by Lydia Rowan
“Huh,” Adam said, changing the subject. “You’re named after your father?”
“Yeah. I’m the fifth girl. He thought I’d be his last shot for a namesake, so he gave me his name instead of waiting on another baby,” Sloan said.
“Fifth girl?” he asked, his eyes widening slightly.
“Yeah. Have a younger brother too,” she said, smiling.
Adam laughed but then went quiet, contemplating. How was it that he knew so little about this woman who meant so much to him?
“So, are they local?” Adam asked sensitively.
“More or less. The folks live about an hour outside the city; three of my sisters are nearby.”
He met her eyes, asked the question that had sprung up in his mind. “You think I could meet them?”
“Oh, yeah! They would love meeting you guys. My sisters would go crazy over Seth—”
Sloan quieted, looked at him with her head tilted. “Wait? What are you asking me, Adam?”
“I—” He cut off and then met her eyes, feeling an uncommon tremble of fear before he pushed on. “I don’t want this to be the end, Sloan.”
“You don’t?” she asked, her brows knitted together, expression somewhere between questioning and hopeful.
He shook his head. “I don’t. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me for a very long time, and I don’t want this to be over,” he said.
She paused, her brows furrowed so deeply that Adam felt something like concern.
Then, she met his eyes and her face brightened with a smile. “Me neither,” she said.
Adam exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, relief coming over him.
“So…” she said.
“So…” he responded.
“We still have an extra day,” she said seductively.
“So I guess we should make the best of it,” he replied.
Then he kissed her.
Epilogue
Three Days Later…
“I thought you hated the beach,” Sloan said as Adam grabbed her hand and led her across the warm sand.
“It’s growing on me,” he replied.
It was growing on Sloan, too, every day in this paradise having brought her closer to Adam. It also kept her from thinking about what would, or wouldn’t, happen when they got home. But she wouldn’t have to face that until tomorrow. For now, she’d enjoy the time she had left.
She stopped, wrapped her arms around his waist, and looked into his eyes. He did the same, and Sloan marveled at how comfortable it felt now, how what had once been pretend had become so real.
“Thanks for extending the trip,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Thank you for staying,” he said, smiling, but something in his voice giving her pause.
“What is it, Adam?” she asked, standing up a little straighter, her heart starting to pound.
His smile faltered, and he dropped his arms. By the time he met her eyes again, his expression was pensive, almost worried, something she’d never associated with Adam. The pounding of her heart increased.
“Is it Alistair? Tremaine?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No. Alistair’s recovered from his run-in with you and is being questioned. Giving up a lot about Tremaine’s operation, as I understand.”
“So…” Sloan said.
Adam ran his hand over his hair. “So…I’ve been thinking…”
Sloan wanted to crack a joke, but her heart clogged her throat. She swallowed and then said, “Thinking about what?”
He looked at her. “Thinking about what happens when we get back to Seattle,” he said.
“Adam, I…” Sloan trailed off. She should say that she didn’t have any expectations, knew that the passion they’d found on this trip wasn’t something that would transfer to their real lives. That she would leave it here and they could go back to normal.
Those were things she should have said but couldn’t. Because they weren’t true. She couldn’t go back to normal, pretend that they hadn’t had this time together, pretend that her physical attraction hadn’t changed, deepened, turned into love.
So she said nothing, just watched Adam struggle with his next words, trying to prepare herself as he let her down gently.
“Sloan, I want…I mean…” He shook his head. “I suck at this.” He locked eyes with her as he reached into his pocket. “Here,” he said.
Sloan took the ivory, waxy piece of parchment from his fingers. Something was wrapped inside it. Sloan could feel the weight in her palm.
“Open it,” he said.
Sloan’s heart fluttered as she unfolded the piece of paper, and when she finished, she looked down at the object inside of it. Then she reached for it and lifted it, the gold glinting in the sunlight.
“A ring,” she said.
“Yeah,” he replied, and when he got down on one knee, Sloan could hardly make his face out through the tears of joy clouding her eyes.
He reached for her hand and plucked the ring from between her fingers. “I love you, Sloan Wakefield. Will you marry me?” he asked.
Sloan swiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Adam, trying to take in every inch of his face, a face she had known for years, one that she now loved.
One that she looked forward to looking at for the rest of her life.
“Yes,” she said, her voice coming out strong, but not nearly as strong as the knowledge that she would love this man forever.
Adam stood, lightning-quick, and then kissed her hard, one hand cupping her face. When he backed away, he shook his head. “You had me worried.”
“You shouldn’t have been. I love you, Adam Reins,” she said. And then she kissed him.
A few minutes later, Sloan stood in Adam’s embrace, watching the beautiful ocean. “This is really happening,” she said.
“It is,” he replied.
She looked at him. “I’m so happy, Adam. It’s going to be so hard to wait to be your wife.”
He smiled almost sheepishly, the expression making his eyes crinkle. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he said.
“What? Why?” Sloan asked.
“The happy couple!”
Sloan turned at the sound of Dirk’s excited yell and then looked back at Adam, brows drooping with her confusion.
“You know Dirk’s in the concrete business, right?” he said with a smile.
“Yeah, I know,” Sloan replied, still not sure where this was going.
“What you didn’t know is Candy’s a justice of the peace,” he said.
Sloan laughed, hardly believing what was happening but happier than she’d ever been in her life. “There’s no way the honeymoon is going to top this,” she said.
Adam smiled bright. “I might surprise you,” he said.
On that beautiful, sun-drenched beach, she and Adam whispered their vows, her heart so filled with love it threatened to burst. Then, eyes not wavering from hers, he slid the small band of metal onto her finger.
It was a perfect fit.
••••
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