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She turned toward him again. “I love it and can’t wait to move in. But I’m overwhelmed a little. We never talked about this, and I still have a year on my lease. Then there’s all my stuff.”
Gray shrugged. “I’ll pay off the lease. You can keep whatever you want and move it here. I have one more surprise for you. Let’s look around first. Then, I’ll give it to you.”
They were going to have to talk about him going overboard because he obviously had no clue. “I don’t think you can top this surprise.” She kissed him before walking with him across the room.
“We can change whatever you want. The place was recently painted, but if you don’t like it, we’ll have it redone. I thought I’d make this into a home office and use the room across the hall as a guest bedroom, but we can do something else with it if you want. Maybe another guest bedroom.” He pushed the door open into another room.
“I think one guest bedroom is enough unless you expect a lot of overnight visitors.”
“We could skip guest rooms altogether, and then no one will visit. It’ll be just us.”
They left the room behind and walked toward the kitchen.
“I like the sound of that,” Kiera said.
The kitchen looked as if it had come straight out of a magazine. Top-of-the-line appliances gleamed among the endless counter space.
“Oh, my god. I see why you left this room until the end.” She could picture herself experimenting in here while Gray sat at the island, waiting to sample what she made.
“I knew you’d like it. Have a seat.” He pulled out one of the stools at the island.
Gray retrieved a bottle from the built-in wine refrigerator. Then, he popped open the bottle and filled the two glasses which were on the counter.
Champagne was her second surprise; well at least he hadn’t gone too overboard on that one. She’d keep her lecture short later. Kiera accepted the glass he held out and waited for him to sit on the stool next to her.
He didn’t. Instead, he put down his own glass and then dropped to one knee as he reached for her hand.
“Kiera, I considered waiting until our anniversary to ask you, but I don’t have the patience. I love you more than anything and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
She looked at him, then at the ring he held near her finger. Tears trickled down her cheeks.
“What’s the matter? We can wait if you’re not ready. I know we haven’t been together that long.”
“I’ve known you all my life, and I love you. Of course, I’ll marry you.”
Gray slipped the ring on her finger. “I hope you like it.”
She set her champagne down then hugged him. “It’s beautiful.”
“You didn’t even look at it.”
She didn’t care what it looked like. He’d asked her to marry him. Nothing else mattered at the moment. “It’s perfect. So is this apartment.”
“I’m glad you think so and once we finish this champagne we’ll head out on vacation. We can share the news with everyone when we get back.”
***
The sunlight glistened off the rolling waves. A few early risers lounged on the beach. Every once in a while, a jogger ran along the sand, getting in some exercise before it became warmer. It looked like today would be a perfect continuation of the previous day.
Yesterday turned out great despite the delay in their plans. They spent much of their time inside their suite yesterday making love. When they hadn’t been occupied doing that, they discussed wedding dates and decorating ideas for their new place. After a late night swim they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms, which had been a perfect ending to the day.
Warm Caribbean air washed over him as he walked outside, and he inhaled. Maybe if he focused on something else he’d shake the growing dread in his stomach. It had kept him from falling back asleep and sent him out of the bedroom.
Gray stayed outside for another thirty minutes. No matter what he thought about, the unease remained pressing down on him. Perhaps he needed some exercise. Maybe he had restlessness confused with unease. A short run would get rid of some pent up energy. He’d do that before he woke Kiera up in the most pleasant way possible.
“How long have you been up?” Kiera asked when he walked into the bedroom.
He pulled a t-shirt from a drawer before he answered. “An hour or so. You don’t have to get up. It’s still early.”
