Chapter 58
KAT
My brows knit together.
Our house. Jax built our house.
What does that mean?
He steps forward and takes my hand, leading me upstairs. At the top of the stairs we turn left. I can see his lines on the paper, as if it were yesterday.
We make our way to the end of the corridor. To our bedroom. Stopping outside the door.
I look up at Jax, his eyes sparkling.
He throws open the door and pulls me gently inside.
I gasp and choke on a sob.
“Yes, this is the house we designed. I had to make a few adjustments to fit with planning stipulations, but as a whole. It’s the same.”
I step further into the room, my hand clasping my chain.
My eyes pop, my nerves tingling as I take in the sight before me.
An enormous four-poster bed, two doorways, one to the right, the other to the left. I move to the right and throw open the door. A dressing room. I move to the left.
“An en-suite.”
I chuckle.
“It was a must. No more sharing. I can walk around butt naked, and no one can see.”
“Apart from me… I hope.”
I turn to face him.
He moves closer, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“You built my music room,” I say, my voice catching, the enormity of what he did sinking in.
“I did. The house would have been missing something if I hadn’t.”
“You built our house,” I whisper. “Why?”
He drops a kiss on my nose.
“There was never another home I could have wanted,” he admits.
“But—” confusion hits.
He built a house, including features I wanted when we weren’t together. When I was horrible to him. Hated him for what I thought he’d done.
He drops his forehead to mine, our gazes locked.
“I can hear your brain whirring again.”
“It does that a lot around you,” I say, biting my lip. His thumb comes up and frees it from my teeth. “When did you build this house, Jax?”
He closes his eyes for a moment before reopening them.
“Eight years ago.”
I suck in a breath.
“Eight years ago,” I repeat.
I was still with Zach then.
He smiles.
“I had faith we would somehow find our way back to one another,” he says. “And if we hadn’t. There’s no one else for me, Kat. I hope you realise that.”
My hand covers my mouth as I suck in air, trying to fill my lungs, the enormity of his words hitting me.
Jax moves back, cupping my face in his hands.
“I love you, Kathryn Frazer. I’ve loved you since I first walked in and saw you lost in the music. I loved you even more when you pulled Pen from the pool and tore us all apart for being idiots. When…”
Jax’s voice catches, and I move quickly, cupping his cheeks, before slamming my tear-coated lips against his. He opens for me, our tongues tangling.
“I can’t seem to stop crying around you,” I admit. “Probably because I love you too,” I say, finally pulling my mouth away, tilting my head, and looking up at him. “More than I ever thought possible. I don’t think I ever stopped. To think—”
I can’t bring myself to say how close we were to losing all this.
He drops another kiss on my lips, wiping my tears with his thumbs, his eyes glistening.
When we finally come up for air.
“No one is going to come between us again,” Jax states. “Not your family, or mine, friend or foe. We stand united.”
“A promise I’m happy to make,” I say, snuggling into his chest, my arms tight around his waist.
When did I become a snuggler? A crier… emotional!
Only with Jax.
I press my lips against his chest, right above his heart. “Without you, Jaxson Lockwood, I realise I’m only half a person. You make me whole. Fire me headfirst out of my comfort zone. Allow me to dream of things, a future, I never thought I wanted.”
He kisses my hair, his arms tightening around me, as if he never wants to let me go.
He steps back, his hands gripping mine. Our eyes meet.
He lowers himself to one knee, and I suck in a breath.
“Kathryn Frazer. I know we’ve not been back together that long.” He inhales, making me smile. “But here in the house, we designed so many years ago. Will you agree to marry me? Be my partner, my wife, my love?” he asks.
Tilting my head, I lose myself in his expectant gaze.
He dips his chin and cringes, his fingers tightening around mine.
“Damn, this is not what I envisaged, or how I wanted to ask you.”
He lets go of one of my hands and rubs the back of his neck. “Having you here after I found you in that bed, burning up, so ill. I thought I’d lost you again.” He sighs. “The thought of losing you nearly broke me.”
I place a finger over his lips, my heart racing as goosebumps form all over my body.
“Yes,” I say. “I’m savouring the moment.” I chuckle at his confused expression. “No proposal could be more perfect, more natural, more… us.”
His eyebrows furrow.
“Yes,” I say, more playfully. Dropping to my knees in front of him, my arms snaking up and around his neck. “Yes, Jaxson Lockwood, I will marry you. I will be your partner, your wife, your love, as long as you promise to be mine in return… although you will be my husband.”
His muscles relax as he pulls me against him.
My chest expands, a giddiness overtaking me.
“There is, however, one request,” I say playfully.
He raises an eyebrow, and I grin.
“I don’t want a media circus. Minimal drama. I want us to get married in the Maldives, with only our families and a few close friends. It was there we found each other again…”
“It sounds perfect,” he says.
Jax throws back his head and laughs, a deep, rich sound that locks itself onto my soul. A sound I know I want to hear for the rest of my life.
“Minimal drama? You do realise Caleb is going to have a field day with this?”
“True, and we’re talking about my family, there’s always some form of drama,” I say.
Jaxson’s face softens as all tension leaves it.
“Well, are you sure we want to include my family then?” he asks. “Christmas was one thing, a wedding…”
He strokes a hand down my cheek, and I turn into it, taking a deep cleansing breath.
“It’s definitely what I want. Warring parents or not. We made new memories there. I want to go back.”
“You have a deal,” he says before leading me back downstairs and finally feeding me lunch.