My stomach flutters thinking about that.
His smile is crooked and cocky when he stops in front of me. “I would ask what you’re thinking, but I don’t want to get myself into trouble.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I deny as he wraps his arms around me, presses his chest to mine and lifts me off my feet. I’d like nothing more than to wind my legs around him, but I know that’d be asking for an embarrassing situation to arise.
“Yes, you do, you vicious tease,” he says, nipping the skin on my throat with his teeth. “What I wouldn’t give for twenty minutes alone with you right now.”
His hot breath brings chills to my arms and I can feel my nipples tighten accordingly. “How did you not get enough last night?”
He leans back to look at me. “I could never, ever get enough. I thought you’d figured that out by now. But I’ll be happy to prove it to you. Over. And over. And over.”
His voice has dropped low, into that sensual sandpaper of his. But it’s his eyes…God! I don’t think I’ll ever get used to them. They’re so deep and intense and…sexy. He can make me feel a million things without ever opening his mouth.
“I love the sound of that,” I admit breathlessly.
“And I love you.”
My heart swells. I can’t hide the smile that spreads across my face. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that.”
“Well, it just so happens that I love telling you, so we’re a good fit.”
“I never thought I could love someone this way,” I tell him, dragging my finger along his full bottom lip.
“I’m glad you picked me,” he says gruffly, kissing my fingertip.
“I don’t think I had much choice.”
“No, but I’m glad you didn’t put up too much of a fight.”
“Me, too.”
“I’ve got a question for you,” he says, setting me on my feet and taking my hand. We start to walk, but he doesn’t say anything else.
“What’s your question?” I finally ask.
He acts as though he doesn’t even hear me. We keep walking and he keeps holding my hand. About three minutes later, he steps in front of me and takes me by the shoulders.
“Close your eyes.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
I do as he asks and he starts to walk again, slowly this time, with his hands still on my shoulders, him going backward I assume. When we stop again, he turns me slightly and then releases my shoulders.
“You can open them.”
I open my eyes to find Cole kneeling in front of me. Behind him, etched in the packed sand, are the words MARRY ME. My heart stutters and stumbles and I gasp. I had begun to wonder if Cole would ever marry again. He’s always talked about us being together forever, but he’s never once mentioned marriage.
He takes a black, velvet box from his pocket, brushing the sand off it. He kept it in the same pocket as the sand for his daughter, almost as though we really are all together in his heart now.
“Will you, Eden? Will you give me all of your tomorrows? Mine are already yours. Everything I am, everything I have, everything I’ll ever be is yours. Whether you say yes or not, I’m all yours. All the broken pieces. Please say yes. Please make my life mean something again.”
When I fall down onto my knees in front of him, he takes the ring from the box and holds it out to me. There is a big solitaire in the center and, on either side, four smaller diamonds that trail along the band. The platinum wraps around them in such a way that it looks like two hourglasses on their side, framing the center stone.
“I said yes before you even asked. I’ve been saying yes every day since I met you. I knew then…somehow, I knew that you’d be the one to fix me.”
“And you fixed me.”
“Together, we aren’t broken at all.”
“Our pieces fit. Perfectly. As perfectly as you fit in my soul. I love you, baby. So, so much,” he says sincerely.
As I watch, heart in my throat, Cole takes my hand in his and slips the ring on. It feels warm and a little heavy and so, so right. I lift my finger to study it more closely.
“Where did you get this? Not at Bailey’s, I’m sure.” The one thing you can’t get at Bailey’s is a diamond ring.
He grins. “No, not at Bailey’s. I drew it up and called a jeweler up in Portland. Said he could do it. Even drove it down here himself when he was finished.”
“That was nice of him.”
“I think he was curious after I asked him for the second one.”
“The second one?”
Cole pulls up the velvet cushion from the bottom of the box and removes a tiny ring that looks like a pink version of mine. Perfect for a little girl.
“Let’s go get Emmy,” he says.
I’m smiling so brightly, I think the sun might seem dimmer by comparison. I feel it shining from my face like a million-watt bulb.
Cole stands and sweeps me up into his arms to carry me back. As he walks, he seals our deal with a kiss. A kiss that melds together all of our different pieces into the most beautiful whole this world has ever seen.
The End
Dear wonderful reader,
I would LOVE and APPRECIATE if you would leave a review, but please omit any spoilers about what each ending holds so that every reader can enjoy the choice and the surprise for themselves. And if you loved it, please tell your friends. Your words, your recommendations are more powerful than you knowJ Thank you so very much in advance!
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READ ON
For an extended excerpt from Strong Enough
book one in the Tall, Dark and Dangerous trilogy
coming August 4, 2015 from Berkley
A FINAL WORD
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review and recommending it to a friend. You are more powerful than you know. YOU–the words from your mouth, the thoughts from your heart, shared with others, can move mountains. You make a huge difference in the life of an author. You have in mine. You do every day, which brings me to my gratitude, my overwhelming, heartfelt gratitude.
A few times in life, I’ve found myself in a position of such love and appreciation that saying THANK YOU seems trite, like it’s just not enough. That is the position that I find myself in now when it comes to you, my readers. You are the sole reason that my dream of being a writer has come true and your encouragement keeps me going. It brings me unimaginable pleasure to hear that you love my work, that it has touched you in some way, that it has made life seem a little bit better for having read it. So it is from the depths of my soul, from the very bottom of my heart that I say I simply cannot THANK YOU enough, which I say a lot of
in this post
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