Page 150 of I Burned My Tongue in Colorado
“Yeti! Come!” Noah tried again.
The wolf-dog stretched lazily, her gaping yawn showing off a mouth full of teeth.
“For heaven’s sake,” Noah muttered. “You’re messing up my surprise!”
“Surprise?” My heart rate kicked up a notch.
Finally, with theatrical reluctance, Yeti trotted over and dropped her massive head in my lap, completely ignoring Noah’s commands.
I bit back a laugh. “Yeti, sit.”
She immediately planted her furry bottom on the ground, fixing me with those ice-blue eyes.
“Lie down,” I said.
Yeti flopped onto her side, still watching me adoringly, while Noah threw his hands up in exasperation. “At what point did she become the boss?” he asked the dog. “After all these years, this is how you repay me?”
“What’s that on her collar?” I reached for the metal glint, but Yeti rolled away, tail wagging in excitement.
“Come here, you furry menace.” I grabbed her collar, and my breath caught in my throat. A ring dangled from the carabiner, delicate yet rugged, with tiny mountains etched into the silver band.
My heart hammered in my chest as I turned around. Noah knelt in the wildflowers, his usual confident smirk replaced by a raw vulnerability that made my chest ache.
“Sam.” His voice cracked on my name. “You changed everything. My life. This place.” He shot Yeti a wry look. “Even my dog’s loyalty, apparently.”
The setting sun gilded his features, highlighting the laugh lines I’d grown to love, the tiny scar above his eyebrow, the slight curl of dark hair at his temple where it was getting too long.
“I thought I had it all figured out up here in my mountains, but you showed me what was missing.” Noah swallowed hard. “You’re the adventure I never knew I needed. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” The word burst out before he finished asking. “Of course, yes!” Tears blurred my vision.
I stepped forward to kiss him, but Yeti wedged between us, nearly knocking Noah backwards. The dog’s tail whipped backand forth like a furry windshield wiper as she covered Noah’s face in slobbery kisses.
“Down!” Noah commanded, laughing. “Let me kiss my fiancée!”
Yeti ignored him, continuing her enthusiastic face-washing.
I grabbed Noah’s hand and pulled him up. “Come here.”
Before Yeti could intervene again, I pressed my lips to Noah’s. His arms wrapped around me, lifting me off my feet as he deepened the kiss. The taste of huckleberries and champagne mingled on our tongues as the first wet raindrops fell.
“You taste like dog slobber,” I murmured against his mouth.
“Does that mean you’re changing your mind?”
“Never.” I pressed my forehead to his as rain pattered around us. “But we’d better get moving before this storm hits full force. I’ve already had my ‘trapped in a cabin with Noah Barrett’ adventure.”
“That’s a shame.” Noah’s fingers tangled with mine as he slipped the ring onto my finger. “I was rather hoping for a sequel. Except this time, maybe we can share the bed.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “You’d better take that up with her.” I nodded my head toward Yeti.
The heavens opened above us, but neither of us moved to pack up. Some adventures were worth getting soaked for.
Behind us, Yeti barked joyfully at the sky, as if claiming credit for bringing us together. And maybe she deserved it. She did save me from that moose, after all.
Noah’s lips found mine again as lightning flashed across the valley, illuminating the beginning of our greatest adventure yet.
