When Jace was finally well enough to come home, we decided he would come to my place to convalesce. I had gone to his apartment and gathered the things he asked for, then set up a spot for him in my room. I set his books on the bedside table and hung his clothes in my closet, stopping to stare at them for a moment.

Was I being too forward? Assuming he was going to sleep in my bed with me for as long as he stayed there? We certainly weren’t living together yet. Were we even officially dating yet? This won’t work.

I thought about giving him my room and taking the couch so he’d be more comfortable. But his main problem was getting around. From the couch, he was much closer to the bathroom and the kitchen. The couch was plenty comfy, but would he think I was being selfish by keeping my bedroom and making him sleep on the couch?

I let out a growl and balled my fists. Okay, okay. Stop this. You are way over thinking this. It’s Jace. Jace, who you’ve known and loved forever. Who’s loved you back for a long time. Nothing has changed between you except that now you know.

I took in a few slow breaths before opening my eyes again. Right. It was just Jace. Of all the people on the planet, my brother was the only person I was more comfortable around than Jace. He would never think I was selfish, and he would probably love sleeping in bed with me. I flushed at the thought. I’d just wait and see what he wanted to do.

I picked him up at the hospital, and as we drove home, I thought of my homecoming from the hospital not that long ago. Jace had been there. My whole family had taken shifts being with me and sleeping in my room. Jace stayed many nights to help me since I couldn’t put weight on my leg at all for weeks. Maybe that gave me the answer, then.

“I was thinking,” I said to him, “Would it be best for you to sleep on the couch like I did when I hurt my leg? It was better for me because I was closer to everything there. Or you can have my bedroom, if you’d prefer.”

“I’m not kicking you out of your bedroom. The couch is perfect. And it is closer to everything, so even better. Thank you for doing this.”

I laughed. “It’s the least I could do after you took care of me so well when I got injured.”

“It was nothing.” He reached over and grabbed my hand, smiling at me. “I did it because I love you.”

“Yeah. If only you would have told me then.”

“You could have said it first, you know.”

“Oh no.” I shook my head. “Be the pathetic girl who fell for the boy next door and tried to seduce him? I don’t think so.”

“You’re right. That would never happen. You wouldn’t have to try to seduce me. I’d be more than willing.”

When I pulled into the parking lot, I went around to his side to help him out. Luckily, I didn’t need my crutches anymore by that point, but I wasn’t 100% pain-free yet. With his arm over my shoulders, I let him lean on me as we hobbled to the door.

“Well, we have one more thing in common,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“We both limp now.”

“Yeah, great.” I laughed. “Now we’ll never be able to dance!”

“We’ll just have to make up our own moves. We can call this one ‘the zombie.’” He let his foot drag behind him a little and jerked his arm up and down while moaning.

I shook my head. “It’ll be the latest dance craze for sure.”

“Right? People still love ‘Thriller,’ don’t they? It’ll be the new ‘Thriller!’”

We got inside and rode the elevator up to my floor. When we entered my apartment, I guided him to the couch, and he stretched out and groaned.

“Where are my pills?” he asked.

“Right next to mine.” I poured us glasses of water, put them on a tray with our pills, and carried it to where he was. “To us recovering well,” I said as I popped my pills in my mouth.

He tapped his glass to mine and did the same. “To us.”

We finished our water and sat in silence for several minutes.

“You make me so happy,” he said.

“I think that’s the pain pills kicking in.”

“Ha. I’m serious, Ky. There’s no one like you on the planet. Trust me, I’ve looked.”

I squeezed his hand and moved closer so I could nuzzle my face into his warm neck. “You make me happy, too.”

“We just have one problem.”

“I think Cooper really is fine with it.”

“I didn’t mean that,” he said. “If we each have a bad leg, how are we going to have sex?”

“Not while standing up, that’s for sure.”

“It might take some practice,” Jace said.

“Mmm. Right. Lots of practice. And we’ll have to try a lot of different positions.”

“Right. Find the one that works.”

“Exactly,” I agreed.

“I guess we’d better get started then.”

I giggled and kissed along his neck. He made a soft groaning sound that turned me on.

“Last time,” I cooed into his ear, “you were on top. What should we try first?”

“Are you able to sit and have your knee bent?”

I pulled my mouth into a half smile. “You want me on top?”

He nodded and returned a seductive smile. “I would like that, if it won’t hurt. I’m a lot more limited than you are right now.”

“All we can do is try it.”

He ran his hands along my back, but I wondered if I would be okay sitting with my knee bent so much. Maybe there was a way I could hang it off the end of the couch. Or if he sat in a chair?

“You okay?” he asked.

“It’s getting better. How about you?”

“Getting there.”

I reached over to put my hand on his crotch. “More than getting there,” I noted.

He closed his eyes. I rubbed him through his pants for a minute, then climbed over him, my bad leg hanging off the side of the couch so it could be straighter and have more room to move.

“Let me know if you’re hurting,” he warned.

“I will. You, too.”

He laughed. “Fat chance of that.”

I rolled my eyes. “We don’t need you reopening your wound or something like that.”

“We’ll be careful.”

“Yes. Careful,” I agreed. “Do you think we can carefully take off your shirt and pants?”

I helped him wiggle out of his clothes and then awkwardly pulled mine off. I spent some time just kissing him, feeling his skin against mine, both of us wearing nothing but our underwear. He let his fingers trail over the skin of my back to my neck and breasts. My nipples hardened under his touch, wanting more of him. But I wanted to not only be careful, but slow. Deliberate. I wanted to enjoy him that time, whereas the first time was more like a mad dash.

I pressed my lips against his mouth. His hard-on rubbed between my folds, making me even wetter. It’d been so good last time, I could hardly wait to feel him inside me again, but I drew it out slowly so I could savor every second. I kissed along his jaw and down his chest, pinched his nipples gently and he made a laughing moan.

“Ahh,” I said. “Could there be another ticklish spot on Jace that I didn’t know about?”

He covered his nipples and laughed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

I tried to get his hands away, to no avail. I sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you when you’re not expecting it.”

“I’ll just tell you right now,” he said in a serious tone. “If you do, there will be payback. And this isn’t exactly the kind of situation where you can run to Cooper for help.”

“I never ran to Cooper for help from you! We were always on the same team!”

“Always?” He tilted his head at me. “Do I have to say it?”

I pulled my eyebrows together, thinking. Then it hit me. “Oh no, come on. I was 10! You can’t hold that against me.”

“I was grounded for a week because of you.”

“Aww, poor little boy.” I poked at him. “I am so sorry that one time in my life, I called out for Cooper when you had me pinned while we were playing. And that he clobbered you for it. Funny. I didn’t think he’d still do something like that, but the way he reacted to all this…”

“Yeah.” Jace reached up and traced his thumb over my lower lip. “So… um…”

I raised an eyebrow.

“What are we doing here?” he continued. “Just talking, or…?”

“Or.”

I resumed kissing him and found the urge to take it slow had gone out the window. We’d gone slowly enough.

“Touch me,” I whispered.

He moved his hand under my panties and rubbed me, then slipped his thick finger inside and I moaned. It wasn’t enough, though; I needed more than his finger.

I reached down to free his erection from his boxers. I stroked him for a moment, appreciating the smooth hardness of his member, and he withdrew his finger slowly.

I sat up and slid down on him, and as he entered me, a thrill coursed through my body.

“You feel so good,” I sighed.

“So do you,” he breathed.

I rode him, sending waves of ecstasy through me each time he moved deeper. The pleasure built until the motion became too much for my knee. Even having it somewhat straight with my foot on the floor, the movement was a little too much.

“We need to find a new position,” I said.

“Um…” He thought. “I can try getting on top.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

I considered several positions as well. Until that moment, I’d never realized how much of a role the knees played during sex. “Wait. I have an idea.”

Instead of lying on top of him, where my leg was still required to aid me in riding him, I lay on my side. We lay on our good sides so that both of our bad legs were up and had no pressure on them. I put my leg over his and guided him back inside me.

“This is a good position,” he breathed. “I’ve never done this one before.”

“Neither have I. I just thought of it.”

“You’ll have to think of some more.”

He was able to thrust into me harder from that position. As he sped up, I could feel myself getting closer. It was obvious he was, too.

“I’m about to,” he whispered in my ear.

I pushed my hips into him, sending him deeper and harder. I let myself go as he pounded into me, and he pushed me over the edge. Gasping, my walls clamped down on him, and he joined me a moment later.

We panted together for a while, tangled in each other, cuddling. “I love you,” I murmured.

“I love you.”

Even though that position had been better for my leg, I still needed to get up and move.

When he slipped out of me, he his eyes widened. “Oh fuck!”

“What?” I sat up and helped him up.

“We did it again.”

“Yeah?” I chuckled.

“I mean, we didn’t use protection.”

“Right.” My eyes grew wide.

The first time, I’d still been on birth control, but I’d had to stop it because it was having a bad interaction with my other medications. I hadn’t thought anything of stopping it since Jace and I weren’t even talking at the time. But I was so used to being on it that I hadn’t thought about other means of protection.

I quickly checked the app that I used to track my period. “It’s okay, I’m not in my fertile window.”

“I don’t think most men know what that means.”

“It’s not the time of the month when I can get pregnant.”

“There’s a certain time?”

I laughed. “Yes. Didn’t you pay attention in Mrs. Hurley’s health class?”

“Nope.”

“The first time we had sex I was on birth control, and this time, it looks like time was on our side. We should be good. No baby. But we’ll need to get some condoms or something.”

“Do we?” he asked.

“Uh…” I turned to look at him. “Are you ready to be a father in nine months?”

He shrugged.

“I’d say, if you’re not sure, and we’re not married, then we should use some kind of birth control.”

“Maybe I want to have babies with you.”

I swallowed hard. Obviously, I’d dreamed of that. For most of my life. But they were the sweetest words anyone could say, hearing it from him.

“Have you thought about it?” he asked.

“About having babies with you?”

He nodded.

I guffawed. “Only like every day for about fifteen years.”

He grinned. “Can we step outside to get some fresh air? My stomach isn’t great.”

I tucked my arm under him and helped him to his feet, then out to the balcony.

“This really is a great balcony,” he said.

The sun was just setting behind the Fairweather Range and the sky was a brilliant pinkish-red. A streak of orange ran through it and off to one side, and a few streaks of yellow-green aurora borealis could be seen.

“It was worth the higher rent.”

“Agreed.”

He took my hands and turned to me. “Kylie, I love you. I’ve loved you for years and you’ve loved me back. We’ve been there for each other so many times throughout the years. Your family is like my family. I can’t imagine my life without you. But this isn’t enough for me.”

The joy I’d been feeling vanished with his last sentence. “What do you mean this isn’t enough?”

“I mean, I don’t want to date you. I—”

“Jace! Don’t do this to me now. How can you say that after you just got through telling me you love me and can’t live without me?”

He pressed his lips together. “I love you, but you do have this annoying way of jumping to conclusions and interrupting a person before he can finish explaining what you’re questioning.” He laughed. “I’m trying to freaking propose here!”

“What? Oh!” My face grew hot. “Shutting up now.” I pressed my lips together and closed my eyes.

Jace laughed again. “That’s how you know I’ll love you forever. Because even when you annoy me, I still love you. And I apologize. I should be doing this down on one knee, but since I can’t physically do that right now, you’ll have to just pretend I am. Kylie, I don’t want to date you. I want to be much more than your boyfriend. I want to be your husband. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “Yes, yes, yes, yes!”

“I got a ring and everything.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a ring.

I gasped as the brilliant, princess-cut diamond sparkled on its rose gold filigree band. “It’s perfect! Wait, how did you know?”

“I do get online, you know. And I know you have that pinboard account and you love that site, so I checked your profile and sure enough, you have a wedding board with a pin marked ‘dream ring.’ You made it way too easy for me.”

I burst into tears then and he pulled me closer. I couldn’t believe he’d gone to such lengths to buy the perfect ring. He knew me so well, it was unreal. Maybe one day that would get us into trouble, cause fights or tension, but it could be a benefit if we let it be.

I had no doubts when it came to Jace. He’d already been part of my family and my life for so long. It was kind of like we’d always been meant for each other and we’d always been together. Our relationship went far beyond the recent development of friend to fiancée.

“I have to say, though”—he kissed the tip of my nose—“I am a little disappointed about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’d actually been thinking there was a good chance you might be pregnant. I’d kind of been preparing myself for it. Even though I still forgot to use protection again this time. I’d been thinking what it would be like. I do want that. With you.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

I nodded. “Jace, you said that forever ago when you played house with me. That we would have a Colonial with four bedrooms. One for our two boys and the other for our girl—who would be named Cooper, Jace, and Kylie, by the way—and we’d have a cat and a dog to keep it even since you’re a dog person and I’m a cat person. And we’ll have a playground in the backyard, and I think at the time you mentioned a rollercoaster leading into a pool, though I can see that maybe that part needs to be reconsidered.”

“I did say all that, didn’t I?” he laughed. “What was I, ten years old? Still sounds good to me. And yes, probably without the roller coaster.”

“And maybe with different names, too? I mean, if you want a junior, that’s one thing…”

“We’ll see. I’d forgotten about that dreamhouse. I guess this is something I’ve been wanting for a long time.”

“Me, too. We don’t have to wait long, Jace. We can have a nice little wedding and then get started on our family if you want.”

“What if we ran off and got married this weekend?”

“Really?”

“We could go to down to Vegas, limp down the aisle, and get married by an Elvis impersonator.”

I thought of the wedding pinboard he’d mentioned not that long ago. “You want to skip the wedding?”

He must’ve realized where my mind was going. “Oh.”

We looked at each other a minute. He spoke first.

“You want a wedding. I should have known better than to suggest eloping.”

“It doesn’t have to be a long time from now. It doesn’t have to be big and fancy. But I do want my family and our friends there. I want a white dress and flowers and to smash cake in your face.”

“What!” he protested. “You wouldn’t feed me nicely?”

“How many times in our lives have you smushed some kind of food into my face?”

“Fair enough.”

I kissed him. “I don’t want to wait, but I don’t want to rush, either. We don’t have to hurry.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Why?”

“You might change your mind.”

“Not a chance,” I confirmed.

“Promise?”

“Of course. You and me forever,” I said.

“Just like it’s always been.”