(Blood and Bone, #2) Sin and Swoon(49)

He passes me back the plate. “Mine was. My life was as silly as you saw. It’s all fake. Like you said, a dance.” He reaches his hand across, covering mine. “You are the real part.”

I blink a hot tear down my cheek, hating that I’m crying in front of him, but there is one insult I have to admit feeling the burn from. “I can’t have babies, Dash. I thought you knew that.”

“I do know that.” He nods. “I read your file.”

“Then why did you let her tell people we are going to have kids? That’s a lie.”

He shakes his head. “It’s not a lie. One day, we will have kids. We will just have to get a surrogate to carry them for us. Your eggs are probably fine, and my sperm is fine. I have tested it. We can make a baby.”

I scowl. “The fact you’re so obsessed with this makes me feel like I’m not the right girl for you. Have you considered that I don’t want children? I don’t know the first thing about having a baby.”

He sighs, covering his eyes for a second. “Yes, I’m obsessed with making you and me a family. If we are the only two people in the family, I will live, quite happily. It’s you that’s the crucial part, Jane. I need you to be happy.” He slides the ring across the table and cocks an eyebrow. “Put it back on, for the love of God, and stop messing with my heart.”

I almost fight him on it, but it’s actually the sweetest sentence two emotionally disabled people have ever gotten out of a relationship, and it far surpasses his proposal. I cover the ring with my hand and sigh. “You set me up to fail and then spent the entire time flirting with your old girlfriend.”

He closes his eyes and breathes out heavily. “I didn’t. I swear. I spoke to her for a second to be polite and then not again. She happened to be with a few of the people I was talking with. It’s my obligation to greet everyone and spend a few moments with them.”

“You kissed her hand and she touched your arm.”

“I kissed the hand of every woman there; it’s the polite thing to do. I suppose you missed all the others, no doubt under the pernicious governing of my troublemaking brother.” He sounds English and flustered, and I hate that he looks so adorable when he’s worked up. I rarely see it.

I scoff, pretending to be unfazed by his cuteness. “I don’t know what that means. Don’t go all Smarty McSmarter on me. Using big words isn’t going to change the fact that your mother was cruel to me, and you let the whole thing happen. I’m not so dumb that I didn’t see right through your jackass brother. Bringing me wine like a knight in shining Armani.”

He laughs, and I have the feeling the fight is over. My sails are windless and my insides are jelly, mostly because he’s giving me one of those gooey stares with his gray-green eyes, and his lips are toying with a grin. “I love you, Jane. Right now, I don’t care if we ever see them all again, but if we do, my mother owes you an apology. My brother already got what he deserved.”

I scowl. “I don’t even want to know.” I can guess by the state of his right hand. The knuckles are bruised, and one is even split.

“You have to see how crazy you make me. You see how much I love you?”

I shake my head slowly. “You can’t choose me over your family. That’s horrible, and I wouldn’t ever be that girl who would ask you to.”

“You don’t have to ask. If they can’t accept you, then they don’t accept me either.”

It stings to actually hear the words that they don’t accept me. I knew it, but seeing that he knows it too is much worse, as if he finally sees my worth.

He reaches across, lifting my hand and picking the ring up. “I want to marry you, Jane. I want to be your husband and be your family and show you that people can rely on each other. If either of us made any mistakes this weekend, it was me trying to squeeze you into the mold my family has set for me and my life. I should have just told them you are a badass ex-military savage who can kill people with her hairclip and takes no nonsense from anyone.” He slides the ring on my finger. “I am so sorry for trying to make you fit in their world, instead of just letting you be you.”

I nod, realizing saying anything would be petty, and I don’t like it when I get my petty on. So I smile and leave the ring on, even if it feels like it’s burning through my flesh and weighs twenty pounds.

“Now, the one thing I have to ask is that you consider marrying me in the family church. I understand you are Catholic, and we’re C of E, and that’s a serious request to mull over, but please just think on it. I’m not going to force you. I’m not going to lie about anything else. I’ve had my fair share of it and hated every moment. It felt like we were skating on thin ice at every turn.”