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Stubborn man. And I admired him for that.
Last week had also been my first catering job for the Maddox family. They bounced between their homes in Boston, New York, and Charlotte, and it just so happened they were hosting a holiday party in Charlotte this year. They’d hired my restaurant to cater it, and my phone began ringing off the hook the second word got out about it. The restaurant would survive many, many more years now.
“Unless you want that money?” Ryan abruptly asked. Was he serious? “I’d do that for you. If it made you feel better that we had a safety net, I, um—”
“I don’t need a ten-million-dollar safety net.” I turned and fisted his flannel button-down. “You’re my safety net. My hero. All I’ll ever need.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Ditto, darlin’.” He kissed me again, and when I released his shirt, and my palm flattened against his chest, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with him.
“You saw the cardiologist last week. And he said you were great. So why is your heart pounding soooo fast?” I swallowed and shifted the blanket from my lap, easing myself from his embrace. I went to my knees and sat back on my heels to get a better look at him. “Did something change since then, and you’re scared to break our bliss bubble?”
A smirk from him was a good sign, right?
“I love our ‘bliss bubble,’ but I’d love it a bit more if we made one small tweak.” He reached for my hand. “I’d rather you be standing if you don’t mind?” Without waiting for me to respond, he helped me off the bed of the truck.
“Eleven years ago to this exact day,” he said while pointing at the ground, “I came home on leave for the holidays and saw you at the dinner table.”
Shit, he was right. Just before Christmas, and the night Anthony and I announced we were dating. It’d also been the first time I’d seen Ryan in years. I was finally of “drinking age” at that point, too.
“I told you back in October during all the craziness that one word came to my mind when I saw you that night. Mine.” His tone was steady, but I could tell he was fighting a swell of emotions.
I held the sides of my arms, chills flying over my skin beneath my sweater.
“That was the day I knew you’d be the only woman I’d ever love. That my soul could ever love. I know it took eleven years to get here to this moment,” he said while slipping a hand in his pocket and lowering to his knee, “but I want to be there every day of your life to love and cherish you.”
I stared at Ryan on one knee. Not fake this time. Oh my God.
Ryan pulled a small box from his pocket, popped it open, and peered up at me. “Be mine forever, Talia. Will you marry me?”
“Rabbit Beach blue,” I whispered, eyeing the two small blue stones surrounding a princess-cut diamond set in a white gold band.
“Tanzanite, but yeah,” he added with a smile.
I fell to my knees and threw my arms over his shoulders, and he nearly dropped the box as I hugged him.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, please,” I confirmed before his lips slanted over mine. “I’m just so glad your heart was beating so fast because you were nervous and not for any other reason,” I said once composing myself and wiping away my happy tears.
He slid the beautiful ring on my finger, quite an upgrade from the hoop earring back in Italy.
“You always have my heart racing,” he returned with a smile. “And you always will.”
* * *
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Is it weird they’ve become best friends?”
I peeked at Ryan across the bar at my restaurant as he laughed his ass off at something I assumed Enzo had just said to him. “Not weird. Amazing.” I accepted a martini from my bartender, Christian, and clinked my glass with my sister’s. “I guess they bonded over their time in the military and . . . the other thing.”
Maria took a sip of her drink. “They both lost loved ones while serving,” she interpreted, then took another drink. She still didn’t know Enzo’s whole story, and he didn’t ever want her to, but Ryan now knew because Enzo felt comfortable enough with him to share. That meant the world to me. I really did love how close they’d grown in such a short period of time. And I’d been right. They were very much alike, and Ryan knew that now, too.
“Well then.” She clinked our glasses one more time, nearly spilling her drink on my dress. “Cheers to your happiness. Married to one hunk of a man.”
Married? It took me a second to process that word before I sipped my drink. I’m Ryan’s wife. He’s my husband.
“I’m just grateful you two included a few of us when you dropped the eloping plans on us Christmas Day,” Maria said, her voice wistful sounding. “And also, smart man to ask both Mom and Dad for your hand in marriage before he proposed.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I think he knows the power Mom wields in our house.”
