Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“Let me guess. Ten times what I am thinking,” I said, smiling because it was impossible not to get caught up in her enthusiasm for the season.
“Maybe fifteen.”
“I wonder if Teddy has a pick-up truck in his fleet…”
Cato - 1 year
I had a ring in one pocket and keys in another.
It was a big fucking day.
Full of changes.
The good kind.
The kind we’d been working toward for a year now, tripping toward forever on graceless feet because it was new to both of us.
“Um… yeah, I’m still not exercising for you,” Rynn declared, arms crossed, squinting down at the kayak.
“Baby, like I would ever expect you to,” I said, waving the one paddle at her. “Get your pretty ass in,” I demanded.
This shit had been in the works for months now.
I always knew I was going to propose on the dock where we’d had our first official date. But I’d been pleasantly surprised to find something out about said dock while I’d been making my plans.
“If an alligator is looking particularly hungry today, I will be sacrificing you to save myself,” Rynn warned.
“I am well aware,” I said with a smile, only more and more sure about these decisions with each passing moment as we made a familiar path through the water toward a dock where we were going to have lunch. And make the forever kinds of plans.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked when I tied up the kayak. “Get up there and pull me up like last time.”
She was completely clueless.
I’d been worried when I’d suggested another kayak ride, she would immediately suspect what I had in mind.
Luckily, this was one instance where her lack of romantic fancies worked in my favor.
She probably just thought I only had one good romantic date idea, and was reusing it almost to the day of the last time we’d been here.
“Listen,” she said when I lifted her up. With the fucking cooler in her hand. “I love you. And I want to do you,” she added, making my lips twitch up. “But I’m starving, so it has to be after I eat.”
And, well, I knew from experience never to get between Rynn and her food.
So we ate sandwiches prepared by Eddie. We drank beers and watched the water as a duck with a black head, silver body, and white wings flittered around in the water while occasionally letting out a quack that went unanswered for a long time before his mate finally appeared, rushing down the bank, and swam into the water.
It was quiet.
Peaceful.
And her belly was full.
So it was perfect.
The next time she looked over at me, I had the box in my hand and the lid popped open, showing her the black diamond nestled in some ornate-ass setting that looked straight out of a gothic movie.
“No fucking way,” she said, mouth falling open. But in a good way. “I love it,” she said, reaching for it. “I mean, I love you too, but I really, really love it,” she said, making my lips curve up, unsure if she actually knew what was going on here or not.
“Baby, I’m supposed to be asking you something here,” I told her.
“Well, duh,” she said, already slipping it on her ring finger. “And I’m answering,” she said once the ring was on, so she could wiggle her fingers at me. “Come on. Grand romantic speeches just so isn’t us,” she said, reaching out to grab me by the front of the shirt, and pulling me on top of her as she moved flat on the dock.
Then we did something that was very us.
Fucking on a dock over the water, oblivious to if anyone was passing by and seeing it all go down.
It was only after, bodies spent, curled up with each other, that I remember this was a two-part surprise.
And my pants with the keys had been casually tossed to the side in my eagerness to get inside of her.
“Shit,” I hissed, turning away, then getting up to go grab my pants, careful not to upturn them.
Thankfully, I could feel the outline of the keys inside.
“What?” she asked, not bothering to cover up, just looking over at me in all her naked glory.
“I have something to show you,” I told her.
“Think you’re showing me everything right now,” she said, her gaze moving over me.
“Come on, get dressed,” I demanded as I got back into my own clothes. “Or come naked, but there are probably cottonmouths around here,” I warned.
That got her up and moving, throwing her clothes back on and making sure her combat boots were on tight.
“Where are we going?” she asked as we followed the narrower part of the dock toward the shore, then onto the ground.
“This is the part where I am going to make you do some exercise,” I informed her, surprised how dense the vegetation had gotten just in the few weeks since I’d been here last.