Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
I pushed out the swinging door, only I stalled out when I saw the people who had gathered at the large table.
Everyone I knew and loved. Paisley, her grandfather, Caleb, and Evelyn. Ezra and his kids and his mother Linda. My brother and sister, and Kayden was in my mother’s arms.
But it was the man standing in front with his hands stuffed into his pockets and grinning at me that sent shockwaves rolling beneath my feet.
The air shimmered with light, and my consciousness got pulled toward his darkness.
Drawn in a swelling of need.
A blaze of love that scorched me to the bone.
I slowly eased forward, moving through my restaurant toward the people who meant the most to me.
“What are you all doing here?” It trembled out of my mouth. It wasn’t like they didn’t frequent the café. But they didn’t usually come together, and if we did a big family thing, I knew about it.
No, this was different.
It was palpable and alive.
A buzz in the atmosphere that shivered and flashed and sent nerves scattering through my senses.
The rest of my staff began to gather around us, as well as a few friends and acquaintances who had been sitting at other tables.
It took me a second to realize that Ryder had stolen my chalkboard sign from the front. The one where I wrote the daily specials.
It was standing right beside him, and the dessert special was now written in his strong print.
My eyes traced it, seeing what it said.
Marry Me Muffins.
It was at the same second that he dropped to his knee.
Ryder
There she was again.
A landslide.
Quicksand that immediately sucked me under.
I dropped to my knee, no escape from her lure, which was a good fucking thing because I didn’t have to fight it any longer.
What we were supposed to be.
This love.
This devotion.
This thing that burned inside me so bright it could never be put out.
Tears slipped from the edges of her eyes, and she pressed her hands to her mouth to cover the tiny cry that slipped out.
“Cookie.” I rumbled it around the thickness in my throat.
More tears fell down her gorgeous face, cinnamon eyes filled with so much adoration that my words choked around the force of it.
“My love for you was a secret for too long. Hidden in the shadows. But your love was big enough and bright enough for the both of us that it never could burn out. Because of it, I will forever burn for you. For so long, I’ve wanted to shout my love for you from the roof of every building in this town. And I figured there is no better place to start than right here, in front of our friends and family, in this place that you built out of your love and devotion and dreams.”
I took in a ragged breath, overcome by what I felt.
“I love you, Cookie, and I want to share all those things with you. This love. This devotion. Every dream we could ever conjure. I want us to chase them together. Today, tomorrow, and always. Be my wife. My partner. The one who believes in me as much as I believe in you. Because I want to share every single day with you.”
Dakota came the rest of the way forward, no longer trying to slow or hide her tears. She knelt in front of me. Reaching out with those tender fingers, she dragged them down the side of my face.
A tremble rolled, and I couldn’t do anything but stare at the woman who had changed everything. The one who’d filled me up when I was empty. The one who’d given me faith when I’d lost all hope.
The one who’d shown me I could believe in myself.
“Nothing could make me happier than spending every day with you, Ryder Nash. All our todays and all our tomorrows.”
I crashed my mouth against hers because I couldn’t keep from touching her for a second longer, kissing her mad through our tears and laughter and the cheers that rose up from our family.