Chapter 42
Chapter Forty-Two
Avery
“That was fun.” It was a perfect summer evening. The type of night where the heat of the day had given away to the perfect temperature, where it was still warm enough not to have a sweater, but cool enough that I looked forward to snuggling with Reid on our swing. It was very quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of the day. “Your family is so nice and really cool with everything.”
“I don’t know how cool they are about it.” He shook his head. “But they do seem to love you, and I think that helps soften the blow of it all.”
“It’s more than that.” I tugged on his hand. “They love you, Reid, and they just want you to be happy.”
He stopped walking and spun me into his arms in the middle of the street. “You make me happy.”
He held me tight, and my stomach flipped when he looked at me with those eyes that promised so much more to come.
“I’m glad.” I kissed him lightly. Much more than that, I wasn’t sure we’d ever make it home. “Because you make me happy, too. And now you’re stuck with me.”
“There is no one I’d rather be stuck with.”
I laughed, but Reid’s face remained serious. I loved how intense he was. How grumpy he was for almost everyone and everything except for me.
And Quinn.
I had to admit it made something low in my gut flip over to see the way he had all the time in the world for his niece. It made me think about what a good father he’d be to our kids one day.
Because yes, I wanted that with him. One day. We still had a lot we needed to get through with the inn. I wasn’t in a rush anymore. I had my husband. I had my home. And I had no doubt I would have my happily ever after, too.
“What’s that look for?” His finger traced my lips.
“What look?”
“That faraway one that means you’re thinking about something.”
My lips curled up into a smile. “I’m just thinking about us.”
“Is that right?” He leaned into me, his breath hot against my mouth.
“Uh-huh.”
“All good stuff, I hope.”
“So good.” My heart raced the way it always did when he looked at me like that. With hunger in his eyes that would never be satiated. I wanted to jump into his arms and show him exactly what that look did to me, but we were still standing in the middle of the street. “Come on.” I forced myself to pull away from him before things got indecent in public—again. I grabbed his hand and, before he could protest, tugged him in the direction of home.
Just as I suspected, he didn’t resist. But to my surprise, when we finally made it to the front porch, instead of walking me through the front door and pushing me up against the wall to have his way with me, he took my hand and led me to the swing.
“Sit.”
“I thought we could?—”
“Oh, sweetheart. Make no mistake. I have big plans that involve making you scream out my name over and over again. But first, I would like to sit and have a nice quiet glass of wine with my wife.”
I would never get tired of hearing him call me that.
“Will you allow me that?”
How could I say no? “Of course.”
He kissed my cheek. “I’ll be right back,” he said. “I’m going to grab a bottle and a few glasses. Don’t go anywhere.”
“As if there were anywhere else I’d rather be.”
His face softened. He blew me a kiss and disappeared inside.
The stars were out, lighting up the sky. It was one of my favorite things about being in the mountains. You didn’t get stars like this in the city. I exhaled slowly and dropped my head back to take them all in.
For the first time in a long time, I felt completely at peace. There were no looming deadlines. No inheritance battles to fight. No fake marriage to untangle.
Not that I was looking to untangle it.
Not even a little bit.
It was something Reid and I hadn’t talked about. Not really. We’d just…kept on doing what we were doing. Only it was better now.
“You look like you’re thinking about something,” Reid said a moment later when he reappeared with a bottle of chilled sauvignon blanc and two glasses.
“Not really.” I looked up. “Only how nice this is to be here with you without all the…” I waved a hand in the air, and he laughed. Reid poured us each a glass before joining me on our swing.
I tucked my legs up under me and let Reid push us gently back and forth while we sipped at the wine.
“You know,” I said after a few moments. “This is my favorite place in the whole world.”
“The inn?”
“No.” I shook my head and dropped my head to his shoulder. “This swing. On this porch. At this inn. In this town. With you.”
He didn’t respond right away, but he didn’t need to. I felt it. After a moment, I heard him blow out a breath. “This is my favorite place, too. And you are my favorite person.”
I smiled to myself as he sat up and turned so he faced me on the swing. “These last few months have been crazy.”
“The craziest.” I laughed. “Do you ever think about how this all started with a simple lie?”
He let out a low whistle. “Honestly?” He looked me in the eyes. “All the time.”
“You do?”
“Absolutely. And I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“No?” That surprised me. I knew he didn’t like lying to his family.
“No,” he said with certainty. “Because if we changed even one little detail, then I don’t know if I’d be here with you right now. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
His fingers trailed down my arm before reaching my hand. He threaded his fingers through mine, his grip warm and sure.
“Avery, being with you is the most real and sure thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”
My heart skipped a little, a slow warmth unfurling in my chest. “I feel exactly the same way.”
Reid shifted and put his wine down on the porch rail. His free hand came to rest on my knee. “I’ve been making myself crazy trying to think of the right way to say this, Avery.” His finger brushed absentminded circles on my skin, and suddenly he wouldn’t look at me. “But I think there’s something really important that we need to discuss.”
Just like that, my world spun. It was the conversation I’d been worried about. We never discussed it, but maybe he didn’t want to be married after all. I knew he loved me, but maybe marriage was too much. If that’s what he wanted, I wouldn’t fight it, but?—
“The truth is,” he continued, completely unaware of the tailspin that I’d fallen into, “there’s no fancy way to say it.”
I swallowed hard, my pulse thudding in my forehead. “Say what?” I was almost afraid to ask.
He exhaled slowly, his gaze locked on mine, steady and sure. “Marry me, Avery.”
There was no way I heard him right. “Excuse me, what?”
“Marry me.” He was completely serious.
I glanced around nervously. “You do know we already are married, right? That was kind of the whole thing…”
His fingers tightened on mine. “Marry me for real, Avery. Not for a will or an inn or for anyone or anything except for you and me.” He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “Marry me because we want to. Marry me because I can’t live without you. Marry me because I know you can, but you don’t want to live without me.”
I laughed a little.
“Marry me because we are so good together that we deserve to make this officially official.”
“Officially official?” I raised an eyebrow, but the look on his face didn’t leave any room for doubt.
“Stay married to me, Avery.”
“If this is what I think it is, this is a very strange proposal, Reid.” I try to laugh and make light of the moment to give myself time to catch up to what he was saying. “I mean, where’s the ring?”
He released my hand long enough to reach into his pocket.
For a moment, my heart stopped. “What is…oh.” My hand flew to my mouth as I tried to process exactly what I was seeing. “Is that a…”
“I mean it. Marry me, Avery.” Reid slipped from the chair to the floor of the porch and onto one knee. “Stay married to me and let’s do it all again. Properly this time. With the wedding you want.”
“I don’t need a wedding as long as I’m married to you.”
“Sweetheart.” He held out the ring I still hadn’t taken from him. “I didn’t say anything about need. I said want. And I know you want the wedding. Now, will you or will you not stay married to me, Avery Walker?”
“Yes! Of course. I’d marry you a million times.”
With tears in my eyes, I slipped from the swing to my knees in front of Reid, who slid the most beautiful diamond ring onto my left hand before he pulled me to my feet and kissed me and made our engagement official.