Page 134 of Taste Me Slowly

“What?” Angelica asked, stopping stunned.

“Yes,” Hope repeated. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She lunged forward, grasping Angelica’s cheeks and pulling her into a kiss.

Angelica nearly dropped her shoes as she held on tightly to Hope’s neck. She parted her tingling lips as Hope deepened the kiss. Their tongues slid together. Angelica’s head spun, the heat from the embrace and the cold at her feet. It was nearly too much.

Thinkingscrew it, she dropped her shoes and wrapped her arms around Hope’s neck and pulled her in even closer. Their bodies melded together. The breeze hit her cheeks, whipping her hair around her. She dug her fingers into Hope’s hair, keeping them tightly locked together.

Moaning, Angelica tilted her head back and broke the kiss. “I do have an actual ring for you. This isn’t…this isn’t a whim.”

Why was it so hard for her to catch her breath?

“You do?” Hope moved slightly. “Not one of those ones Eva sent you, right?”

“God no.” Angelica chuckled. She lifted her left hand and slipped the emerald ring off her pointer finger and held it out to Hope in the palm of her hand. “It was my father’s family ring, but my mother never wanted it. After she died, Christian sent it to me.”

“Oh, Angel…” Hope picked it up carefully and turned to face the streetlights behind them so she could look at it more carefully. “It’s stunning.”

“It’s yours.” Angelica held her breath, handing over the only piece of her family that she’d ever liked to the one woman she trusted to keep it.

“Are you sure?” Hope asked, looking directly into Angelica’s eyes.

“Yes, I’m sure.” She touched Hope’s arm briefly and then waited as Hope slipped it onto her finger. Not the perfect sizing, but they could fix that later. “I didn’t want to wait any longer.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.” Hope kissed her again. “Jesus, Angel, how long have you been keeping this one up your sleeve?”

“Too long.” Angelica moved the ring on Hope’s finger, twisting it slightly. “I’m sorry. I can be a bit slow to make decisions sometimes.”

“I don’t care.” Hope moved in swiftly and kissed her again. “I really don’t care. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Angelica held tightly onto her arm as they faced the ocean again. “I don’t suppose you have a plan for how to tell everyone, do you?”

“By everyone, do you mean the crew or the world?” Hope asked.

“Either. Or both.” Angelica let out a wry laugh. “God, I honestly never thought this day would come. I never thought that someone could… that someone would choose to love me.”

“It’s a pity no one has,” Hope murmured into her ear and nuzzled her neck. “You deserve all the love in the world.”

Angelica wasn’t sure about that. She tightened her shoulders slightly.

“But to answer your question, I don’t have a plan to tell anyone other than Eva.”

“And how do you plan on telling her?” Angelica faced Hope again.

“I thought I’d send her a picture of the ring.”

Angelica’s laugh echoed across the water. “That’s brilliant.”

“Whatever we do, Angel, we do this together, okay?” Hope whispered into her ear.

“Always and forever,” Angelica said back. “Let’s write our own fairytale.”