“Propose?” Jet asks again.
He glances around the back deck, at all the candles, and then his gaze lands on the I love you.
“I fell asleep.” He sounds like he’s still not awake entirely.
I chuckle. “Yeah, you did. I was about to pack all of this up.”
“I heard you come in, but then you left, and …” His deep brown eyes meet mine. “Am I dreaming? Am I still upstairs in bed?”
Fuck, he’s so cute.
I approach him and drag him toward the candles.
He keeps glancing between me and the ground.
I lift his chin with my finger to get him to focus on me. When he does, nerves kick me in the stomach.
Deep breath, Soren. “Jet, I love you more than anything else in this world. It’s the type of love I never knew existed. And today, while we were filming together and working as a team, I realized I will never want anyone else. Ever … For the rest of my life.”
Jet looks confused for a second before he gasps. “Merry men. You didn’t say merry men.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t. It was the wrong place to do it, and maybe this isn’t the most perfect place either—I don’t even have a ring—but I can’t have another day pass where you don’t know what you are to me. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, and I’m going to give you the type of marriage you believe in. I’ll be a husband who supports you, cares for you, and be there for you through everything.”
Jet sniffs, and in the flickering light, I see a small tear drop from his eye.
I wipe it with my thumb. “I won’t let outside influences distract from my feelings for you or take me away from what’s important. I will always put us first because it’s you and me. Always.”
“I knew you were it,” Jet whispers. “The one. The night I met you, I knew you’d change my life. You ended up showing me what love could be even if you couldn’t give it back then.”
“I want to give it to you now. All of it.” I lower myself to my knee and take hold of his hand. “Jethro Jackson, will you marry me?”
Jet’s lip trembles as he nods. “Yes.” He sniffs again. “Fuck, I can’t even make a joke about there being no ring, because I love this more. It’s … perfect.”
I get off my knee. “I promise to give you everything you want. Everything you need.”
“And I promise to take it.” Jet smirks. “But for real. I want to give you everything too. Something you said about the video shoot made me freak out a little, I’m not gonna lie—”
“The grandkids comment? Because that means we actually have to have children?”
He nods.
“I figured as much. We don’t have to do that if you don’t want to.”
“I want to,” he gurgles as if he has trouble getting the words out. “I mean, I need to win some Grammys first. Live this insane lifestyle for a while before we settle down, but I want to. Maybe when I’m forty.”
“Baby, I think you need to do some math. If we wait until you’re forty, I’ll be fifty. I won’t even live to see grandkids then.”
“Oh right. You’re like old. I forget that. How about when I’m thirty.”
“I can handle thirty.”
A glimmer shines in my fiancé’s eyes.
Wow. Fiancé.
“Did we really just get engaged?” I ask.
Jet chuckles. “Unless I wake up and this is all a dream.”
I pull him close. “Not a dream.”
“Prove it,” he taunts.
I’m about to kiss him for the millionth time, but I’ve never anticipated Jet’s lips more. I want to put everything I have into it and kiss him so hard he’ll never be able to doubt me, us, or the future we’re promising each other.
Our breaths mingle.
Only a centimeter away, Jet says, “Caleb?”
I both love and hate when he uses my first name. Love it in moments like this, but it’s rare for him to use it adoringly.
“I love you so damn much,” he whispers.
He doesn’t allow me to say it back because he crushes his mouth to mine.
It’s explosive, it’s loving, and it’s so fucking hot.
My cock grows hard. The need I always have for him simmering under the surface boils over, and I wish I could take him right here and now. I want to claim him with my body while promising him forever with my words.
I groan. “I don’t suppose you got the chance to do as I asked before falling asleep upstairs?”
Jet breathes heavy. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”
My hand trails down his back and dips into his jeans. His hole is slick and waiting for me. My fingers tease him.
The shudder that runs through him triggers my own need.
Jet suddenly grips my T-shirt tight and pulls me toward the padded deck chairs. He pushes me down so I lie on the reclined chair. “I don’t have the energy for teasing. Undo your pants.”