Page 152 of Left on Read

The table erupted with cheers.

I hugged him tight, giving him a second to process everything.

“Yes,” he said in my ear. “As long as you’ll marry me and make me the happiest man on earth.”

The last of my trepidation melted away at his words. I figured the hug was a yes, but hearing it was a thousand times better.

“Let’s see the ring!” Nick clapped excitedly when we pulled apart.

Hayden kissed me but pulled away before I could get too into it and forget we were in a restaurant surrounded by our family.

Blushing and grinning as wide as me, Hayden opened the ring box.

The table went silent as he pulled two rings out. “River,” he breathed. “These are amazing.”

I shot Zane a quick grin, then another to Quinn before focusing on my fiancé.

I’d designed the rings myself and made them with Zane and Quinn’s help.

They were simple and relatively plain, just smooth tungsten circles, but it was how they fit together that made them special. His ring fit inside mine, and they locked together to create an infinity ring.

The rest of the table oohed and awed over them as Hayden proudly showed off the rings, figuring out the locking mechanism like I knew he would. My man was smart.

“Can I put yours on you?” I asked when he turned back to me, a beaming smile on his face.

He nodded and held out his left hand.

I took the ring and slipped it over his finger.

Mine, my hindbrain chanted. Mine mine mine mine.

“Now you.” Hayden held up my ring. “I want to put it on you.”

I held out my hand, my breath catching as he slid the metal over my finger.

“Mine,” he whispered, then dropped a kiss on the ring.

Not caring that we were in public and surrounded by our family, I pulled him against me and kissed him.

The table erupted in cheers again.

“Was this okay?” I asked when we finally pulled apart. “Doing it in front of everyone like this?”

I’d gone back and forth over doing this in public or private but had ultimately decided that having our chosen family, or at least as much of it as we could assemble, would be more meaningful than doing it alone.

“Yeah.” He held up his hand and stared at his ring. “The only thing that sucks is that I have to go back to work after this and be an adult when all I want to do is drag you home and show you how much I love you.”

I pecked a kiss against his lips. “Yeah. I kinda wish I’d planned this for the end of the day now too. Oh. I have this too.” I dug a small jewelry bag out of my pocket. “I almost forgot.”

Hayden took the bag and shook out two thick silver chains.

“So we have somewhere safe to keep them when we can’t wear them,” I explained.

I couldn’t wear rings at my job without risking losing my finger, and Hayden preferred to keep a low profile at school. It wasn’t a secret that he had a boyfriend, but we didn’t advertise our relationship around his work because not everyone was okay with it.

“Did you make these too?” Hayden asked.

I nodded. “Zane helped. And Quinn.”