Page 27 of Four-ever Single

“You kinda are, though,” Kensy said softly, hiding behind Capshaw’s arm as she said it. “I mean, I know we’re not supposed to know that you two are doing whatever you’re doing, but we do, so there’s that. I’m just saying—you and Jones are already dating—if that’s what you want to call it, so why not just get married?”

My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head for the tenth time today. I glanced at him nervously, hating that he was likely embarrassed to be called out like this in front of our friends.

“You can’t just volunteer him to marry me,” I hissed out quietly to her.

“Sure she can,” Capshaw said, making no effort to lower his voice as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Jones, do you want to marry Bella?”

The color drained from my face as I looked at him in disbelief. This time, I refused to turn to Jones, even though I could feel his gaze heavy upon me.

“I don’t know. I think the bigger question is, does she want to marry me?”

My heart fluttered wildly in my chest as he reached over and squeezed my hand.

“What do you say, Bella? Will you marry me?” he asked, getting out of his seat and kneeling on the floor as he turned me around. “I may not have a ring, but I—”

“Here you go!” Lia screeched, tossing a straw wrapper at him that had been twisted into the shape of a ring.

“Okay, I may not have a decent ring,” he said with a laugh, grinning at the paper one in between his fingers. “But one of the first things I promise to do as your husband is to buy you a real one. Will you marry me, Bella?”

Chairs were screeching as people turned around to witness our proposal. I was still totally caught off guard by everything, but remembered what Burt said—make it official. Having everyone in town witness our proposal would only help our marriage stand up in court if it got to that point. It was now or never. This was the moment people were going to talk about.

I could either suck up my fears and accept my fake marriage to Jones, or I could deny him in front of everyone—not only embarrassing him but forfeiting my inheritance and giving Todd a chance to go after it.

I reached down and held his face in my hands as I grinned and nodded yes.

“Yes, Jones, I’ll marry you!”

He stood up and placed the paper ring on my finger before lifting me to his hips as I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him. People cheered and applauded around us, celebrating the most romantic fake engagement they never knew they were witnessing.

Seventeen

Jones

“Do you want me to take you back to your place?” I asked as Bella stared out the window. “We can go back to my place, or I can take you wherever you want to go. Whatever you need, Bella.”

“I have no idea what I need right now,” she admitted. “I’m so sorry I dragged you into my problems, though. I appreciate you wanting to help me with this, but you really don’t have to marry me.”

Deciding to take charge, I turned off Main Street and headed to the place that always helped me clear my head. I knew my silence was probably killing her and creating a mountain of doubt and insecurity as she assured herself that I didn’t want to marry her, but she would be wrong. I wanted nothing more than to be with Bella, and if marrying her made things easier for her, I would do it with no questions asked.

But I didn’t want to have this conversation with her while I was driving. I wanted to wait until I could look her in the eyes and make sure she knew my words were true. Today had been hard enough for her already, I was going to do whatever I could to turn that around.

Ten minutes later, I put the truck in park and hopped out. I walked around and opened the door, extending my hand to help her down.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been here before,” she said, looking around at the thick forest around us. “It’s gorgeous.”

“Nate and Capshaw took me fishing here a while back. The lake is on the other side, but I like to come up here and clear my head when I need it. It’s one of the few places that’s always calm and quiet.”

She stood in front of me, looking beautiful as always, with her hair pulled up on her head and the clothes she’d put on earlier to go for the run we never got around to.

“Thank you for this,” she said, leaning on her tiptoes to lightly kiss my lips.

I wanted to deepen the kiss and show her how I would do anything she asked, but she didn’t need me humping her leg like a dog in heat right now. She needed a friend to talk to and help her navigate the life-changing events that had been thrown at her today.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” I offered, nodding to the clearing across from us.

“That would be great, thanks. Sorry we didn’t get to our run this morning.”

“No need to apologize. I’m not worried about it. I was happy to be at Burt's office with you this morning.”

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