I can barely breathe. My fingers tremble, my knees wobble, and my vision blurs, not from nerves, but from the overwhelming surge of joy crashing over me.
The crowd erupts into cheers, wild and thunderous, and I’m vaguely aware of people clapping, someone whistling, someone else whooping loud enough to wake the neighbors, but all I can see ishim.
Chase stands, then leaps down from the deck, hands outstretched, and pulls me flush against his chest, gripping me tight, grounding us both in the chaos of celebration. “I so want to lift you up and swirl you around right now,” he murmurs against my ear, his voice husky with emotion. “But I don’t want to hurt our Moonbeam in my excitement.”
Our baby.
Our life.
Our future.
My heart stutters at how sweet he is, how careful and completely wrapped around this little family we’re building. A grin spreads across my face, and without hesitation, I grab both sides of his face, framing him, needing him closer, needing more.
I crash my lips to his. The world around us falls away. My tongue finds his, urgent, hungry, and full of all the things I haven’t found words big enough to say. I kiss him deep, kiss him with everything I am, trying to pour every ounce of love I have into this one moment.
He gives it right back, hands splayed across my lower back, pulling me in tighter, holding me like he’ll never let go.
And he won’t.
I know that now.
This man ismine. Forever. The father of my child. The other half of my soul. He is everything. And now, finally, we’ll be whole.
A sudden throat-clearing slices through the moment. Startled, I pull back, blinking as we turn in unison to find both our fathers standing a few feet away, their arms folded, both looking like they’ve definitely heard every last word of that little speech about parenting.
