Authors: MJ Fredrick
Lily couldn’t breathe. A hand rested on her back and she glanced over to see Trinity watching her. The anticipation on her friend’s face made her wonder if she’d known about this. Of course she had.
She wrested her gaze from her friend to look down at Quinn. “You had to leave to figure this all out?”
“To be sure.”
“Are you sure now?”
He turned away from her and only then did she see that Leo and Dale were behind him, holding the for-sale sign that had been leaning against the side of the bar for so long the lettering was weathered and the wood was rough around the edges. Her stomach dropped to her toes. Quinn took the sign from them, shifting his stance a bit to accommodate its weight, and turned back to her.
“I thought we could maybe use this as kindling in that fire over there.”
A cheer went up from the crowd and a grin split her face. Suddenly everything in her was light as a feather and threatening to float off.
When the noise leveled off, he took a step closer. “I’m sure that every minute of every day I missed you. I’m sure that I love you, and that I’ll never stop. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes again, like not knowing what I want and waiting too long, but it won’t take me as long to make things right. I love you, Lily. I’ve never told another woman that. Do you love me?”
Even from up here she could see he held his breath in anticipation of her answer. She looked from him, to the loons, to the sign, to the people gathered around, who also seemed to hold their breath.
“I didn’t have to go anywhere to figure that out,” she said. “Of course I love you.”
“Enough to marry me?” His eyes crinkled and teeth flashed in a smile as he waved his hand at the bar behind her. “All this could be yours.”
She grinned back. “Just what I’ve always wanted.”
The crowd parted as she turned to hurry down the stairs, and he met her part way up to take her into his arms, to cover her mouth with his, in a deep, hungry kiss. She curled her fingers in his hair and melted into him, then he lifted his head and smiled down at her.
“Do you like your banner?”
Her heart skipped. “That was you?”
“I thought you needed something to commemorate the occasion.”
“So is this my proposal? I was kinda wanting one on the beach.”
“Oh, once we get to the beach, I have a lot of proposals,” he said, lifting her and spinning her to the applause of those around them.
Epilogue
Quinn rose on his elbows as he watched Lily emerge from the waves, slicking her hair back from her face, water gliding down her pale figure in the bright pink bathing suit. God, she was his every fantasy come to life. She dropped onto the towel beside him, and droplets of water splashed his bare skin.
“Swimming in February—what a concept. Aren’t you going in?”
He curved his body around hers, lowering her to the towel. “I thought I’d cool off this way.” Her skin against his bare chest was chilled.
“This has never cooled us off,” she laughed before he kissed her.
After a few moments, he lifted himself off of her and sat back on his heels. “I promised you something the other night.”
Her cheeks flushed when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He set it on the towel beside him and helped her to her knees, too.
“Not sure this is really the way to do it. Maybe you should be sitting in a chair or something.”
“I’m fine,” she said, her voice a little choked.
“All right.” He cleared his own throat as he felt the emotion climb. He rubbed his thumbs over the backs of her hands. “I may be the slowest man in Minnesota, for it to take me this long to realize you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, Lily. But now that I’ve figured it out, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I promise never to take so long to figure something out again. Will you marry me?”
Tears streamed down her sun-pinkened cheeks as she nodded, her lips pressed together. With a shaking hand, he picked up the box and popped it open.
“It’s a blue topaz, because of the lake, you know. I know it’s not traditional, and if you don’t like it we can take it back. It’s not too big so you can wear it when you work. And—”
She cut off anything else he was about to say with a kiss, winding her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his so that for a moment, he forgot what they were doing. He drew back to look into her eyes.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. Put it on me.”
Still shaking, he took the ring out, the dark blue square-cut topaz sitting between two square-cut diamonds, sitting on a white-gold band and gripped her hand. She was also shaking, and watched as he slid the ring on her finger.
“Perfect,” she murmured, opening and closing her fingers to test the fit.
“Yes,” he said, “You are.”
THE END
MJ Fredrick knows about chasing dreams. Twelve years after she completed her first novel, she signed her first publishing contract. Now she divides her days between teaching fourth grade students how to write, and diving into her own writing—traveling everywhere in her mind, from Belize to Honduras to Africa to the past.
Find her at mjfredrick.com and
mjfredrick.wordpress.com
Other contemporary romances:
Something to Talk About
Road Signs
Where There’s Smoke
Bull by the Horns
Three Days, Two Nights
Star Power
Bluestone Homecoming
Bluestone Song
Romantic suspense:
Don’t Look Back
Breaking Daylight
Hot Shot
Midnight Sun
Beneath the Surface
Guarded Hearts
Historical romance:
Sunrise Over Texas
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