“No!” I clap my hands together, desperate to keep control of this conversation. “Jacob. You asked me to tell you about him. Jake. This boyfriend I invented. But what is there to tell you? He is you. He has always been you. I didn’t make up some random guy and give him your name. I just told them all the things I love about you, and left out the parts that didn’t make any sense, because deep down, I think I knew we’d get here eventually. Just not…here. I definitely didn’t picture doing this in front of my family. And they don’t get a say in how much I love you. That’s my call. I love you. I loved you when you were Jacob Lowe, my boss, and I triple hard love you now that you’re Jake, my boyfriend.”

He blinks at me. “Jake. I like it.”

I grin. “I love it.”

He tugs on my ponytail. “I love you.”

“And I love you. So much.”

“But…”

“No buts.”

He laughs. “Listen to me. I’ve never been your boyfriend.”

“I know but—”

He leans in. “No buts from you. Shhh.”

I hush.

And then he sinks down on one knee.

This time, he’s wearing pants. I frown. “Did you need pockets for this?”

He laughs at me as he holds up a breathtaking diamond solitaire, that is catching all of the Christmas lights and glinting almost as bright as Jake’s eyes. “Yeah, baby. I needed a pocket.”

“So this morning when you got dressed, you…”

He nods.

I can’t breathe. I’m grinning like a fool. “I thought we agreed to wait.”

“We did.”

“That was like, twelve hours.”

“A lifetime, I assure you. Now, can I ask the question, or do you want to argue some more?”

“Are we arguing?”

My family, who had fallen silent after I clapped my hands, all answer that in unison. “Yes!”

Jake grins. “Sienna Gibb, will you marry me? Will you make me the happiest man in the—”

“Yes!”

“Let him finish. He’s got some things to say,” my mom says, but I’m already throwing myself on him.

He catches me in his arms and settles me on his bent knee. “Such a brat,” he says softly. “But you’re my brat. And if we fly back through Vegas, you can be my wife before New Year’s Eve, too.”

“It’s a twelve-hour drive, we could road trip it,” Nathan says, making up for a lot, but I still ignore him.

I kiss Jake firmly on the mouth. “Don’t worry. They’re not invited to our wedding.”