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Sofi blinked away her tears. She’d spent so much time crying already, but she couldn’t help it. Her happiness was exploding though her eyes and tears were the only way her body knew how to deal with it all.
“I love you. I always have and I always will. Sofi Castillo, will you be my girlfriend?” Austin asked, stepping back as he took hold of each of Sofi’s hands within his own.
Sofi nodded and then burst out, “Duh!”
Austin laughed, bringing his girlfriend into his arms as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She savored the feeling for a moment before pulling back, because that kiss had felt like an invitation Sofi had to take.
And Austin lowered his head, lifting Sofi into his arms as his lips met hers. Pure elation that they were kissing again so soon filled Sofi from head to toe, and a sound of pure content escaped her lips. She felt Austin’s lips curl against hers before he deepened the kiss, replacing contentment with an altogether headier emotion.
“It is a fair full of kids,” Sofi heard Holland announce. The Sofi of years past would have pulled away from Austin, ashamed at being caught. But current Sofi was happy to ignore Holland and anyone else with her. She was busy kissing her boyfriend.
Austin must have felt the same way, because his tongue was lingering on Sofi’s lips when she suddenly felt herself physically being pulled away from him.
“Hey!” she managed as Austin looked around them, his eyes full of fire.
“That’s enough for now,” Tía Melinda announced, her hands firmly planted around Sofi’s waist.
Sofi glared at her mother and aunts, who grinned, unashamed of their actions as usual. Or maybe they were grinning because Sofi and Austin were finally kissing. Who knew? All Sofi knew was that she wanted to get back to the kissing.
But now that she was out of her Austin-induced haze, she realized that Holland and the Tías weren’t the only ones present. Leia was there watching, as well as Morgan, who stood, beaming at them, along with Austin’s brothers and their families. Thank heavens at least Sofi’s brothers weren’t—
“If we ever have to see our sister kissing a man again,” Mario groaned, joining the group as Daniel and Carlos trailed behind him.
Sofi was going to guess her brothers had made themselves scarce during the kissing portion of the evening.
“But the song was a nice touch, Austin. I’ll have to use that technique on Rachael,” Mario added, earning himself a glare from Sofi and punches in the shoulders care of each of the Tías.
She grinned up at Austin. He’d known she would want those she loved here. And he’d made it happen. If she couldn’t be kissing him, this realization was the next best thing.
Leia and the Tías surrounded her, each saying a variation of ‘I told you so.’ And Sofi guessed they did. But it wasn’t quite fair, considering they’d known Austin was planning something while Sofi had been left in the dark.
But now that Sofi did know, she couldn’t care less about the events of the past few months—heck, the last many years. All of the suffering had been worth getting to this point.
The families then turned to one another, each trying to take credit for some part of Austin and Sofi’s love story. Even as she rolled her eyes she couldn’t help smiling at the sound of the phrase ‘love story.’ But Austin interrupted her thoughts as he turned back to her, gathering her in his arms.
“I thought about proposing, but my brothers told me that would scare you off,” Austin revealed.
Sofi’s initial reaction of shock gave way to a rightness. “Definitely wouldn’t have scared me,” she replied, causing Austin to beam.
“So if it came sometime soon?” he asked, testing the waters.
“The sooner the better,” Sofi challenged because she knew Austin never backed down from a challenge.
“Good,” Austin said with a nod before lifting Sofi once more. Their lips barely met before she heard something being thrown and hitting Austin’s back.
“We leave them for two seconds . . . ” Tía Rosa complained.
But Sofi was too busy relishing Austin’s kiss. Triumph welled up inside her as she realized they’d fought a war and come out victorious. Her hope had often been battered and bruised from battle, but in the end they’d won and that was all that mattered. And it looked like even more hard-fought treasures were in her near future, she mused as Austin’s strong hint of a proposal replayed in her mind. Mrs. Sofi Ashford had a nice ring to it. She had thought that ever since she’d practiced her signature back in the sixth grade. Sofi wondered what little Sofi would think of her now. And she immediately knew. Little Sofi would be wondering why grownup Sofi was thinking about anything other than the fact that she was kissing Austin.
Sofi grinned against Austin’s lips and he groaned as he held her even closer, embracing her until all thoughts fled from Sofi’s mind and love filled her heart. Austin’s kiss consumed her until she forgot about the past, the future, her family and his. Everything in that moment was about that kiss and Austin. As it should be.
* * *
