by Abby Knox
“Whoa,” he says, reaching out for me, taking my hand. “You OK?”
My head nods, but I’m not OK. I can’t speak, I have tunnel vision and all I see is Rory's face and the ring inside the box, the sparkly one with a bright purple stone.
He tells me, “It’s not a diamond because I wanted to get you something colorful. I hope that’s OK.”
“Oh my god.” Tears. So many tears spill out of my eyes I can barely see him to hug him. “It’s more than OK.”
He pulls me down so I’m sitting on his knee, pulls off one of my giant self-warming gloves and slips the ring on my finger.
“Marry me, Avery. I promise I’ll never say no to walks at midnight in the snow. You can share my toothbrush, wear my shirts, and drink my beer for the rest of my life. It would be my honor if you did.”
Through sobs, I say yes and he kisses me with the force of ten snowstorms, blowing me completely away. “It’s a good thing we kept the upstairs apartment,” I say. “Come on.” I stand up and urge him to get off the concrete between he goes hypothermic.
He laughs as he tries to pull his leg up. “I think my jeans are frozen to the sidewalk.”
I giggle and fall down into his arms. Together we tumble backward onto the frozen grass at the sidewalk’s edge. I cover his face in kisses as thick snowflakes fall on us both.
I tell him, “Guess we’ll just have to freeze to death romantically, then.” I laugh and keep kissing him all over his face. “That would be mighty wimpy of us, though, freezing to death when it’s not even a blizzard.”
Rory holds my face still and covers my mouth with one deep, passionate kiss so hot it could fend off an entire ice storm.
“Impossible, now that I’ve got you outfitted in proper snow gear.”
I playfully pout as I look down at my 20-degrees-below-zero rated parka and one remaining glove the size of Volkswagen. “You did, but it’s not very fashionable, Mr. Chapman.”
He grins. “I think you look sexy, Mrs. Chapman. But if you don’t think so, we can go upstairs and get rid of all these layers and find other ways to keep you warm.”
My heart thuds against my ribs at the sound of him calling me Mrs. Chapman, even though we haven’t discussed whether I’m taking his name after we’re married. That’s the fun part of being in a relationship with a journalist: no subject is out of bounds and all arguments get hashed out immediately.
As he tosses me over his shoulder and begins to walk us down the street toward the apartment, I see the news truck delivering the special editions to the newsstand boxes along the sidewalk. As we pass by, I see the headline above the fold: “She Said Yes.”
I gasp and start to demand Rory put me down. “What? How? What did you do? How did you…I built the front page! This is … how dare you!”
I’m mad as a hornet and flailing so hard he has to set me down. “Your front page went inside. That one,” he says, gesturing to the newspaper vending boxes, “I sent hours earlier.”
Flabbergasted. Outraged. Impressed. These are just a few of the things I’m feeling. “You were pretty sure of yourself, Rory,” I say. “How did you know I’d say yes?”
Rory brushes my hair out of my eyes and tucks it up into my stocking cap. “You learn when you sleep next to someone who talks very loudly in her sleep. You’ve been asking me to marry you for months.”
Embarrassed, all I can say is “Oh.”
“Are you mad? I’ll buy up all the special edition front pages and burn them right now if you’re truly mad.”
And then I realize that no, I’m not mad. It was a ballsy move. A risky move. A highly presumptuous move. But a calculated one. Not all that different from how I’ve always lived my life. And not all that different than the duplicitous way I landed myself a job here to steal him away a year ago.
“No. I’m not mad. You’re a sneaky bastard who’s about to get spanked, but in the end, we make a pretty good team.”
THE END
About the Author
Abby Knox lives a dual life. Fantasy Abby would love to live on a farm with goats, bees, chickens, donkeys and alpaca, making her own soap, yarn, honey and cheese. Reality Abby has no desire to do actual farm work. So, the ever-pragmatic Reality Abby keeps Fantasy Abby happy by putting her into adorable little works of romantic fiction with her pretend hobbies. Both Abbies hope you enjoy her sweet, sexy — sometimes a little over the top and weird — storytelling.
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Also by Abby Knox
The Greenbridge Academy series
Swim Coach (book one)
Grumpy Dad (book two)
Benefactor (book three)
Headmistress (book four)
Queen Bee (book five)
The Very Good Boy Duet
Fencing Her In (A bad neighbors to lovers story. With a lot of dogs. You need this in your life.)
Doing Him Good (An insta-love, sowing-his-wild-oats whirlwind romance.)
Need more?
From the Small-Town Bachelor Romance Series
(each can be read as a stand-alone, but if you want to read in order … this is the order)
Take Me Home
Game Face
Written in the Stars, a special Christmas edition
Walk With Me
Stay the Night
I’ve Got You
Come And Get It
The Windy City Holiday Duet
Pumpkin and Spice
Comfort and Joy
Beach Avenue Babes
His Vinyl Vixen (a stand alone for the rock ’n’ roll nerd in all of us)
Her Hi-Fi Hunk (Dusty and Jed from His Vinyl Vixen)
Stand alone short reads and novellas
The Halloween Bet
One Good Woman (a stand-alone mistaken identity/conspiracy/political drama)
Naughty Irish Heart (a time-hopping Saint Patrick’s Day Romance — two couples and two HEAs in one book! Part of a four-author themed collection!)
Sweet Jane
(An over-the-top amnesia story about being lost, and then found.)
The Christmas Pickup (a holiday short read full of feels, quirky characters and one damn hot tow truck driver!)
Saved for Me
(a special Holidays with Alexa Riley story)
Matched for Me (A Valentine’s Day story with Fletcher from Saved for Me)
Off-Season Stud (a fun and sexy vacation trope with an OTT ending!)
The Sisters of Enchantment series (a paranormal collection of stories about … yes … witches. I know you want more of these … they’re coming!)
Some Basic Witch
Witch, Please!