Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(54)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Jared pulled back, still holding my face. Fiercely. Fervently.

“Are you going to marry me, Aly Moore?”

Hopeful blue eyes looked down on me.

I froze with the shock. The question collided with my spirit. Flames of hope blazed within me. Tears welled, and I blinked through the blurriness, praying Jared really meant what he asked.

“Jared?” It scraped from my throat with all the love I had for this man.

He dropped to his knee.

My hand shot to my mouth to cover the sob that gathered in my tightened chest. The blanket fell free and pooled at my feet.

The fiercest squall of wind gusted in. Cold lapped at my skin while I remained submerged in the warmth of Jared’s unflinching gaze. The faint moonlight illuminated the contours of his face, the sharp angles and planes, all that coarse beauty staring up at me.

He wet his lips, and slipped his hand in his pocket. He shook when he withdrew the treasure he had hidden inside.

Light glinted on the diamond set at the center of the ring.

And I was sure my heart would explode because he’d filled it so full.

Burst.

He took my shaky hand in his.

On the wind, Jared whispered his praise.

“Aleena . . .”

I watched him swallow down the emotion that thickened in his throat. “Tell me you want to spend your life with me, and I promise to give you mine.”

“Oh my God . . . Jared . . .” Tears streaked down my face, hot and fast and hard. They dripped from my chin as I nodded. “Oh my God, yes. Yes.”

Yes.

How could I want anything else?

Jared slid the ring onto my finger.

A rattled sob escaped my mouth, something like relief and shock and this undying love that I kept for this man.

I was overcome.

Slowly, Jared stood, his movements slow but sure. He lifted me from my feet and into his arms. I clung to his neck, and I buried my face in the warmth. Slowly he spun us, loved me in the slowest dance, my feet dangling two inches from the ground. His mouth was at my ear. “Won’t ever let you go, Aly. I promise, I won’t ever let you go.”

FIFTEEN

Jared

I was never going to let her go.

I turned right onto the narrow neighborhood street. A ramble of older houses sat close to the road, barely a breath between them, the road cramped with what had to be a hundred cars lining each side. Timothy’s house was lit up like a Christmas tree, white twinkle lights strung up everywhere, a haphazard jumble strewn in the trees and across the face of the house. People poured out the front door and onto the lawn, undoubtedly because they all couldn’t fit inside. Hands boasted red cups and bottles, too loud voices and too loud music thumping against Aly’s little car as we slowly passed by.

“You sure you want to go in there?” I asked, trying to untwist the frown that took a deep seat between my eyes.

New Year’s Eve on a college street.

Now that was just a straight-out mess, a disaster waiting to happen.

No, thank you.

But it hadn’t taken her much to get me to head over here.

When we got back into the car after climbing the short distance back down the mountain, Aly had inspected her ring in the overhead light for about five minutes straight.

Then she’d called her mom. Guess she figured her mom would still be awake on New Year’s Eve, and if she wasn’t, Aly didn’t seem all too worried about waking her up. It’d been crazy listening to Aly talking to her, the thrill in her voice and the tenderness in her words. The joy.

Karen had asked to talk to me. She told me thank you, told me she already considered me a son. Her statement came like a double-edged sword, like f**king torment as it cut me through, then washed over me like some kind of astonishing consolation.

I cut my gaze to Aly. She looked over at me with a huge-ass grin owning that gorgeous face.

Once she’d stopped crying, she hadn’t stopped smiling.

Joy lit a frenzy in my chest. The girl made me insane with it, a fray of nerves that clashed, all this f**king ecstasy and fear and need that all added up to her, added up to her happiness and everything I wanted to give her because she’d given me everything.

After tonight, after the promise we made, I hated the thought of taking her through that door. I didn’t want to be here.

At. Fucking. All.

The only thing I had on my mind was getting this girl home and getting her laid out on our bed.

But I got it. Aly wanted to announce it to her friends. To her brother. Part of me wanted to scream it, too.

I mean, f**k.

I raked an uneasy hand through my hair.

Why the hell did I want that ring on her finger in the first place? I already knew she was mine. I just figured it was about time the whole damn world knew it.

A rash of memories stirred through my spirit, my mother’s voice a warning in my ear.

I was a fool if I thought that was all. I knew what it meant, me asking Aly for forever.

My mom had been pretty open-minded, did her best at teaching me not to judge, to be tolerant and let people live out their lives the way they saw fit. But she taught me that some things were special, too. Sanctified. That marriage wasn’t a f**king joke like so many treated it. It wasn’t something to be wasted, wasn’t a test or a trial, even though she made sure I knew marriage would be full of them.

I wanted that.

“When did you turn into a crotchety old man?” Aly teased, brushing a soft hand down my arm, all flirty and full of this excitement that radiated a glow from her smooth olive skin.

And goddamn, how badly did I want her?

I shoved down the shot of lust that fisted me in the gut and grinned at my girl as I lifted a surly brow, because apparently that kind of grinning was infectious. “Crotchety?” I tossed it out, daring her to say it back as I turned the car around in the middle of the street and wedged it into an open spot on the opposite side of the road.

“Yes, crotchety,” she threw back with a small giggle. “You never even want to leave the house.”

I smirked. For obvious reasons.

“I’m way too excited to go home and sleep,” she said, anxious as she looked at the house lit up across the street.

Apparently she didn’t realize sleeping wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

She chewed at her lip, stole a glance at her ring for about the five millionth time since we climbed down the mountain and into the car.

Green eyes gleamed when they met with mine; then she softened, like she recognized the resistance there.

A small, understanding smile pulled at one side of her mouth, and she cupped my cheek. She leaned forward and placed a swift kiss to my lips, innocent and sweet. Still, it lit a f**king raging fire inside of me.