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“Wasn’t going to.”
That made him grin. Then he remembered he didn’t have a car. “Eddie, do you mind walking? I came straight here from the venue. It’s on Fourth Street.” He eyed her dress. “You need a coat.” He let go of her hand and peeled off his jacket. He put it over her shoulders. “Do you want me to go borrow my dad’s car?”
“I can walk two blocks. But thank you for asking.” She kissed him softly. “You’re very sweet.”
“I love you,” he said, because now that he’d said it, he wanted to say it again and again, just to make sure she’d heard him.
“Did I tell you that giant car is actually mine now? My grandmother left it to me and I didn’t have a car in New York so I guess I need to learn how to park that boat a little better.”
“I’m happy to give you parallel parking lessons. Or you could just sell it.”
“No, I like keeping something of my grandmother’s. It only has thirty-six thousand miles on it.”
“That’s unreal.”
She paused, then she exhaled a deep breath. “I need to explain what I said to you before I left Beaver Bend,” she said, as they started walking down the driveway, holding his jacket closed over her chest.
“What did you say to me?”
“When I asked you what you have to offer. I feel like you took it a way I definitely didn’t mean.”
He’d taken it to mean he had nothing to offer. He wasn’t sure how he could have misconstrued that. “What did you mean?”
“It wasn’t about money or your lifestyle or anything like that at all. I was trying to ask you if you meant a commitment. I was asking you to confirm for me that if I threw over my life in New York, that you wanted me for real. Not just for one night, but for something real.”
Sullivan stopped walking and stared at her. “Well. Damn. That would have been good to know.” He felt about a thousand times better. “So you were just scared that if you trashed your life in New York it might be just for one incredible night of mind-blowing sex with me?”
Eddie gave him a look of censure. “Mind-blowing? Again with the confidence. But I’m sorry I didn’t explain myself better.”
“I’m sorry I walked away. It nicked my pride, I can admit it.” He started walking again. “I understand not wanting to walk away from your whole life when I wasn’t promising you anything. I wish I had known. Because I already knew by then I loved you, but I was trying to hint, not hit you with it, because I wanted to be respectful of your relationship.”
“In the end, this was better though because I needed to break things off with Nigel without any promise from you. With no idea if you’d even be interested. I had to end things for me and me alone without any sort of backup plan.” She slipped her hand into his and squeezed.
“That is better, even if the last two months sucked ass.”
“They really did,” she admitted. “I was going through the motions and I was miserable.”
“Good,” he said emphatically, because he didn’t want to think about her being with Nigel in any way other than miserable.
“Sullivan!” She laughed.
“Nigel has a good-looking scalp. I was worried.”
“You were worried about hisscalp?” She shook her head.
“Baldness scares me. We’re here. Are you ready to go in there and have everyone see us together?”
“Heck, yeah. Let’s do this.”
His chest suddenly felt tight. “Yeah,” he murmured, staring at her profile. At her perfect nose that was only perfect because he’d broken it. “Let’s do this. All of it.”
She sensed his stare, heard his more serious tone, and turned. “Sullivan? What is it?”
There were a couple of people in the back parking lot smoking, but otherwise the night was quiet, crisp autumn leaves tumbling around them. The music from inside the building was thumping and the stars were shining bright overhead. He’d meant to wait, to plan something, to have a ring, but he couldn’t stop himself.
He went down on one knee, right there on the front sidewalk of the reception hall, and took Eddie’s hand into his.
“I want to marry you, Ed. I don’t want there to be anything but you and me, for the rest of forever. Well, and Finn and our kids. But I don’t want any other misunderstandings. I want you. I need you. I love you. Will you please do me the honor and become my wife?”
