Page 104 of Charlie

Oh fuck.

"Charlie, for the love of God, tell me you'll marry me. Tell me you can't live without me." His eyes search mine, desperation swirling through their depths. "Tell me I'm branded onto your heart like you are on mine." He squeezes my hands in his. "Tell me you'll stay forever," he says, his voice wavering.

I blink back tears as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box. He sniffs, then laughs as I wipe at my eyes.

"I scoured the internet for days looking for a ring that would reflect how I feel for you. Nothing seemed right until I remembered I had this." He flips the clasp with his thumb and opens the box. A gorgeous diamond winks up at me, a halo of tiny diamonds surrounding it. "This was my grandmother's. She was feisty and independent. She would have loved you." He pulls the ring out of the box, holding it carefully between his thumb and forefinger, looking up at me with naked adoration. "Marry me, Charlie."

I frame his face with my hands, wiping a tear from his cheek with my thumb. "Will you finally fuck me if I say yes?" I ask, grinning. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him hard.

"Yes," he laughs, blinking back tears.

I hold his gaze as I pull him to his feet, our future spreading before us with endless possibilities, all of them infinitely better because we have each other. "Lachlan, I would be absolutely honored to be your wife."

"Really?" he whispers, "You mean it?"

"Yes. I can't imagine a life where you're not in it."

His fingers shake as he slides the ring onto my finger, then he kisses my hand before he wraps me in a tight hug. "I never let myself believe that you would actually say yes," he whispers against my ear. "I thought you would leave and forget about us."

"Impossible," I murmur, brushing my lips over his. I remember thinking I could go back to my same old boring life like nothing had changed. When I believed my love for them held no value. When I sent Cam off to a different country because I thought he'd be better off without me.

These men have changed the very essence of my being in the best ways possible. How could I ever turn my back on that?

"Lachlan, will you please make love to me now?"

"I thought you’d never fucking ask," he says roughly, pulling me inside and drawing the curtains.

57

Idon't even get a chance to admire the ring on my finger before Lach has me caged in, my back pressed to the glass doors.

"This is it, Carebear," he warns, caressing my nose with his. "There's no going back after this."

I slide my hands over his shoulders and around his neck. "Good," I murmur. "Do you think I would chicken out right before we get to what I've been waiting for? It's been the longest two months of my life."

"Has it only been two months? It feels like a goddamn lifetime," he says roughly, pressing his mouth to mine in a tender kiss. "Was that a yes?" he asks when we finally pull away from each other, breathing heavily.

"Look at me," I demand, framing his face with my hands, forcing him to look at me. "Yes, I will marry you. Yes, I want to fuck you. Yes, I want you and everything that comes with you, including your two best friends. My answer is yes, Lachlan." I raise an eyebrow at him when he pulls out a phone and shoots off a text, a smile playing on his lips.

"I had to tell the captain our dinner plans," he explains.

"What do you mean our dinner plans? I thought we'd be having sex for the next few hours at least," I grumble, starting to get royally pissed off.

"I want to take you to this amazing little pub on North Uist. The food is to die for."

"I don't want food, Lach," I snap, ducking under his arm to go inside.

He follows me in, trapping me in a hug. "Hey, if you don't want to go to dinner with me, we don't have to go. I just thought it would be nice to have an actual date, just the two of us.

I immediately feel horrible for being such a brat.

"Plus, I was going to ask you to wear this." He walks to the bed, pulls a box out of the nightstand, and hands it to me.

I look down at the box, my cheeks heating as I read what it is. "A remote-control vibrator? You want me to wear this to dinner?" I imagine some sort of flat vibe that will sit in my underwear, but when he takes the box from me and opens it, I realize I'm completely wrong.

"I don't know how I could even walk with that in," I protest, studying the u-shaped contraption, my core feeling more like molten lava by the second.

"Oh, you'll be able to. It’s the best-rated remote vibe on the market."

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