From Best Friend to Fiancée

‘Jannes?’

‘Lara?’

‘Are you asking me to marry you?’

Creases appeared at the corners of his eyes, and she wanted to kiss every one of them. ‘I thought I had already done that,’ he said.

‘Not properly.’

One corner of his mouth quirked, and she knew that he was suppressing a smile.

‘Well, then.’ He took her left hand in his and slid off the gold and opal ring, before dropping to one knee.

‘Lara, you’re already my best friend, and the person I love most in the world. I was wondering if you’d also do me the honour of being my wife.’

She kept her smile small, not wanting to make this too easy, not after all they’d been through to get to this moment. She wanted to make it last. Leaning down, she brushed a kiss against Jannes’s lips, but drew away when his hands came to her hair, before he could deepen the kiss.

‘I think that sounds like everything I’ve ever hoped for,’ she said at last, her voice barely more than a whisper, Jannes close enough that it didn’t matter.

‘That’s a yes?’

‘Of course it’s a yes.’

Jannes’s arms clamped around her hips as he stood and spun her around; her dress caught on his jeans as he lowered her, so that her mouth was level with his, her legs locked around his waist. ‘You really mean it?’ he asked between kisses, as they stumbled their way back onto the couch, Jannes landing on her so heavily that it knocked the air from her chest.

‘I really mean it,’ she said, one hand on his cheek. ‘I love you, I’m going to marry you, and you’re going to be mine for ever.’

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