Chapter 8
PUMPKIN PATCH PROPOSAL
Seraphina
A white gold ring glints in the candlelight, and my entire world stops spinning.
A ring.
A fucking engagement ring hanging around his neck. How did I not notice?
I scramble off of him so fast I nearly fall off the bed, the crown tumbling from my head as I stare at him in shock. My legs are shaking, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Oh my god.
Oh my fucking god.
"Luke?" The name falls from my lips, and I’ve instantly broken out of character.
He grins as he sits up slowly, reaching for the chain around his neck, and when he pulls off the devil mask with his other hand, I see the face I've known for the past two years. The face I wake up next to every morning. The face of the man I'm completely, utterly in love with.
Luke.
My Luke.
I thought we were only here to roleplay my kidnapping and primal play fantasy.
But this…
This is…
"Luke, are you serious?" I gasp, pointing at the ring he's now holding as tears form in my eyes. "Is this real?"
His smile is soft and nervous, but he nods. "I’m serious."
"You did all of this to propose to me?" My voice is climbing toward hysteria. " All of this? The entire pumpkin patch, the hunting, the stage, the crown—you did all of this because you want to marry me?"
"Not just because I want to marry you," he says gently, sitting up and reaching for me. "Because I can't live without you. Because you're everything I've ever wanted and everything I never knew I needed."
I can't breathe.
I literally cannot breathe.
"Luke," I whisper, sinking down onto the silk beside him. "When we planned tonight, you never said anything about—I thought we were just acting out my fantasy. I had no idea you’ve been planning all of this."
"It was about roleplaying," he says, his eyes never leaving mine.
"But it was also so much more than that.
Sera, you told me about wanting to be chased through a pumpkin patch by someone who wanted you desperately enough to burn the world for you.
" His voice drops, becoming softer, more vulnerable.
"So I became that person. I literally became someone who would move mountains to possess you.
I want to burn the world for you, and then rebuild it exactly how you want it. "
Move mountains.
He moved actual mountains. He rearranged a fucking forest to build this pumpkin patch for me.
"How long have you been planning this?" I’m still shocked, wide-eyed and stunned as I look around us. My heart won’t stop pounding.
"Fifteen months," he admits. "From the moment you told me about that book you read. From the moment I saw how your eyes lit up when you described being hunted and claimed."
Fifteen months. He's been planning this for fifteen months. And I had no idea. How clueless am I?
"You built me a pumpkin patch in the middle of a forest," I say, trying to hold back the tears. "You actually built me a pumpkin patch and had hundreds of pumpkins carved and got fog machines… You created an entire fantasy world because I mentioned liking a book."
"Because I love you," he says simply. "Because you deserve someone who will make your wildest dreams come true. Because you're worth every penny I spent, every hour I planned, every detail I obsessed over."
Every detail.
The seasonal sex toys, the crown, the gothic sex altar.
He planned everything .
"Luke Morrison," I say, my voice shaking through my smile. "You are completely insane."
"Insanely in love with you," he agrees, sliding off the bed and onto one knee in the silk and rose petals. "Which brings me to why we're here."
He's actually doing it.
He's actually proposing to me on a gothic altar in the middle of a pumpkin patch. This is the most thoughtful proposal of all time. Every dark romance and erotic horror reader’s dream come to life.
The sight of him holding the ring, down on one knee makes the tears fall from my eyes. I can’t stop them as they slide down my cheeks.
It's beautiful.
It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
And it's exactly what I would have chosen for myself.
"Seraphina," he begins, his voice rough with emotion. "Two years ago, you walked into my life and completely destroyed every plan I had for my future. You made me want things I never thought I'd want. You made me become someone I never thought I could be."
Oh god.
I’m sobbing now, letting the tears free fall onto the silk below us.
"You are brilliant and fierce and secretly wild in ways that take my breath away," he continues. "You deserve a man who will build you worlds where your deepest fantasies can come true. You deserve someone who will love every dark, beautiful corner of your soul."
He does love every corner of my soul.
Including the parts that want to be hunted through pumpkin patches by masked men.
"I promise to keep hunting you for the rest of our lives," Luke says, and I can see tears gathering in his green eyes. "I promise to keep surprising you, keep challenging you, keep making you feel desired and treasured and absolutely essential to my existence."
Yes .
God, yes .
"I promise to build you new adventures every year, to never let our love become predictable or ordinary," he continues. "I promise to love your darkness as much as your light, your wildness as much as your tenderness, your secrets as much as your truths."
He's killing me. This is beyond my wildest dreams.
"And I promise that no matter how many years we have together, I will never stop being amazed that somehow, impossibly , you chose to be caught by me ."
Caught by him. Forever.
That's exactly what I want.
To be caught by Luke Morrison.
"Seraphina Williams," he begins, and my chest tightens. "Will you marry me?"
Yes .
Before the words even make it out of my mouth, I'm launching myself at him with enough force to knock him backward into the silk. I plaster his face with kisses, tasting my happy tears combining with his.
"Yes," I say between kisses. "Yes, yes, yes , you beautiful, insane, perfect man."
Yes to everything.
Yes to marrying him, yes to spending my life with someone who would build me a haunted forest just to propose, yes to whatever incredible adventure comes next.
He slides the ring onto my finger with hands that are shaking almost as much as mine, and it fits perfectly. Of course it fits perfectly. This is Luke we're talking about. He probably had my ring size secretly measured while I was sleeping.
The ring is gorgeous. It's absolutely stunning.
And it's mine.
I'm engaged .
"I love you," I tell him, cupping his face in my hands. "I love you so much it scares me sometimes. But this... Luke, this was the most incredible thing anyone has ever done for anyone in the history of the world."
"I love you too," he says, pulling me down for another kiss. "More than anything."
I grin against his lips, settling against his chest in the silk and rose petals. The crown has fallen onto the bed, but I don't need it anymore. I already feel like a queen just being loved by him.
This is my life now.
"So what happens now?" I ask, admiring the way my new ring catches the moonlight.
"Now," Luke says, his voice taking on that familiar edge that makes my pulse race, "I was thinking we could celebrate our engagement properly ."
Oh.
Oh my.
I look down and realize he's already getting hard again beneath me, his cock pressing against my thigh. The combination of proposal endorphins and the lingering adrenaline from our chase is making me feel reckless and wild and absolutely desperate for him.
I want to celebrate… By worshipping my fiancé the way he deserves.
"I have an idea," I say, sliding off of him and onto my knees between his thighs. "Let me show you how grateful I am for the most perfect proposal in history."
His eyes darken as he realizes what I'm offering. "Sera..."
"I want to taste you," I tell him, reaching for his zipper. "I want to suck my fiancé's cock on our engagement altar."
My life is absolutely insane and I fucking love it.
His breath catches as I work his dick free. My mouth is already watering just thinking about tasting him, about showing him with my lips and tongue how much I love him, how grateful I am for everything he's done.
My fiancé.
I get to call him my fiancé now.
And soon, my husband.
I smile up at him as I bite at my bottom lip, ready to show him exactly how much I appreciate his pumpkin patch proposal.