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“I thought you could use a better reminder.”
“A better…what?” Her eyelids fluttered open and her brows knit with confusion.
“A better reminder you’re not alone.” He took a step back, reached into his pocket, and cast an irritated glance at the faces pressed to the bakery window, watching them. “Even when you want to be.”
Her breath hitched as he pulled out the ring. The blue diamond he’d chosen because it reminded him of her eyes gleamed in the low light.
“Oh, my God, Booker. Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”
“Lauralie, I know exactly what I’m doing. After ten years, I know you inside and out. I know you dream big, and you work relentlessly to make those dreams a reality. I know you’ve got a hard head, and a smart mouth. I also know you’ve got a big, soft, reckless heart. And I need all of it. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you—”
That’s as far as he got before she launched herself into his arms, and he had to stagger back a step to keep them on their feet. From the other side of the glass, hoots and applause erupted.
“Yes,” she whispered between raining kisses in the general vicinity of his mouth. “I love you, too. I think I started to fall for you ten years ago when you marched me off that beach down there and called me on my bullshit. I needed that. I needed you. I’ve grown up since then, and I’ve changed a lot, but that part will never change. I need you. I spent a long time fighting the need because I thought it made me weak, but it doesn’t. It makes me strong. You make me strong.”
People began spilling out onto the sidewalk, his mother in the lead. “Strong enough to handle my family, Jailbait?”
“Strong enough to handle anything,” she promised, and kissed him with abandon as he slid their symbol of forever onto her finger.
