“I am,” he says, making those two words sound like a vow.
“For good,” I confirm, raising my own hands to tentatively rest against his warm chest.
At my touch, he takes a racking inhale. “For as long as you’ll have me.”
This whole time, I’ve been on the brink of tears, but at this, they spill freely down my face. I’m half-laughing, half-crying when I speak. “And you promise there won’t be any more wilderness excursions?”
He pulls me in close, a corner of his beautiful mouth lifting. “There willalwaysbe wilderness excursions.”
I try to look disappointed but fail completely. All I can see is our future together, stretching out farther than any distant horizon line, and—
My thoughts are interrupted when his big hands wrap around my waist and he picks me up, my bare legs automatically wrapping around his hips. I look down from my favorite place in the world, my arms wrapping around his neck like they’ve come home at last.
“I gotta say, I like you in this position a lot better without pants,” he says, chuckling, and I can’t help my blush.
“It might have been a little cold for our meet-cute,” I point out. “Then again, you know a thing or two about warming me up.”
The look he gives me matches the squeeze of his hands, and my breath hitches.
“So about that HEA Savannah mentioned,” he says, his deep voice resonating through me. “I’ve heard you’re the expert on how they go.”
I smile down at him, and my world narrows to the deep green of his eyes and the smile tugging at his lips. We might as well be a thousand miles away, standing in front of a (perfectly ventilated) cabin fire together.
“They’re not really that complicated,” I tell him, sinking my hands into the back of his thick curls and watching his eyelashes flutter. “You already nailed the grand gesture. That’s a good start.”
He nods like he’s considering it carefully. “True. But I haven’t told you I love you yet. That seems pretty vital.”
At those words, my heart feels like a bird trying to take flight right out of my chest.
“You love me,” I whisper, and it’s half-question, half-declaration.
“Of course I love you,” he says, raising a hand to stroke my dimple with his thumb. “Why else would I be here begging you to spend the rest of your life with me?”
I laugh as joy, love, and a certainty I’ve never known before wells up inside me, spilling out until I’m sure it’s racing downevery street of my neighborhood, banners flying in the wind. It’s begging to be written about, begging to be witnessed, and begging to give hope to every person who ever thought they were only cut out for Happily Never Afters.
“I love you, too,” I say, but he already knows.
He slides his hand to the back of my neck, pulling me close and kissing me like he’s spent his whole life searching for this love and plans to spend the rest of it holding on to me.
My arms wrap more tightly around his neck, and I kiss him back until I know he understands something vital. This may not be our first kiss, and it’s certainly not our last, but itisthe first kiss of something I never imagined for myself. Happily Ever After.
