I’m still hoping all of this means that he wants me back as I send him a watery gaze. “Wearing?”

What does that have to do with anything?

Then he shows me the timepiece on his arm. Black band, white face with Roman numerals. Cartier. “My grandfather’s watch. I realized I never wore it because I didn’t feel like a man of honor. You changed that. You changed me.”

I send him a teary smile of hope. I wish I could stop crying, but I’m an emotional girl.

I also admit when I’ve done something wrong, too. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about who I was and why I was here when we met. I meant well, I swear. I knew Griff needed you in his life…and I figured you needed him, too.”

“You’re right.” He waves my apology away. “If I had known you’d come for Griff, I wouldn’t have listened to any of the important things you had to say about changing my life and embracing love. That man didn’t deserve the truth—or you. But I’m going to spend the rest of my life being worthy of you because I love you.”

With a kiss on my forehead, he drops to one knee and pulls a box from his pocket, then flips the lid open. It’s a simple solitaire winking at me from a thin gold band. It’s striking and beautiful and perfect. Everything inside me stops.

He’s proposing?

I hold my breath. “Are you serious?”

He nods. “Marry me, sunshine. Please say yes. Nothing will ever again be more important to me than you. I promise.”

I know some women might hold out longer, want to make him suffer and squirm. They would want to make sure he learned his lesson thoroughly. But I think he has, and that’s not how I roll. I love him. Why would I risk losing him again by saying no? If he screws up, I’ll remind him of his priorities.

With a watery nod, I urge him to his feet. “Yes!”

“Oh, thank fuck.” He sounds relieved.

I laugh in joy. The audience claps and cheers uproariously. Then I cry again as he slips the ring on. It hugs my finger just right.

“I’m glad you said yes because I have another surprise for you.” He whips out a set of keys from his pocket, along with a business card of a hammock on a beach. It reads SUNSHINE COAST BED AND BREAKFAST. The address matches the house we toured together, the one in which I pictured our happy future. It lists the proprietors as Keeley and Maxon Reed.

I gasp as thrilled disbelief courses euphoria through my veins. “You…you bought the house?”

“For you. When we met, you said you wanted to be happy. I’m going to make you delirious.” He grins at me. “Is it working so far?”

“Yes.” I nod like an idiot because I can’t imagine being any happier. “This is perfect.”

“Good. We already have our first booking eight weeks from now. It’s the beginning of our future.” He looks near tears, too. He’s holding me close, and I feel so cherished. “Tell me you love me.”

The way he searches my eyes for my heart nearly takes me out at the knees again. I have a feeling he’ll be doing this every day.

“I love you, Maxon Miles Reed,” I vow.

“And I love you, Keeley Sunshine Kent.”

I giggle. “That’s not my middle name.”

“Whatever.” He shrugs. “It fits you. Just like you fit me. You’re my everything, sunshine.”

It hits me in that moment that he’s mine to kiss and tease and feed every day. He’s mine to laugh with and make love to every night.

I can’t imagine a better ending than that. A million emotions pelt me, and I wish I could tell Maxon everything I feel. I guess I could try…but I know a better way.

After a glance at my ring sparkling under the muted lights overhead, I kiss my fiancé—I can’t believe I can call Maxon that—then lean over to the band and clue them in.

Then I grab the mic with a sniffle. “Aloha, Lahaina. I’m a red-eyed but very happy Keeley Sunshine. I just have one more song for my groom-to-be, then I’m going to go start the rest of my life with him.”

The obliging little band starts the music. Now I’m particularly grateful Gus brought in a keyboard. This song would be lost without it.

As Ruelle’s “I Get to Love You” starts, I can’t contain my smile or my joy. It’s sparkling and sweet and hopeful, just like this moment.

I’m going to cry through this ballad, too. But it’s a good cry. The happiest cry.

Because Maxon has made me the happiest woman imaginable.

As the song winds toward its close, I look his way and sing every word to him. I promise to love him and always choose him because I’m forever his and I’ll forever say “I do.”

The bridge picks up about love being a journey. I can’t dispute that at all. I sing the song’s title a few times, blinking at the happy tears filling my eyes.

Then he comes forward to wrap me in his arms and meet my gaze with the promise of forever. “I get to love you, too. And I always will, sunshine.”

The End

Read on for an excerpt from Shayla Black!

MORE THAN NEED YOU

More Than Words, Book 2

By Shayla Black

Coming June 13, 2017!

Click here to pre-order!

I’m Griffin Reed—cutthroat entrepreneur and competitive bastard. Trust is a four-letter word and everyone is disposable…except Britta Stone. Three years ago, she was my everything before I stupidly threw her away. I thought I’d paid for my sin in misery—until I learned we have a son. Finding out she’s engaged to a bore who’s rushing her to the altar pisses me off even more. I intend to win her back so we can raise our boy together. I’ll have to get ruthless, of course. Luckily, that’s one of my more singular talents.

Sixty days. That’s what I’m asking the gritty, independent single mother to give me—twenty-four/seven. Under my roof. And if I have my way, in my bed. Britta says she wants nothing to do with me. But her body language and passionate kisses make her a liar. Now all I have to do is coax her into surrendering to the old magic between us. Once I have her right where I want her, I’ll do whatever it takes to prove I more than need her.

Working to take my fury down ten notches, I try to stay practical, scan the yard. I don’t see any children. Is Jamie already asleep? Maybe so. It’s ten thirty. Do little kids go to bed early? I don’t know. I didn’t consider that sooner. Damn it.