Pretty When She Destroys (Pretty When She Dies #3)(66)

“So you betrayed him even though you had a super-long friendship.”

“There is only so long you can cling to the past.”

“And now you’re dead.”

“And I won’t grow old,” Roberto said with a sardonic smile.

The door opened. The light spilled in from the hallway to illuminate Jeff’s startled look.

“It’s not what you think,” Roberto said swiftly.

“My girlfriend is laying down the law on your ghostly ass?”

Roberto frowned. “An automatic response from my...living days.”

“You were such a whore, weren’t you?” Samantha rolled her eyes. It felt strange to be locking horns with Roberto again, but in a weird way she had missed him. He had been a part of her life for nearly a year, then had suddenly been gone.

“Yes, yes, I was,” Roberto said, his voice filled with longing.

“Eww.”

“Do you mind taking your ghostly ass out of my bedroom?” Jeff pointed at the doorway.

Roberto’s hollow eyes menacingly darkened.

“Go patrol, Roberto,” Samantha said, waving her hand at the apparition. “You’re not welcome in the bedroom anymore.”

One second the ghost was beside her, the next he was in the hallway. With a grunt, Roberto blurred into a smear of darkness and was gone.

“Can everyone else see him, too?” Jeff asked, entering and shutting the door behind him. “Or is Cian’s blood still affecting me?”

“Oops. Pulling the plug,” Samantha answered, internally disconnecting her thread of magic from Roberto so he would fade. “He’s invisible again.”

Sitting next to her, Jeff fastened one of his sweet looks on her, his hand sliding over her fingers. “I wanted to talk to you about something. It’s serious.”

Samantha set her iPad aside with her other hand. “Those words make me a little scared.”

“Well, I’m a little scared, too, but I really need to talk to you about this. Especially after tonight, seeing you like that. It was amazing, but scary.”

“Are you sure this isn’t a bad talk?” Samantha’s stomach coiled into a tight knot. If Jeff was going to dump her, she didn’t know how she’d deal with it. She really loved him, but she was evolving into something that even scared her a little. Maybe he couldn’t hack the change.

“I don’t think it’s a bad talk. Of course, you might think it is.” Jeff sighed.

“Jeff, just tell me what is going on.”

With a sigh, Jeff nodded his head. “Okay. Here we go.”

When her boyfriend drew out a small platinum ring with a single diamond, Samantha literally stopped breathing.

“This is my mom’s. It’s been in my family a long time. Before my dad died he said to give it to the woman I loved. That’s you.” Jeff held out the ring.

“You’re just going to give me a diamond ring? As a gift?” Samantha was dizzy not only with the whirl of emotions inside of her, but because she couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

Jeff’s eyebrows drew together. “No, no. It’s not a gift. I’m asking you to marry me.”

“But you didn’t really ask,” Samantha pointed out.

“Oh, yeah.” Jeff hesitated, then lifted the ring. “Sam, will you marry me?”

“No! Wait! Is this because we’re going to die?” Samantha had already made a mistake once when answering ‘yes’ to a marriage proposal and she wasn’t about to get married for the wrong reason.

“Not the answer I hoped for.”

“Is it?” Samantha pressed one hand to her wildly beating heart. “Because we’re going to die?”

Jeff adamantly shook his head, his floppy hair getting messier. “No! No. Well, sort of. Not really.”

“Well?”

“Look, Sam. This is the thing. I love you. I love you being in my house with me. It feels right. I want this to be our home together. And, yes, the thought that we might die in a few months scares me enough to compel me to say things that I might have talked myself into waiting on. You know, waiting for the perfect moment. Yet, there might not be one. A perfect moment.” Jeff was flummoxed. “I’m doing this all wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sure Cian did this much better.”

Samantha stared at the ring in his hand and watched it gradually go out of focus as tears welled. Cian had done it perfectly with a carriage ride, tons of red roses, champagne, a proposal on one knee, and a whopper of a ring. It had all been a charade. Jeff’s floundering proposal had her breathless, speechless, and stunned.

“I forgot to get down on one knee,” Jeff muttered. “Okay, this was probably a bad idea. I’m doing this all wrong. Maybe I should try again later?”

Wagging her head, Samantha managed to say, “No.”

“No?” Jeff visibly deflated.

“I mean, no, don’t ask me later.” Samantha grabbed his wrist before he could draw away. “Not don’t ask me. I mean. Yes.”

Jeff squinted at her. “Okay. Lost.”

“Yes. Let’s get married.” The second the words left her lips, Samantha burst into tears.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry!” Jeff reached out to draw her close.