Page 149 of Pine for Me
His voice shakes, his eyes shiny as they stay locked on mine. “I love you, Nisha, more than anything. Nothing comes before you, before our family. I am so damn grateful to be here, to be yours again, and to get a second chance at us. I vow to never ever fuck it up again.”
A laugh bubbles out of me as I wipe a hot tear off my cheek.
Patton’s lips tremble before he swallows hard and puts his other knee on the ground. “So here I am, Little Borealis, on my fucking knees for you, begging like the fool I am for you to give me another chance. To marry me again and make me the happiest man alive. Not because we have to, but because we get to.”
Sobs wrack my body, and despite wanting to lunge at him, I sink to my knees in front of him. My fingers shake as they find his face, my thumb dragging away a tear that slips from the corner of his eye.
This beautiful, relentless man.
He fought for this . . . for us. He poured not just his time and effort, but his whole heart—along with a bit of scheming—into stitching us back together.
And he thinks he needs to beg me?
“In what universe, under which sky am I not yours, Patton?” I ask, sniffling.
He stares at me, shoulders loosening just enough for me to notice.
I shake my head. “Let me tell you, there isn’t one. I’m yours. Heart, body, soul, and anything else that might exist. In every lifetime, in every universe, under every sky, I’m yours.”
It’s as if all the tension leaves his body. He takes a shaky breath, cupping the back of my neck to pull me closer until our foreheads connect.
“Fuck, baby. Your answer . . .” His throat works on another swallow. “It might have been better than the speech I worked my ass off to remember.”
I can’t help but laugh. I splay out my left hand, my eyes fully taking in the enormous, brilliant round diamond, haloed by smaller diamonds so it looks like a star.
My laugh is replaced by an intake of my breath. “Patton, that is . . . beautiful.”
He slips the ring onto my finger before his brows pinch together. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “No, I absolutely love it. It’s just that . . .” My eyes trace down his worried face. “I was thinking we could get matching wedding band tattoos this time.”
Patton’s smile is immediate, his thumb brushing over the edge of my jaw. “Then that’s what we’ll do. A ring, a tattoo, hell, I’ll wear a neon sign for the rest of my life if it means telling the world I’m yours.”
And that’s when I finally launch myself at him, my arms circling his neck as I kiss him like if I don’t, the earth may spin off its axis.
When we finally break apart, breathless and laughing through the tears, he nods at the blanket. “Come. Let me feed and water you.”
THE END!
