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She giggled, “I know. So, I haven’t had to touch the money I put away for a rainy day, but I think that this is just the storm I was waiting for,” she admitted.
“I’m not following you, honey,” Colter admitted.
“Well, my place is a shoebox and way too far from everything in town, including work. And your place probably isn’t much bigger. I mean, you showed me pictures on your phone, and it looks just as small as my apartment.”
“It is, but it’s closer to NASA and everything in the city,” he challenged. She covered her hand over his mouth and smiled up at him.
“What if we use my rainy-day money to get our dream place in town? We can buy it and be close to all the amenities that we want,” she said. “Plus, we can get a much larger place.”
He pulled her hand from his mouth and held it in his own. “But that’s your money,” he insisted. “You shouldn’t use it to get a place for us. What if you need it later?”
“I figure that with the money we’re both saving from paying overpriced rent and not having a mortgage payment since I can pay for our place in full, we can start squirreling away money for a rainy day. It can be our money. Plus, I’ll be using my grandmother’s money for something that will make us both happy, and that would have made her happy.”
“Are you sure?” Colter asked. He didn’t want her to jump in with both feet and regret it later.
“I’m more than sure. I’ve been thinking about what to do with that money for a long time now. Hell, I was going to just give it away, like I did the rest of my inheritance, but tonight, it hit me. I want to be with you, and this is a way for us to start our lives and not be stressed out about your place, or my place. It will be our place.”
“I like the sound of that, honey,” he admitted.
“Good,” she breathed. “Because on the Uber ride over here, I took the liberty of finding a few places online and we can start looking at them this weekend—if I’m not moving too fast for you, Colter,” she teased.
He couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of her asking if she was moving too quickly for him. “I think that we’re moving at just the right pace, but I have to ask what you see next for us. I mean, if we’re buying a place together, what happens next?” Colter felt as though he was holding his breath waiting for her to answer him.
“Next, I thought that you might ask me to marry you,” she whispered. “I mean, I know that this is not the most romantic way to handle it, but I want to marry you, Colter. I want it all—you, kids, and everything that goes along with a new house and our lives together.”
“You want me to ask you to marry you?” he questioned.
“I do,” she breathed.
“Well, then, consider it done. How about marrying me, honey?” he asked. He pulled a small box out, that he had been holding in his jacket pocket, and popped it open to reveal the two carrot, round cut diamond ring that he bought her. He planned on giving it to her tonight, if things went well, and things were going more than well.
“Colter,” she breathed, “you were going to ask me to marry you this whole time?”
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I just wanted to be prepared and I knew that eventually, I wanted this ring on your finger, telling the whole world that you belong to me,” he said. “Marry me, honey,” he asked again.
Norah covered her mouth, tears spilling down her soft cheeks as she nodded. “Yes,” she sobbed. He pulled her against his body, swinging around the street with her in his arms. “Colter,” she squealed, put me down. He did as she asked and pulled the ring from the box, sliding it onto her shaking finger. “I love it, and I love you,” she breathed, looking between him and the ring.
“I love you too, Norah,” he whispered. He looked back to find his friends standing in the window of the restaurant, watching the two of them.
“We have to tell the others,” she said.
He nodded back at his friends and smiled. “I’m pretty sure that they already know.” He watched as his friends filed out onto the street, cheering, and congratulating him and Norah. It was the perfect fall evening and a perfect way to end their summer. When Brooks and he came up with the plan to rent a beach house for the whole summer, to try to keep Joel from moving across the country, he never imagined that their plans would change their lives so drastically. They had each found love with the women who crashed their beach house and now, he couldn’t imagine his summer ending any other way. They might all be moving on and going their separate ways, but they’d always have this one last endless summer to look back on and remember that once upon a time, they spent the perfect summer together and each found their happily ever after.
The End
I hope you enjoyed Norah and Colter’s story. Now, buckle up for a sneak peek at K.L. Ramsey’s next release, Bound by Her Mafia Bosses (The Bound Series Book 1), coming in August 2023!
Jules
Four Months Earlier
Jules watched as the two guards, who were holding her and her nephew Michael, seemed to be having a heated discussion with some guy. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying but judging by the way the three men were waving their arms around, she somehow knew her, and her nephew’s future depended on the big guy winning the “discussion”. He was quite handsome and under different circumstances, she might be interested in him but now wasn’t the time to be thinking about men or her non-existent love life.
She and Michael had been held by the Gallo family for a few days now—three to be exact if she hadn’t lost count and the poor little guy was ready to be reunited with his dad and sister. She was ready to be free from the two goons who were watching them morning, noon, and night. They had made a few threats but other than feeding them crappy food, they weren’t treated too badly. Well, if she didn’t count the fact that they were being held against their will.
Isabella Gallo was the head of the mafia crime family that ran most of Chicago. Jules knew enough about Isabella’s case to know that she and Michael were just collateral damage in the game of chess she was playing with Jules’s brother, Gabe, Chicago’s current Commissioner. He was doing everything in his power to ensure that Isabella spent the rest of her life behind bars as the head of the Gallo family. When Gabe was handed evidence proving that Isabella was directly involved with the human trafficking portion of the organization, he went after her with a vengeance. In retaliation, Jules and Michael were kidnapped by the Gallos and held until Isabella’s demands were filled. Jules knew for a fact that her brother would move heaven and earth to get to her and Michael, but he also knew that as Chicago’s Commissioner, he’d have certain rules he’d have to follow.
The three guys looked about done with their conversation and the big handsome one pushed his way into the room where she and Michael had been held. “Up and at ‘em, Princess,” he barked. “You and the kid are coming with me, now,” he said. Jules hesitated and he must have noticed her indecision. “You don’t have a say in the matter, Sweetheart,” he said, laughing at her. “Either you get your sweet ass up and follow me out or I carry you over my shoulder.” He shrugged, “Either way works for me,” he said looking her body over.
