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“Okay, okay.”
She heard Dusty’s door open, then felt the truck rock as he got out. There were some shuffling noises from the truck bed, and the truck swayed with the weight of Dusty moving around.
“What are you doing?” she called, laughing. “Did you take me out in the middle of the night to simulate an earthquake?”
Her passenger door jerked open, and then his voice was right there beside her. “Very funny. It’s all set now.” He reached across her and unbuckled her seatbelt, guiding her out of the truck. The smell of juniper wafted over her. “This way, that’s it.” She clung to his hands while he led her carefully around the truck to the back. She could feel the cushioning of soft grass under her feet.
“Okay.” He untied the scarf, and she opened her eyes. The sight that greeted her warmed her heart.
The truck bed looked like it’d been turned into a large bed lined with blankets and what appeared to be an entire store of pillows. In the middle, two trays sat with a little picnic. The first held cheese, crackers, and little rolled meats. The second carried fruits and chocolates, along with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. Twinkling lights trimmed the edge of the truck, making it feel extra magical.
Her mouth dropped open. “This is amazing.”
Dusty held his hand out and helped her climb up.
They snuggled close against the back of the cab and fed each other pieces from the trays as they looked up at the star filled sky.
“What did I do to deserve all this?” Asia gestured at the picnic.
“Well, it’s been one hell of an amazing year since we’ve started seeing each other again, and I’m so proud of you for finishing your first semester in college and with a 4.0 grade point average, to boot. I thought you deserved a bit of romance.”
“Well, I like it. You did good.” She smiled, catching his eyes. “You know I’m proud of you, too. It took some real guts to get help.” Her face sobered at the seriousness of the topic. “Seeing a therapist is hard for most people, and I know reaching out when you’ve been trained to be such a badass couldn’t have been easy.”
“It wasn’t. I’m not gonna lie.” He cupped her face in his hand. “You were the difference. Talking to you about it all made me feel better, feel whole again. I’d always dismissed the idea of telling someone about my feelings as actually being helpful, but you showed me how healing it could really be. I knew if I wanted to be the best man I could be for you, I had to work on myself first.”
“I love you, Dusty Jones.” She leaned forward, kissing him thoroughly.
When they finally parted, he returned her words. “I love you too, Asia Fox.”
The trays were suddenly shoved to the side, and Dusty rolled on top of her, kissing her thoroughly as his hand slid under her shirt.
He made sweet love to her all night, until they were so exhausted, they both drifted to sleep.
The sound of birds chirping and the heat from the sun beating down on them woke them early in the morning.
Asia snuggled deeper into Dusty’s chest. “Do we have to get up?”
Dusty chuckled, “Well, damn.”
“What is it?” Asia yawned.
“We missed it again.”
“Missed what?”
“The meteor shower. The reason we’re out in the middle of this field was so we’d have a good view. I thought we’d finish what we started all those years ago, but I guess we were a little distracted.” He grabbed Asia’s ass in a tight squeeze.
She stacked her hands on top of his chest and rested her chin there, looking into his eyes. “That’s so sweet. I guess we’ll just have to try again next time. Though I do think we did finish what we started all those years ago.” Her tinkling laugh filled the air.
His hearty laugh rumbled back. “Yeah, I guess we did.” Then he rolled her underneath him in one fluid motion. “Time for round two.”
EPILOGUE
Dusty heard the birds singing and slowly drifted up from sleep. Squinting one eye to his bedroom window, he saw the sun peeking over the horizon. He lay on his back, Asia curled against his good side, her hand on his chest, and a white sheet covering her ass, but leaving her bare back exposed. He stroked his palm down her soft skin, trailing fingers along her spine. How the hell did he get so lucky? What had he done to deserve a gift like her?
The sun caught on the diamond in the ring he’d put on her finger last week. He had no regrets about that decision. None at all. In fact, just looking at it settled a calm he’d never felt before over his body all the way down to his bones.
She was his, and he was proud to proclaim it to the world.
