Page 94 of Her Tempting Protector

“Champagne?”

“Dig deeper.”

She looked farther in the bucket, and grinned. There was a can of pineapple Fanta. “I wasn’t sure which you would prefer,” he said.

She leaned back on her knees and looked at the man she loved, as she held the bottle of champagne in one hand and the can of Fanta in the other. They were both wet and dripping on her jeans. “What’s going on?”

“Just one more minute, Beautiful.”

He let out a long whistle. Aries perked up.

“Not you,” he gave Aries the hand signal to sit. He sat down with his tongue hanging out. But then he stood up again, which was totally unlike him after getting a command. He barked once. A dog came bounding over the sand toward their blanket. It was beautiful. Carys couldn’t tell if it was a Malamute or a Husky.

“Good girl,” Cullen said as she skidded to a stop before the blanket.

“Come here, Betsey.” The dog daintily walked onto the blanket toward Cullen and put her face down onto her front paws.

“Oh my God, what a love,” Carys exclaimed.

“She’s a rescue. She needs a home. I thought you might like to be her owner.” For the first time since she’d known him, Cullen sounded less than confident.

“You want me to take care of Betsey? But I don’t even know where I’m going to end up living.”

“Check out her collar,” Cullen whispered.

With a trembling hand, Carys scratched Betsey’s head as she looked up at her with soulful blue eyes, reminding her of Cullen. Then Betsey put her head in Carys’ lap. Carys looked at the collar and saw it was engraved with Cullen’s address.

When she looked up at Cullen, he was holding a ring.

“I love you so much Carys. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Definitely since that night in the truck underneath the stars. Will you be my wife, have fun with me, and fill my house with dogs, cats and children and live with me forever?”

It was her every dream come true.

“Oh Cullen, I’ve loved you forever too, but I fell in love with you the night you held me at David and Sarah’s house. I would have lost my soul if I had to leave you,” she choked out.

“That’s never going to happen. There wasn’t a chance in hell you were going to get away from me,” Cullen said as he pulled her left hand toward him and slid the antique diamond ring onto her finger.

In the background she heard the barks of the dogs as they played in the surf, but that was soon drowned out by his kiss. His kiss, that went on and on.

She was home.