ONE YEAR LATER
DALTON
The little cabin on the horizon in front of me is familiar and snowcapped. A year ago, this little place became the stage for all my wildest dreams coming true. And true they did, in fact, become.
I reach over to the passenger seat and take Lacy’s hand in mine, weaving our fingers together. It’s not Christmas. Well, it was two days ago. We spent it the way we have nine out of the last ten Christmases—with her family. Our family. They always have been.
But I still wanted to stow away a couple of days with her alone. Maybe this could even be a regular thing. A tradition born from the bet.
“There it is,” she says as we approach the house.
I shift the car into park as she hops out. I’ll ignore the fact that she didn’t let me come around and open it for her on account of her being so excited.
After grabbing the bags out of the back, I meet her at the door and unlock it. Inside, it’s the same as it ever was. Not a thing has changed. So beautiful.
“I’ll get a fire going,” I say, setting the luggage down near the hallway.
“And I’ll change into something… less warm,” she says, looking back at me over her shoulder.
“Oh, wait,” I say, waving my hand for her to come back over to me.
“What is it?”
“I have something I was hoping you’d wear.” I give her a sheepish grin, likely similar to last year when I said it.
“Another Sexy Mrs. Claus suit?” she asks with a giggle.
“Actually, more like jewelry,” I say, reaching into my pocket.
“Another butt plug?” she asks excitedly. “Or nipple clamps?”
“Neither.” I laugh, holding the ring box out as I kneel down in front of her.
Lacy gasps loudly. “Oh my god.”
“This isn’t the exact moment I was thinking it would happen,” I say. “Then again, I didn’t really have a plan. But Lacy Conrad, the past year with you has been the best of my life. Maybe it’s that we were friends, that I knew you, first. I don’t know. But I spent ten years not having you the way I wanted. And now that I do, I can’t imagine going back to a life where I don’t ever again. Will you make me the happiest any man could be and marry me?”
Lacy’s eyes are brimming with tears, her hand over her mouth as she tries to hold back her emotions.
She inhales deeply. “Yes, I will.” Her body crumbles to the floor as she wraps herself around me, kissing my mouth.
I pull the ring from the box and slip it onto her finger as I kiss her back. We’re both falling back onto the floor, feverishly touching and laughing and nibbling. She leans up, straddling me as she gazes down first at the ring and then to my face and then to the ring again.
“I can’t believe it,” she says.
“You can’t? Because I feel like I’ve been dropping hints for weeks.”
“You have?”
“Don’t you remember waking up in the middle of me measuring your ring finger?” I ask, tilting my head in amusement.
“That’s what you were doing?” She laughs.
I shake my head. “What else would I be doing?”
“I don’t know. I was asleep and then you were fondling my hand. I thought you were waking me up like you had that one time,” she says.
“What one time?” I reach back, cupping her hip with my hand to pull her down so we’re chest to chest.
“When you put your dick in my hand,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“I swear a guy tries to play a joke on his girlfriend one time and she brings it up every chance she gets.” I shake my head in mock frustration.
“Well, honestly, what kind of person puts their genitals in someone’s hand while they’re asleep?”
“You know what, it hurts me when you judge me like that.”
Lacy’s head dips to mine as she presses a kiss to my lips. I coax her mouth open with my tongue. I kiss her deeply, feeling for a moment like she isn’t close enough.
And that’s the lesson, isn’t it? A decade lost could have been a decade gained if I’d gotten my head out of my ass for long enough. If I’d done the one thing I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do.
I watch her face as she looks down at the ring again, studying it. I picked it out about a month after we got back from the cabin last year. Yes, I waited eleven months—give me a break. I don’t know how I managed to, honestly. We’ve been stuck to each other like magnets ever since. We made it four whole months before she moved into my place. But I attribute the quickness to having so much history. When you want to start living your life, sooner is always better.
“It’s beautiful,” she says, gazing down at the ring again.
“You’re beautiful,” I say, cupping her cheek with my hand. “And you’re mine.”