Page 88 of Summer of Love (Costas Sisters 2)
Zoe glanced down, ashamed of the pain she’d caused him while she’d searched her own heart and soul. “I wish I could have come around sooner.”
“Then you wouldn’t be you.” He nudged her chin up with his hand and looked into her eyes. “And I love you, too,” he said.
Warmth filled her heart replacing most of the fear that had lodged in her chest. “Are you sure I didn’t wait too long?” she asked him, still uncertain.
Ryan shook his head. He’d probably have waited forever for her, but thank God it hadn’t come to that. “All I wanted to hear was that you loved me. Offering to uproot your life for me was an added bonus.”
She’d provided him with the proof he hadn’t realized he needed. Proof that Zoe had come to terms with her fear of losing herself in their intense relationship—which he intended to turn into an intense marriage as soon as humanly possible.
“You deserve someone who’s willing to compromise as much as you already have. I can do that for you now. I can do that for us.” She smiled the sexy smile he adored.
“Compromise is nice, but you don’t have to. Since Sam’s already going to live in New Jersey, don’t you think it makes more sense for us to live there?”
“What about your law firm?”
He shrugged. Although he couldn’t say he’d thoroughly thought this move through, he was able to improvise based on certain helpful facts. “I can already practice in New York since I’m licensed there. And if it makes sense, I can always take the New Jersey bar exam.”
“You’d do that for me?” she asked, green eyes wide with wonder and gratitude.
Despite that the thought of Continuing Legal Education classes and bar exams made him shudder, he assured her, anyway, “I’d do that for us.”
She responded with a quick kiss.
“Don’t you realize that I’ve never been as happy as I am when I’m with you? You and your wacky family,” he said, laughing. “I just have one prerequisite.”
“And what would that be?”
“Do you think you can move out of your parents’ house now? I’m not sure I could live with my in-laws and stay sane.”
“In-laws?” Her voice cracked as she said the word.
He nodded. “That is what I want them to be.”
“Are you asking me to—”
“Marry me, Zoe.” He hoped it helped that he was already on bended knee.
“Yes!” She laughed and threw her arms around his neck, knocking him to the floor. Her body snuggled into his, the fit perfect and right.
Since driving her to the airport over two weeks ago, he’d been holding his breath. Now he was breathing easy and damn it felt good. She felt good.
She straddled him with her knees, her flirty skirt hiked high, only a thin scrap of lace covering her underneath. She kissed him senseless, her tongue tangling with his, her hands in his hair, tugging on his scalp, without ever coming up for air.
“Mr. Baldwin—” Nadine said, stepping into his office. “Oh my gosh! I knocked, but…Oh my gosh!” she said again and started to back out of the room.
“Hold my calls,” he said as she quickly slammed the door shut behind her.
He glanced at Zoe.
Her cheeks were a deep red, but she laughed aloud. “The look on Nadine’s face was priceless,” Zoe said.
“She won’t forget to knock loudly anytime soon, that’s for sure.” Ryan grinned, happier than he ever remembered being, and he had the woman lying on top of him to thank. “Know what I want to do now?” he asked her.
“What would that be?”
His hips jerked upward, making his plan perfectly clear. And in case Zoe wasn’t sure what he meant, Ryan leaned up and whispered his intentions in her ear.
Epilogue
“When you said you wanted to make little Baldwin babies, I didn’t think you meant right that minute!” Zoe whispered as she covered her still-flat stomach with her hand.
Once she’d left Ryan in Boston, she’d gone off the pill because of a series of headaches she’d attributed to the birth control. In reality, it had been nerves, stress, and stupidity for leaving Ryan that had caused the pain. Regardless, she’d completely forgotten about birth control after he’d proposed. It was that intense, passionate, Mediterranean blood of hers, she thought, with pleasure this time.
“I didn’t hear you complaining,” Ryan replied. “In fact, I distinctly remember you screaming with pleasure. If I hadn’t covered your mouth with mine, Nadine would have come running back in and then where would we be?”
Zoe chuckled.
“Shh!” Ari glanced over her shoulder and reprimanded them in her most professorial tone. “We’re in church and the wedding’s supposed to start any minute.”
They were all at Connor’s wedding to his fiancée, Maria, two people who’d worked hard to come to this point in their lives. Zoe still recalled how they’d fought their feelings at first. And look how well things had worked out for them, too.
