Page 37 of Falling for Her Grumpy Boss

I look down at this impossible man kneeling in the grass with stubborn determination written all over his bruised face and suddenly start laughing. The sound escapes quietly at first before building into something helpless enough that confusion flickers briefly across his expression.

“You are completely out of your mind,” I whisper.

Something cautious enters his gaze for the first time all evening. “Tess⁠—”

“Yes.”

The word leaves my lips before I can overthink it.

Dead silence crashes across the yard again.

Dylan freezes so completely it would almost be funny if my own heart wasn’t trying to beat its way out of my chest. Shock tears across his face with enough force that it strips years off him instantly. Behind him, Caleb blurts out a loud, “Holy shit,” while someone else starts laughing outright.

“You’re saying yes?” Dylan asks slowly, like he genuinely doesn’t trust what he just heard.

I laugh again, shakier this time because the reality of what I’ve done finally catches up with me. “Apparently, I’m completely out of my mind too, so yes.”

The transformation that overtakes his face steals the breath straight out of my lungs. Relief hits him first, followed immediately by something softer and almost unbearably raw that smooths every hard edge he normally carries. For one unguarded second, he looks genuinely happy in a way I’ve never seen from him before.

Then he surges to his feet so abruptly I barely have time to gasp before he pulls me hard against him. His mouth crashes into mine with enough force to send heat exploding through my body. The kiss feels rough and desperate and completely unconcerned with the fact that half the town is watching us. His hands frame my face like he physically needs to touch me, and around us, cheers erupt loudly enough to finally break the strange, stunned silence gripping the yard.

Someone whistles.

Jeremy mutters, “Jesus Christ,” in a tone hovering somewhere between exasperation and reluctant relief.

Dylan finally pulls back just enough to look at me again, both palms still warm against my cheeks. Then his expression shifts abruptly.

“…I don’t have a ring.”

The words come out as if he’s personally offended by the oversight.

Laughter explodes around us.

“As romantic proposals go, this one really lacked planning,” Logan calls out from near the grill.

“I was distracted by the fistfight,” Dylan shoots back immediately without taking his eyes off me.

Asher nearly chokes on his beer laughing.

Then Caleb suddenly rips the tab off his soda can and holds it out toward Dylan. “Here. Until you buy the poor woman something that doesn’t come attached to Dr Pepper.”

The entire yard loses it.

Even Clara laughs hard enough that Lily stirs sleepily against her shoulder.

Dylan takes the aluminum tab with complete seriousness. Not even the hint of a smile touches his face as he lifts my hand again and carefully slides the tiny piece of metal onto my finger like it’s priceless instead of ridiculous.

The cool aluminum settles against my skin, absurd and flimsy and somehow perfect enough to make emotion clog painfully in my throat.

“You’re ridiculous,” I whisper, suddenly close to crying for reasons I can’t fully explain.

“And yet you agreed to marry me.”

Fair point.

Still holding my gaze, Dylan lifts my hand and brushes his mouth softly across my knuckles.

“First thing we do,” he says, his voice roughening again, “is get you the biggest diamond I can find.”

THE END