Page 145 of Sliding Home
I swallowed hard. “Would you marry me?” I asked, my voice rougher, more raw than I expected. “If you don’t want to now, that’s fine. We can wait until you feel more comfortable. Or maybe after next season?”
Her answer came instantly.
“Yes.”
Before I could fully process what just happened, she was kissing me, nodding, smiling against my lips.
“Yes, I’ll marry you. You pick the time and place, and I’ll show up.”
“Wait, really?”
“Fuck yeah. Michelle Madsen sounds awesome.” She laughed, and my entire head spun.
She said yes.
We’re engaged.
Holy shit.
“Shit,” I muttered, running a hand down my face. “I have the ring at home. I didn’t think… I was so nervous.”
“Don’t care about the ring.” She pressed a hand flat against my chest, right over my heart. “I’d be yours even if rings weren’t involved.”
God. I gulped, drowning in the warmth of her gaze.
She looked at me with love, with excitement, with every emotion I had been waiting for.
“We could have it at the facility so my mom could be there,” I blurted, my brain already spinning with ideas. “Maybe ten people tops?”
She tilted her head, her smile softening. “That sounds perfect. I wouldn’t care if we went down to city hall and signed the papers.”
“But the facility…” she trailed off, her eyes glowing now. “Angela could be there. Your brother. And we could plan it on a day she was doing well. We’ll call every morning, see how she’s feeling. If it’s a good day, bam. We show up, get hitched, and live happily ever after.”
Emotion clogged my throat.
I nodded, swallowing hard. “You really want that?”
“Of course I do,” she said, laughing softly. “But I have one request.”
“Name it. I’ll do literally anything.”
“We get a real honeymoon. Champagne, you naked most of the time, and a beach.”
I grinned, cupping her face, pressing my forehead to hers. “About that.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Brooks.”
I kissed her, slow and deep, until we were both breathless.
When I pulled back, her lips swollen and red, I murmured, “I might’ve had this idea in my head for a while. Might’ve made some plans.”
“Oh?” She lifted an eyebrow. “What kind of plans?”
“There’s this place in Cancun,” I said, my voice husky, full of anticipation. “Right on the beach. Ten pools. Round-the-clock drinks. It’s already saved. Just… what do you think?”
She grinned. “You’re telling me we can go to city hall tomorrow and be in Mexico by next week?”
“God, I love you,” I groaned, pulling her into a hug, burying my face in her neck. “Let’s take a month to plan it,” I whispered against her skin.
She sighed happily, her fingers tracing slow, lazy circles on my back. “I can wait a month. But, Brooks?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I never thought I’d be excited about becoming a wife,” she whispered, voice full of wonder, of certainty. “Yet here we are.”
Yeah. Here we were.
And I had never been so sure of anything in my entire life.
