“I told you the dog was a bad idea.”

She hit him again, though a part of her agreed. “So.” She leaned against the back of the couch. “What did the note say?”

“Nothing important. I wanted to save the good stuff for in person.”

“Well. Here I am. In the flesh.” She was flirting now. Hard-core.

“That you are.” His eyes scanned down her body and she was suddenly aware she was only in a camisole and shorts.

She shivered. He acknowledged her reaction with a curl of his lip and all she wanted was to stop talking and make out already. The way he was slinking closer made her think he had the same thing in mind.

But then there was his admission of love and the ring … God, the ring!

Maybe he hadn’t said the things she’d thought he said. It all went by so fast. “Wait, wait.” She shook her hands by her head as if that would clear her head. “A lot of information has flown by in the last ten minutes and I’m muddled.”

Blake halted his approach. “Understandable. What can I do to un-muddle you?”

“Let’s sit. Can we sit? I think we should sit.” She circled the couch and sat on the edge while Blake took the armchair. Where to start, where to start … “This morning—” She shook her head; she wanted to go back farther. “Last night, I mean—”

“Last night was the best night of my life, Andy.”

Her lips went dry and her pulse picked up. She was dumbfounded. He had been as blown away as she’d been! Luckily, it wasn’t her turn to talk.

Blake leaned forward, close enough that their knees almost met. “And this morning when I woke up, I realized that every minute I’ve spent with you has been the best of my life. I think I’d figured out that I loved you long before, but last night is when I realized you were the one I wanted to spend my life with.”

Andy brought her hand up to cover her mouth. “Really?” She let her palm fall to her chest. “But I’m not your ideal.” Not even close to his ideal. Her body, her personality—none of her fit the mold of the woman he wanted.

Blake reached over to settle his hand on her knee. “You’re exactly my ideal, Andrea Dawson. It just took me longer to realize it than it should have.”

She let out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, it did.”

“Hey, I didn’t hear any declarations from you all that time.” He sat back and instantly she missed his touch. “In fact, I still haven’t heard any declarations from you. Should I even be here right now?”

She practically jumped out of her seat. “Yes. You should be here. I’m glad you’re here.”

He looked skeptical. “Even though you threw those awful cross trainers at me?”

“Even though I threw the cross trainers at you. They are not awful, though. Don’t even think I’m going to say that they are.”

“Andy, I love you even though you have no taste in shoes. And don’t know how to cook.” He glanced at the dusty picture frames on the wall behind her. “Or clean.”

She couldn’t even defend herself. She wasn’t good at any of those things. “Those are all requirements you had for your wife.” Her spirits sank. Even if he did love her, how could she fill the role of Blake Donovan’s wife? He’d never be happy with her when she lacked so much.

Blake, however, simply shrugged. “We’ll just always have to have a housekeeper. There’s nothing to do about your eye for bad shoes, however.”

She chuckled, but immediately grew somber again. “I might want more than one baby.”

“That means lots of baby making. I like baby making.”

“Blake, I’m serious.” This conversation was the most serious she’d ever had, to be honest.

“So am I.”

She met his eyes and saw he was indeed as sincere as she was. It gave her a rush to realize they were making plans together for their future. Funny how, this time, it was her ticking off the list of requirements for his wife. “And I want to work. Even though I have no idea what I want to do.”

“I hope you work for me. But even if you don’t, I’ll be happy as long as I can come home to you and beat your pants off in pinball.”

This time when she laughed she let a smile linger after. “Do I have to be wearing pants when we play pinball?”

“I’d actually prefer that you don’t.”

No longer able to stand the distance between them, Andy leaped into his lap. She straddled his hips and cupped his cheeks in her hands. “Blake, I love you. I have a confession, though—I did sabotage your dates with Jane because I didn’t know how to tell you, and I couldn’t stand the idea of you with someone else. And that’s why I quit, too. I thought last night meant nothing to you. I thought we meant nothing to you.”

“We mean everything to me.” He turned his mouth to rest a kiss on her palm. “If I asked you to marry me…?”

It was an echo of the way he’d asked her to stay with him the night before, but she wasn’t about to let him get off that easy. “Are you asking me?”

“Hold on. You’re right. We have to do this properly. I have to do this properly. You deserve it.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and stood. Andy squealed as he carried her out like a potato sack from where the furniture was arranged tightly to a clearing in the room. There he knelt on one knee and propped her on the other.

She giggled with nerves as he stuck his hand inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a velvet box—the same one she’d seen earlier that day. As if this wasn’t happening, as if she didn’t know what was going on—as if he hadn’t flat-out told her. With one hand still anchored at her hip, he awkwardly used his mouth to open the box. She started to shake. Then there it was, the beautiful ring she’d held between her fingers, wishing against hope it belonged to her. And now it did.

Or, it almost did. Blake had yet to ask the question.

“Andy Dawson, you are everything I never knew I wanted. You are more than ideal—you’re my perfect match. Will you do me the honor of becoming my bride?”

For the first time since she’d met him, she didn’t argue. “Yes. Yes, Blake Donovan, I will.”

He kissed her then. Hard and deep. She matched his passion, telling him everything in her heart through her lips, through her tongue, through her hands that she wrapped around his neck and wove through his hair. It was a kiss that spoke of beginnings. A kiss that promised the future. A kiss heavy with love. A kiss that was also the end, but the happiest ending she could dream of.

When they both came up for air, Andy pushed away. She wanted to keep kissing him all night—all her life—but she had yet to put the ring on her finger. Still on his knee, they fumbled through getting the ring out of the box and on her finger.

“I’m impressed,” she said, her gaze caught up in the diamond’s sparkle. “It fits perfectly.”

“I may have done some measuring. While you slept.”

“Clever man. And only a little creepy.” She couldn’t stop staring at her hand. It was so beautiful. So impossible. And so … right. “I loved your proposal, by the way. Though”—she couldn’t believe she was admitting this, but fresh start and all that—“I do kind of like it when you call me Drea.”

He laughed and clutched her close to him. “I knew it.”

Happier than she’d ever been, she teased him as he kissed along her jawline. “Is this a good time to tell you I still want my matchmaking bonus? I did find you a wife, after all.”

His mouth found her ear and nibbled. “Well, I’d hope that being married to me would be all the bonus you’d need.”

“I do love you, Mr. Donovan. But I’m going to need a personal account at Macy’s, too.” Though she’d settle for a lifetime of that thing he was doing with his tongue. And maybe a monthlong honeymoon in St. Lucia. She had promised herself a tropical vacation.

Blake found her mouth again. This time the kiss was deeper, longer, more desperate. When Blake’s crotch hardened against her thigh, she knew what was coming next.