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He reclaimed himself.

Mason breaks the kiss and puts his hands on my face. “I love you so much. I couldn’t have done this without you. This was for us,” he says firmly.

“I love you,” I say, smiling up at him. “So much.”

He gives me one more kiss, another embrace, and then heads back to the podium table. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if I tried.

This is what love is. Supporting each other. Being there in important moments. Standing through the hard times and celebrating the sweet ones.

Like this moment. Because this man deserves to be celebrated. Not just tonight. But every day.

And something tells me we’ll be doing this for each other for the rest of our lives.

Epilogue

One year later

Off the coast of Sardinia

F1 Summer Break

August

“I could get used to being a yacht boy,” Mason quips.

I laugh as he flashes me a brilliant smile, revealing the dimple in his cheek. He rubs a white towel through his hair, as he’s just taken a dip first thing this morning in the aquamarine waters of the Mediterranean. Mason’s yacht is anchored off the coast of Sardinia, and I’m sitting at the table, drinking in the view before me.

Not of the beautiful coastline, or the sun shimmering on top of the waves.

But of Mason, relaxed and happy from his dip in the sea. Water beads down his tanned skin, dripping across his chiselled pecs and abdominals. He takes the white towel and keeps drying himself before tying it around his waist. I find myself biting my lip.

God, he’s glorious.

And this incredible man is mine.

“Aren’t you going to jump in?” Mason asks.

I smile from my seat at the outdoor table at the rear of the yacht. “No. I’m going to have a very leisurely breakfast out here, studying the sea. The coastline. You.”

His eyes crinkle up in the corners. “I would bend down and kiss you, but I’m still really wet.”

“I don’t care.”

Mason dips down next to me, planting a wet kiss on my cheek. Then he slides into the seat across from me. “You look so gorgeous. Have I told you that?”

“You have,” I think, remembering the words he murmured to me when we made love this morning.

“I like that little dress on you,” he says, inclining his head towards me. “And the sexy little bikini underneath it.”

I smile. I’m wearing a white crochet dress over a white string bikini.

“Thank you,” I say.

Kristin, our cabin attendant, comes up the stairs to the deck.

“Good morning!” she says brightly. “Can I bring you some breakfast?”

“Yes, please,” Mason says. “Catherine?”