Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89883 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
"It’s just a little thing. Gimme a sec.”
I scurry to our bedroom, grab what I need, then scurry back to the sundeck. Brooks rakes his gaze over my body as I approach, making my nipples pebble to hardened points inside my bikini top.
“Fuck you’re gorgeous,” he says. “You think the staff will notice if we—”
“Have sex right here? Yes. Open this, then we can do back downstairs.” I hold out the box to him.
He takes it, examining the simple white wrapping paper. “Give me a clue?”
“Muffin.”
“Yours?” His eyes flick to the place where my legs meet.
I grin. “Yours, actually. Now open it!”
Brooks does as I tell him, unwrapping a pair of brightly colored nameplates. The first one reads “THE BROOKS: Triple Chocolate Deliciousness in One Muffin”. The second says, “THE LIZZIE: Triple Chocolate Deliciousness in One Pretzel.”
“They’re going in the bakery’s new display case,” I explain, my face growing hot as Brooks looks at the nameplates, and keeps looking. “You officially have your own baked good now. And then of course Lizzie—”
“Has her own too.” He finally meets my gaze. The look in his eyes, the softness and the happiness—
It makes my heart turn inside out.
“Do you like it?” I blurt. “I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I thought—”
“Greer, I fucking love it,” he says. And then he reaches up and cups my face in his hand and pulls me down for a kiss.
The kiss is urgent. Messy. Hungry. I fall down onto his lap so I can keep up. His mouth moves eagerly over mine, his hand on the back of my neck now, angling my head to deepen the kiss. His other hand kneads my ass.
I melt. Leaning my forehead against his, I reach for the waistband of his swimsuit. “Screw the staff—”
“Wait.” He grabs my wrist, breathing hard. “Just—you’re gonna want to wait.”
Something about his voice makes me pull back. That’s when I realize the hand holding my wrist is shaking.
“Are you okay?” I ask, stomach flipping.
“We’re—look.” He nods over my shoulder. “Almost back to shore.”
“And?”
“And I can’t—we—there’s something . . .” He searches my eyes for a long beat.
My heart drums against my breastbone. “Something . . .”
Dropping my wrist, he reaches up and tucks my hair behind my ear. “Marry me,” he says softly.
My heart explodes. Tears immediately flood my eyes, even as I doubt what my ears just heard. “Brooks. Did you just ask me to marry you?”
His eyes are wet too. “I did. I was going to wait until we got back to the marina—”
But he doesn’t get to finish, because I’m yelling “Yes!” and I’m kissing him and I’m squeezing his hips with my knees and I’m kissing him some more, because holy shit Brooks Huntley just asked me to marry him.
“Sweetheart,” he breathes.
“Baby.”
“Can I at least take the ring out of my pocket?”
I stare at him. “You’ve had a ring in your pocket all day?”
“Well, no,” he says a little sheepishly. “I might’ve snuck downstairs while you were on the phone a little while ago. I have this whole big plan to—well, you’re about to see.”
A distant roar sounds out. I glance over my shoulder and see a large knot of people waving to us from the dock.
Everything inside my chest swells when I recognize my mom. George. Gretchen. Jim. Theo and Nora and Keira and Ian and ohmigod it’s Dustin and Hannah too!
I turn back to Brooks to see him holding up a diamond ring with his thumb and first finger.
The breath leaves my lungs when I see it. My engagement ring. It’s yellow gold, with a big, round sparkly diamond on top that winks at me in the afternoon light.
“Marry me,” he says again, and slips the ring onto my finger.
“Yes,” I reply. “Hell yes!”
I hold up my hand to our family and friends. We’re close enough now that they can see it. My mom’s hands fly to her mouth. Jim makes Brooks and me laugh by shouting “’Atta boy!”
Brooks’s hands are on my waist now, giving me a squeeze. I meet his eyes.
“Happy?” he asks, wiping away my tears with his thumb.
“The happiest.”
“Good. Now let’s celebrate.”
And we do, spending a glorious evening with all our favorite things: our families, our friends, and then, of course, a very dirty fuck when the night is done.
Bliss.