Cooper

“I’m only hurting because I don’t know how to help him. I’m not asking you to borrow trouble. My pain is because I feel powerless to ease his pain. Not because he’s hurting me.”

“I get it. Just promise me that, if you need something, you’ll call. Don’t sit here and let it fester a second longer. If you miss him again tonight, call me in the morning and I promise you I will make sure you can corner his ass.”

“That won’t be necessary, Dee,” I hear over my shoulder. The deep rumble of his voice sends shivers racing across my skin. “I can assure you that the only thing she needs right now is”—he pauses and looks over at me, his face unreadable—“her person.”

I melt… Right there, I melt. It all washes away—the last two weeks of worry, hurt that he’s shut me out, and pain that I don’t know how to help. All that matters is that he’s here now.

“Uh, got it. I’ll see myself out,” she meekly says.

I might have said goodbye, but the only thing my mind can comprehend at this moment is that my man is finally here. He isn’t avoiding me anymore and I can finally figure out where his head has been since that ill-fated night we opened that letter.

Chapter 25 – Asher

I wait until Dee leaves before stomping over to the door and turning all the locks. I’m giving myself a second to calm down before I go talk to Chelcie. Coming in to hear Dee trying to tell Chelcie that I’m doubting our relationship… Second-fucking-guessing? Jesus Christ. Just thinking about hearing her talking that shit makes me want to hurt someone. It’s a good thing she left because I was about two seconds away from blowing my fuse.

Never did I think that Chelcie would think that, but hearing that garbage and for just a second letting myself believe that Chelcie could for a second believe it is making my blood boil.

“You know I don’t believe her? Right?” she says, coming up behind me and resting her forehead against my back, moving her arms slowly—and fucking hesitantly—around my waist.

Hell. Fucking. No.

It kills me that there is even a shadow of doubt in us right now.

And I did this to her.

I grasp her wrists and pull her hands around me tightly, lacing our fingers together and letting my chin drop to my chest. With just her touch, the anger I was feeling towards Dee and her verbal vomit evaporates. I’m exhausted, worried, and fuck me—scared. Scared for Chelcie and scared for our boy. Now on top of that, I’m scared that she doubts my commitment to her.

Fuck me; there is no way I’m going to let that happen.

“Hold on, Sunshine. Let me grab something, okay?”

She takes a step back, my body instantly missing the feel of her against me.

Turning sharply, I prowl through the house—a man on a mission—and grab the one thing that’s been burning a hole in my pocket for the last three weeks. The one thing that I know will end all of this doubt she’s feeling.

I know the timing isn’t ideal, but we’ve done everything else in some weird, convoluted web of twisted. Ass backwards, unconventional, and hell, there’s no reason that we shouldn’t keep some sort of a trend going.

When I come back into the living room, I find her gazing out the balcony door. There isn’t much other than trees to look at, so I know she’s just lost in thought. I take a deep breath and walk over to her.

“Sunshine. Do you love me?” Well, Asher—great fucking lead-in there, dumbass.

She tilts her head, her lips just barely tipping up. “Of course I love you, you silly man.”

“That shit with Dee… Do you think that I would be with you out of obligation? Think hard about that, Chelcie. You know my past with females and you know how hard it was for me to trust.”

“There is nothing that would make me doubt your reasons for being here, baby,” she whispers.

“You know that I love you. You’re my light, Sunshine. You’re my reason for everything that I do. You’re my person,” I say, parroting her earlier words.

Her eyes widen and tears start to fill them. Damn, I need to hurry this up before she loses it.

“Right.” I look down, fiddling with the words I need to say.

I look up, and before I can speak, she launches herself at me. I quickly move my hips back so that her stomach doesn’t take the impact. She’s gotten bigger in the last two weeks, and I mentally kick myself for not being here, for missing just a second of it.

With my hips pulled back from her body, her lips are just a short distance from my neck. She lifts up, coming up as far as she can on her toes, and gives me a soft kiss against my neck. I go to straighten, but she tightens her hold on my neck.

I feel her warm breath against my ear before her tongue darts out to trace the shell. Then, after the jolt passes through my body, she whispers softly, “Yes.”

I pull back, confused as hell about where this conversation just went.

“Yes?”

“Yes, baby. It would have been a lot easier if you would have let me buy a ring and get down on my knee to ask…but hey, what’s one more thing we do our own way? That’s just one of the things I love about you, Asher James Cooper. You march to the beat of your own drum.”

Well I’ll be dammed.

“Did you just propose to me, woman?” I try to scowl, but she just smiles brighter.

That damn light that erases my darkness is shining so bright that I’m convinced that, in this moment, she’s wholly chased all of my demons from the past away. The grin that takes over my face is so large that I can feel my cheeks burning.

Damn, I’m one lucky man.

“Uh, baby…I did not propose to you. I answered your stuttering attempt at one to me. Just beat you to the punch,” she giggles, and that sound shoots straight through me. My heart feels like it’s so full it could burst. “Do I at least get to see my ring?”

“Come here, you beautifully perfect, smartass woman of mine. Let me do this right.”

She swiftly closes the distance between us, almost tripping over her feet in order to do so.

I take a deep breath—not for courage, but because I can smell her delectable scent. Closing my eyes and picturing her beautiful face makes no sense since the real thing is right in front of me. Opening my eyes, I lean forward and give her a soft kiss. Her eyes start to water when I fold myself down to one knee and reach up to frame her stomach, giving our boy a nuzzle with my nose, a quick ‘I love you,’ and kiss. I grab one of her hands—the left one—pull the ring out of my pocket, and place it on her finger.