Epilogue
TAMMY
Four Months Later
This was my first time on a cruise, and so far, I was thoroughly enjoying it. Ten days cruising the Mediterranean Sea—Italy, Greece, and Croatia. Three countries I’d never been to, and so far, I’d loved all of them.
We’d been on the ship for a week now, having started in Italy before crossing over to Croatia, and were now hopping from one Greek island to the next.
I had never seen water so many colors before.
On some islands, the water was a deep turquoise hue; others it was like a dark navy suit.
But my favorite was the bold and bright cobalt blue that surrounded the shores of Santorini.
Ray and I were quite the traveling pair.
Some days, I was content to sit on the beach all day, and he was content watching me walk around in a bathing suit.
Other days, I wanted to go explore and see it all—every museum, every little shop, and every corner café and restaurant—and Ray was content to hold my hand and go with me.
His only request on most of our days was that if there was a castle or fortress, he wanted to see it.
“They all sit up high and give you the best views of everything below,” he said, and he wasn’t wrong.
For a few days, we never stopped and just sailed at sea all day. I enjoyed those just as much. Ray had splurged and upgraded us to a suite, complete with our own balcony. It had a lounger that was part hammock, part chaise, and it was big enough for both of us to fit comfortably together on.
If there was one thing I’d learned about Ray over these last few months, it was that he was officially a snuggler.
We were between islands today and taking advantage of a day at sea by enjoying our balcony. Ray had me curled into his side, snuggled against him in our lounger-hammock thing, and I realized I could get used to this.
“What should we do for dinner tonight?” he asked, his fingers loosely combing through my hair as the breeze floated around us.
“We still haven’t tried the hibachi place,” I offered lazily.
“Do we have to get dressed up for that one?”
“I don’t think it’s required, but I’m not sure.”
“Bummer,” he said, softly kissing the top of my head. “I was looking forward to seeing you in that new dress you bought yesterday.”
I smiled, thinking back to buying that dress. We had been walking through the town and had been leisurely strolling by the shops when I’d seen this stunning blue and white maxi dress with embroidery down the front in a Greek key pattern.
Ray had seen me stop and stare at it. “Go try it on,” he’d suggested.
I’d gone inside for a closer look and had seen that the back was done up like a corset with the ties intricately laced together.
“That looks like it would be fun to take off of you,” he’d whispered in my ear, causing my already sun-kissed skin to heat up even more.
Needless to say, I’d bought the dress.
“I think I can wear that dress for dinner tonight,” I told him, grinning from ear to ear.
“Then hibachi it is.”
We relaxed in the chair for another hour, unhurriedly enjoying the views around us, before finally retreating back inside to get ready for dinner.
Unfortunately, the shower on the ship was not like the one I had at home. It had barely enough room for one person, let alone two. So, I showered first, since I took longer to get ready, which meant I was dressed and just fixing my hair when he walked out from the shower in just a towel.
He stared at me hungrily in my new dress as my gaze enjoyed tracking a rogue water droplet as it flowed down his chest into the towel at his hips.
“What do you think?” I asked as I gave a short twirl of the dress.
I knew his favorite part would be the fact that it had a deep V cut in the front, my cleavage practically spilling out of it. His gaze was predatory and sinful as he took in the sight before him.
“Love it,” he choked out, his voice just above a croak.
“Oh, wait. My shoes!” I turned quickly to put them on.
Look, when you’re a short person, adding that extra height just completed the outfit, so I hurried up and put on my three-inch wedge sandals and turned back around to give him another view.
He smiled lasciviously but then tilted his head as if pondering one of life’s biggest mysteries. “I think it’s missing something.”
I looked down, trying to figure out what he meant. When I looked back up at him, ready to ask, I noticed he had something in his hand.
A small box.
The kind that looked suspiciously like a ring box.
A gasp exited my mouth before I could stop it.
He wasted no time dropping to one knee in front of me and opened that small box to reveal a simple but gorgeous cushion-cut diamond.
We’d talked about the possibility of getting married again someday. We were both open to it but hadn’t really expected it to happen again because of our ages and our hesitation to try again after having both been burned before.
“I got you a big ring so you can blind anyone who tries to hit on you. It’s also square shaped, so if you punch someone while wearing it, you can do more damage.”
I laughed and tried to blink my eyes through the tears that were starting to blur my vision.
“Tammy, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and making me the happiest man on earth?”
“Yes, Ray,” I choked out.
He stood, slid the ring onto my finger, and then pulled me into him. “You won’t regret this.”
He closed the last few inches of distance between us and kissed me like there was no tomorrow.
This man had a sinful mouth with magical lips that could render me incapable of anything else while he kissed me—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
**