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He gives me a little shove and I fall back onto the bed as he strips off his shirt to reveal his gorgeous, perfect body. “You got a problem with that?”
I smile up at him, happier than I’ve been in maybe my entire life. “Nope. I don’t have a single problem with that.”
Epilogue
The next day
Daisy
Noah winks at me from across the field in the back pasture as he stands at the starting line for a final race in the two hundred meters. The five family members and friends with him are the winners of six different heats. The winner of this race will earn glory and points for their team.
It’s only two in the afternoon. We’ve got six more tournaments today and ten tomorrow before we declare an official winner of this season’s family games.
According to Keating.
Our first cousins once removed, Riley and Laura Winters, are crying foul and saying this tournament doesn’t count because not enough notice was given for all the cousins to get here.
The family bylaws on this one are as clear as mud, stating that the invitation must be issued in a reasonable amount of time according to family commitments and how far away everyone lives. No one has ever decided exactly what that means and every time we try to have a family meeting to determine what it means, Laura Winters lectures us for a full hour on why her very important job requires three months’ advance notice of time off requested. We all cry foul, because the Winters live in Northern Virginia and family competitions are always held onweekends or holidays. Time off from work isn’t necessary for her to get here.
The meeting devolves into bickering every time until someone suggests a competition to decide the matter and we all get distracted by a game and have so much fun we forget all about the amendment.
I’m grateful the family bylaws were created long before I was born.
The five, Noah in the lead, make it halfway before they all stop in the middle of the field.
“What’s going on?” I ask Honey, who’s standing next to me.
She smiles, but it’s a sad smile, like she’s worried. “Just hear him out, okay?”
“What—?” I look up to see Noah on one knee in the center of the field. “No. He can’t be…” But my heart soars, thrilled with this development, even if my brain is looking for the nearest exit.
My body, however, takes me to the man I love with no hesitation.
I at least have to hear what nonsensical thing he’s going to say.
My heart swoons so hard, I stumble as I take the last three steps to Noah. He looks nervous, but happiness and love suffuse his expression.
Damn, I love this man.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he says. “You’re thinking it’s way too soon. You’re thinking I shouldn’t have ambushed you in front of your family. You’re thinking
I’m going to get sick of you. But I’ve wanted to marry you from the first day we met and—”
I roll my eyes, but I’m melting.
He chuckles. “Seriously. You can ask Mallory. After I met you, I told her I was going to marry you some day. You’re the only woman I ever want and since I know I want to marry you, Idon’t see any point in waiting to ask. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. We don’t have to get married this year or next, but I want you to know that’s where I see us headed. Because I’m never going to get tired of waking up with you in my bed. I’m never going to get bored with you or want anyone more than I want you.”
He stares at me expectantly, a hush around us, the very air waiting for me to say something.
“Are you asking me or telling me?” I say. He totally deserves it for this ambush.
He grins and gets to his feet, pulling the ring from the box, already sure of my answer. “Daisy Bellis Weston, will you make me the happiest man on the planet and agree to marry me?”
I chew on my lip, pretending to think it over, but there’s no need. I love this man, have probably loved him for longer than I realize. I want to spend the rest of my life with him and if he’s going to make this commitment before he’s figured out I work too much or I’m not romantic enough, I’m going to take him up on it. “Yes, Noah Caldwell Brooks, I’ll marry you.”
He slides the ring on my finger, but before I have time to look at it, he kisses the hell out of me.
∞∞∞
