Fast & Wet (The Fast 2)

She also doesn’t want a fancy wedding because she’s happier covered in tire grime than designer gowns. So, I have a private ceremony scheduled for us on New Year’s Eve and then one hell of a party planned afterward at the London Tower Bridge.

Makenna is flying in, Klara and several friends and professors from Cambridge, Liam, and Mila, obviously. Half of the F1 grid and team members, damn near everyone from Imperium, will be there.

It’ll be huge, but still intimate because these are friends and family, now.

I’ll wear a tux because Emily gets off on it. She can come in pancake pajamas if she wants. But I have stylists with gowns and all the frilly shit on standby if she does want it. I’ve covered every base.

And then we’re leaving for a two week Anthony Bourdain food tour of Vietnam, with a third week at the end dedicated to holing up, just the two of us, along the beaches of Amanoi.

Reaching into her red velvet Christmas stocking, I pull out the obligatory little black box. Her hands are clasped, her eyes are enormous, shiny, and reflecting the Christmas tree lights.

She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Gorgeous girl,” I bend down because she may know it’s coming, but I’m still going to do it right. “You already asked me to marry you, so I’m not going to ask you that again. I’m asking you to give me every single piece of yourself, and I promise to do the same, the good and the bad. I want all of it. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. Even when we were apart, I was always yours. But we’re better together. We’re fused, connected, stronger.”

Tears well up in her eyes, but I know they’re the right kind. “Is there a question?” She sniffles.

“No, Em. There was never any question. It was always you and me. I love you, baby.”

She sinks to the floor with me and wraps her arms around my neck, “I love you, Cole. So much.”

“Want your ring now?”

“Yes!”

I creak open the box and pray she likes it. I spent weeks researching it, and it took a month to have made.

“Oh my god,” she gasps as I slide it on her finger. She spins the black and gold band around and around examining it. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“The band is tungsten carbide and rose gold, for you and me, fused together. The engraving is a hexagonal pattern because it’s the strongest structure found in nature. And the inlay gems are moissanite because they can withstand anything and still shine.”

“You, you… Cole,” she whimpers, looking between me and the ring on her finger.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen, it’s you and me.”

“Yeah, baby,” I take her face in my palm. “It’s you and me. Always you and me.”