Cross My Hart (The Notorious Harts 1)

I can’t speak. I stare at him and then look back at the ring, none of it making sense. Brinkley nuzzles in closer to my side and my heart explodes because I never thought I could love anyone again, and here I have the most beautiful man and puppy in my life.

‘Jagger...’

‘I meant what I said, Grace. I owe you a lifetime.’ He closes the gap and lifts me to my feet, his eyes scanning mine as if there’s even a remote possibility I might say ‘no.’ ‘You have brought meaning to my life and happiness to my soul. You are all the parts of me I didn’t even know I was missing. You’re my Aphrodite.’

A sob bursts through me. ‘Jagger...’ I shake my head, lost for words.

‘Don’t say no,’ he pleads. ‘Don’t say anything. Just know that one day, when you’re ready, this is what I want. No prenup, no lawyers, just you and me and my certainty that for the rest of our lives we belong together.’

I laugh then. ‘I’m not saying “no”! I’m saying yes, a thousand times over.’

His eyes widen.

‘You must know how I feel about you,’ I murmur. ‘And if I didn’t already love you to bits, this ring would definitely seal the deal,’ I tease, looking down at the stunning choice.

‘You don’t want something...bigger? I looked at others but this just seemed...’

‘Perfect,’ I finish his sentence, tears filling my eyes. The two strands are perfectly wound together; the ring needs both to hold its shape. ‘It’s like us.’

‘That’s what I thought.’ We stare at each for a moment, just two people smiling so much our cheeks hurt. ‘So that’s definitely a yes?’

I laugh. ‘Yes! It’s unequivocally a yes, Jagger.’

His laugh is husky and gravelly. ‘I’m glad. Although I definitely had other ways in mind if you needed extra convincing.’

‘And you know, I just might,’ I murmur, handing the ring to him so he can slide it onto my finger, our bodies cleaved together.

It fits perfectly and we both look down at it, smiling, for several beats. Pleasure, happiness and contentment are tying bows inside my soul, but there is lust and hunger, too, a beating drum demanding my attention.

Brinkley rubs against my leg and barks, trying to nudge between the two of us.

‘Down, boy.’ Jagger grins. ‘I saw her first.’ He’s joking, but the words embed deep inside of me, because I’m in Jagger’s heart and I’m in Brinkley’s heart and I know how lucky I am to have found my place there, an integral part of both their worlds.

‘And you’re about to see a whole lot more of me.’

Only Jagger shakes his head, his expression rueful. ‘I’m afraid we have some place to be, Miss Llewellyn.’

‘It can wait.’

‘’Fraid not.’

‘Why? Where?’

‘Your parents are on the yacht, as we speak, desperate to toast us...’

‘My parents?’

‘I didn’t really think I could tell your father I was planning to propose without inviting them down here...’

‘You spoke to my parents about this?’

‘Hell, yeah. I’m old-fashioned. Not so old-fashioned to think you’d ever marry me if you thought I’d asked someone for permission, but enough to know this shit matters to parents. Or to your parents, at least.’ He grins and my heart turns over in my chest.

Because he really is perfect—for me.

‘I’m going to take this as an IOU,’ I say sweetly, lifting up and kissing his lips slowly, falling into his arms and staying there for a moment because it’s the only place I want to be.

‘And you can spend every day for the rest of our lives cashing it in.’ He grinds his hips against me and pleasure shoots into the pit of my stomach.