His Dirty Little Secret

by Terri Anne Browning

Right there.

  In front of over three hundred people.

  The world itself could have been watching right then, but suddenly, everyone in the universe disappeared as I saw his chin tremble while he tried to smile up at me. Tears glazed his brown eyes, making the gold flecks shine all the more. Moreover, I felt the tremors in his fingers that still gripped my wrist.

  This is really happening! a voice in the back of my head screamed.

  Yes! my heart shouted at the top of its lungs.

  “Seven years ago, I let you go,” he began in a voice that was choked and just as shaky as his fingers. “And it was the biggest mistake of my life. But I kneel before you today, offering you everything that I am. The man who will spend the rest of his life—the rest of eternity—showing you just how much he loves you.”

  My vision went completely blurry as tears spilled down my face. I couldn’t even make out much of his face as he lifted my hand to his lips.

  “Sawyer,” I breathed, too choked up to get anything more past the lump in my throat.

  He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “You stole my heart the first time I kissed you. Now, I’m asking you to take my name. Will you marry me?”

  A sob pushed past the lump in my throat. “Yes,” I cried. “Yes, yes, yes. Please, yes.”

  I felt something cool slide up my ring finger a split second before he was on his feet, pulling me close and crushing me against his chest. I couldn’t breathe, but breathing didn’t seem all that important right then.

  I heard a loud thunder of noise from somewhere behind me, but the world itself could have been ending and I wouldn’t have cared.

  “I love you,” Sawyer whispered roughly into my ear, and I felt his tears mix with my own on my cheek. “I love you so much, Ash.”

  I couldn’t find my voice, not that I could have spoken with how hard he was holding me. I just soaked up being in his arms while my heart and mind rejoiced in the sheer happiness that was now my life.

  Table of Contents

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  EPILOGUE