by Ava Miles
“And I mean it. Every day.” Shaking off the double-punch of emotions, he took her hand. “Let’s grab some lunch, and then I need to send you off for a bit. My manager called and told me I have a meeting this afternoon.”
“Oh. I can leave now if you need.”
“No,” he said, stopping to kiss her on the mouth. “We have plenty of time for lunch.” Plenty of time in fact for everything, he thought, now that their whole life stretched out before them.
“Okay. If you’re sure. How about we make some sandwiches and sit by the fire?”
Sitting by the fire had become their favorite thing to do together. Well, besides kissing and touching. He veered his mind away from those thoughts. He didn’t need any more distractions. His brain was already doing back handsprings thinking about choosing the best princess cut later.
But he shouldn’t have worried about that. Ultimately he didn’t even need the McGuiness siblings’ help. He knew it was the perfect ring the instant he laid eyes on it. Out of the ten gorgeous rings the jeweler had laid out, it was the only one he could envision on her hand.
“She’s going to love it!” Sadie declared with grand enthusiasm. “And it’s already the right ring size. It’s a sign.”
Shelby studied him carefully. “You already seem to know her.”
“That might be the finest compliment I’ve ever received,” he said humbly. “J.P., any thoughts?”
His friend leaned over and peered at the ring he held. “I think it’ll fit.”
Shelby playfully socked him in the arm while Sadie heaved a dramatic sigh.
After Jake handled the payment and showed the salesman out, he stared at the blue box in his hand like an idiot. He couldn’t seem to help it. He was proposing. To Susannah! Tonight.
One of the sisters cleared her throat, and he looked up to see Shelby and Sadie watching him like two women who had something important on their minds. Sadie elbowed her sister. J.P. let out a groan behind him.
“Okay, now that you’ve settled all that,” Shelby said, putting her hands on her hips. “Run us through your plan.”
“Plan?” he asked.
Sadie’s mouth twisted. Shelby narrowed her eyes.
“The plan for how you’re going to ask her to marry you?” Sadie said with a hint of exasperation.
He gulped, grateful she hadn’t called him an imbecile. “I was…going to ask her over dinner. My manager is setting something up at my house.”
Sadie made a sound that reminded him of a game show buzzer when someone gave the wrong answer.
“Be nice to the man, Sadie,” J.P. warned gently. “He’s doing his best here.”
“A woman wants her wedding proposal to be romantic,” Shelby said, giving Sadie a nudge to the ribs.
All he could do was nod. “What do you suggest?”
Sadie crossed her arms across her chest. “You’re going to need a boat.”
Chapter 26
Susannah made sure to check her make-up in the rearview mirror before getting out of her car. Jake had called her more than a little ruffled around five-thirty and asked if there was anyway she could accompany him to a fancy dinner with one of his record company executives at seven-thirty on a private boat. Apparently it was a last-minute arrangement that had arisen from his afternoon meeting.
The poor guy hadn’t sounded like himself, and while she was rather dreading this dinner, she wanted to support him. Was something happening with his new album? He was working on it nearly every day, fine-tuning the songs he’d written. She thought they were terrific, but had they?
When she exited her car, she saw Jake striding down the gangplank. From the looks of it, his recording company had rented—or owned perhaps—a luxury boat. She didn’t know a thing about boats except that she liked sailing on them. This certainly was the way to go, but she wouldn’t expect them to treat Jake with anything but the utmost respect.
The Cumberland River seemed a little stirred up because the boat was bobbing in the harsh glow of the marina’s fluorescent lights. The brass work was buffed to a glow, and she caught sight of the boat’s name: Destiny.
“Hey,” Jake said, kissing her on the cheek. “Thanks so much for coming.”
She put her hand on his chest. He was wearing a gray suit with a white dress shirt. Was that a purple tie? Good heavens! It was the most dressed up she’d ever seen him. She was glad she’d worn her go-to black cocktail dress.
“What’s going on, Jake?” she asked, more than a little alarmed. “Can you tell me?”
“Everything’s mostly fine,” he said with a tight smile. “This all came together at the last minute. I don’t have time to explain. We need to get aboard.”
“Okay,” she said, taking his hand and letting him lead her up the gangplank.
She pasted on a smile, determined to win over the record company executives—even if they were giving him a hard time for whatever reason. They passed a few crew members on the way to a large stateroom. The furniture was decorated in a rich cream. Champagne was chilling in the ice bucket on a glass coffee table. Two crystal glasses sparkled in the candlelight. Above the stateroom was a dining room set for two. Large bouquets of roses were sprinkled throughout the connected rooms, filling the air with a delightful fragrance.
Then she noticed no one else was around. “Are we the first to arrive?”
He smiled at her—it was a genuine smile now—and all she could do was smile back. The way he was looking at her was so heartbreakingly sweet.
“No,” he said, and then he dropped to one knee before her, keeping ahold of her hand.
Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, my God.” Was he? “Oh, my God!”
“Susannah McGuiness. The first time I held your hand, I knew I’d come home. I love you more than I can ever show you, but I promise to do my best.”
He paused, and she pretty much had to put a hand on his shoulder so her knees wouldn’t give out.
“Will you marry me?” he asked in that deep baritone voice she so loved.
“Oh, Jake,” she said, running her hands through his hair, looking deep into those beautiful cobalt eyes. “Yes! Of course I will. Yes!”
“Good!” he said, laughing, and then he fumbled with his suit jacket. “I’m sorry. I did it wrong. I was supposed to present you with the ring as I proposed.”
“It’s okay,” she said as he pulled out the most recognizable blue box in the whole world. Tiffany’s! She had to fight the impulse to dance in place.
“You’d think I would have gotten it right after all the drilling Shelby and Sadie did on me.”
Her eyes were latched onto the box he was opening. “My sisters?” And then she saw the ring. Had she been given the choice of any ring in the world, this is the one she would have selected. It was the perfect princess-cut diamond. “Oh, my God! You have my ring.”
“Of course I have a ring,” he said, sliding it on her finger. “And it fits. Thank God.”
She clutched her hand to her chest, feeling the imprint of the diamond. “No, my ring. This is the one I would have picked out myself. Did Sadie and Shelby tell you?”
A dopey smile appeared on his face—one she found more than endearing. “No, I did, but they approved.”
Somehow that made it so much more special.
“I love it!” She held her hand out and watched rainbows burst to life in the stone. “The promise of rainbows… I have rainbows in my ring.” Of course she did. This man was her rainbow.
“Rainbows, huh?” he asked, peering closer, still on his knees. “I’m not going to be upset that I can’t see them. So I did okay, then?”
She launched herself at him, and he caught her against his chest as she almost overbalanced him onto the floor. “You did great!”
Laughing, he framed her face with his hands. She was half sitting on his lap, and her smile was probably even dopier than his.
“I love you,” he said, caressing her cheek. “Thanks for saying yes.”
Her heart
seemed to rise out of her chest like it was tied to a dozen balloons. “I couldn’t have said anything else. I love you! So much I… Oh, Jake, I’m so grateful for you.” Then a thought hit her. “You said Shelby and Sadie…”
His eyes narrowed at her tone. “Yes?”
“My sisters know you were going to propose?” She let out an unladylike squeal. “I have to call them.”
“I talked to your mama and your brother too,” he told her, helping them both stand. “I hope that’s okay. I wanted to ask for their blessing…and I wanted to make sure your mama was okay with it for other reasons.”
He didn’t need to say which ones. “You’re fine,” she told him, pressing her cheek against his. “We both are. This is meant to happen. We’re meant to happen.”
He kissed her neck. “I wanted to make sure… I would never hurt you. Not for anything.”
She wrapped her arms around him and looked into his eyes. “I know that, Jake. We’re good. We’re so good!”
Leaning closer, she kissed him. His lips softened under hers, and she closed her eyes, awash in the feeling of love and joy coursing through her veins. She felt like a one-hundred-person Gospel choir was singing inside her, and as she poured herself into that kiss, sending up a prayer of thanks to God for finally answering her prayers and sending her a good man to marry.
With the seal of their new commitment on her finger, something changed inside her. She felt an urgency rise up, one she couldn’t deny herself or him anymore. She thrust her tongue into his mouth, and he groaned, angling his head to take the kiss deeper. Inching her fingers between them, she flicked open his suit jacket and set to work on the buttons she could reach. She fitted her hands in the opening and ran her fingers across his bare chest.
“You’re playing with fire tonight, honey,” he said, pulling back just enough so she could feel his ragged breath on her lips.
“I can’t seem to help myself tonight,” she whispered, feeling the hard line of his arousal pressed against her.
“Me either,” he said, clenching his eyes shut as she traced the defined muscles of his chest. “We can do this for a bit, but I’m not going to be able to stand too much. You’d best leave your clothes on unless you’re ready to break another barrier tonight.”
She felt the beautiful press of her ring on her finger and made the decision she’d been struggling with since their first kiss.
“I don’t want to wait anymore,” she whispered, awash in the heat of his hands on her skin.
He edged back and looked directly into her eyes. His cobalt eyes shone brightly, and she could see his pulse beating hard in his neck. “What? Are you sure? You wanted to wait.”
She had wanted to wait. She’d wanted to wait for the right man, for that magical day when they became man and wife. “We both love each other, and we’re getting married. As far as I’m concerned, I said yes to you tonight.” She hoped God would understand.
His hands tightened on her waist. “I am going to marry you. There’s no question about that. And I want to make love with you, but if this is going to cause you a moment’s regret, I’d rather wait for our wedding night.”
For years, she’d dreamed about her wedding night. In some of her fantasies, her husband would carry her across the threshold in her wedding dress and then slowly slide it off her as he kissed his way across her shoulders. In others, she prepared for him in the bathroom, anointing herself with an exotic perfume and slipping on a white nightgown before coming into the bedroom to find him waiting for her. None of those fantasies had made her shiver quite like the feeling of Jake’s awed gaze and the sensation of his strong hands on her body.
“We’re engaged,” she said softly, feeling the certainty of her decision fill her. “I have to do what’s right for me. For us. I don’t want to withhold something beautiful from either of us. Not for one second longer.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up. “It will be beautiful, honey. That I can promise you.”
“I know it will,” she said, even though she was a little scared now that she’d admitted what she wanted. “I want to please you.”
This time he tilted his head to the side, a soft smile on his face. “You light up my life by simply being you. Don’t worry for a moment about pleasing me. We’ll take this slow. Do it together.”
Her mouth was so dry now. “I’m being silly, I know. It’s only because I’ve never made love with anyone before.”
He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the palm. “How about this? You’ve never made love to me, and I’ve never made love to you. It’s a first for both of us.”
Those words washed away the rest of her fear. “I like thinking of it that way.”
His smile was soft and warm, and oh, how it made her belly churn like cream being transformed into custard.
“It’s the truth. I’m a little nervous too. I want to make it good for you.” Then he laughed. “I will make it good for you.”
“I know you will,” she whispered.
Somehow their hands touched. “It seems like every time we take another step together we always hold hands.”
“I’ll always hold your hand,” he said. “As often as you want, until you or I breathe our last.”
She didn’t like to think about that final moment, but it was true that their path together stretched out before them now. They were committed to each other for as long as they lived. As she looked at his face, she wondered how he’d age. Would he develop laugh lines around his eyes? Would his hair gray? Would he grow bald? She couldn’t help laughing softly.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, raising her hands to his mouth and kissing them.
“About whether you’re going to lose your hair.”
He shook his head. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re getting married now if that concerns you.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” she said immediately, kissing him on the mouth to soften the words.
“I know you didn’t. Well…a thought just struck me.” He inclined his head to the adjoining room. “We have a fine dinner prepared and a crew that’s thankfully following my orders not to interrupt us. And we’re on a boat.”
Perhaps he was as giddy as she was if he’d forgotten that. “Yes, we’re on a boat.”
“It cast off as soon as we came aboard.” He gave her a look. “I don’t want to make love to you for the first time on a boat. Or in earshot of anyone.”
“Oh,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “Oh.”
He chuckled. “So this is what I propose. I’ll go talk to the captain and ask him to head back to the marina. We can’t be too far out.”
Now she heard the quiet rumbling of the engine underneath them and felt the soft sway of the ship moving over the water. In all the excitement, she’d been oblivious. “How far had you told him to go?”
“I thought a couple hours on the Cumberland with the moon shining above us might be nice. I’d intended to wrap my arms around you as we drank champagne on deck.”
That plan certainly bore the mark of Shelby and Sadie. God bless her sisters. “We can still do that if you’d like. I don’t want to ruin the night you planned.”
His shoulders shook. “Honey, you can’t expect a healthy living and breathing man to want to keep going down a river when the woman he wants like crazy has just agreed to marry him and make love to him for the first time. Even I don’t have that much strength.”
No, and he’d waited so patiently for her. “We could swim to shore,” she said in a teasing voice.
“Imp,” he said, kissing her on the mouth. “I’ll go talk to the captain. Start on the appetizers so the crew feels appreciated.”
He was the only thing she really wanted, but the meal they’d set out did look appetizing now that he’d drawn her attention to it. The rack of lamb and bacon-dressed fingerling potatoes were especially inviting.
When he returned, he told her they were only thirty minutes out. They made quick work of the meal, and by the
time the crew had secured the boat to the dock, they were ready to disembark.
They raced away from the boat, and he pulled her to his truck. “We can get your car tomorrow.”
She didn’t argue, awash in a sea of excitement. They were rushing off to make love, and if she’d drunk more than one glass of champagne, she would have thought she was giddy from it.
“Just so you know,” he said as he pulled onto the highway. “I’m going to speed a bit more than my usual, if that’s all right.”
“Speed away,” she said, laughing.
When they reached his house, they both shot out of the car and raced to the side door in the garage. He paused to turn on lights to illuminate their way. When they reached the stairs, they raced down the hallway—both of them knowing their ultimate destination.
At the door, they skidded to a halt. She was breathless, and so was he. But both of them were smiling.
Slowly, his smile faded, and he cupped her face. “I love you, and I’m going to be the best husband you could hope for. That I promise you. And I’m going to be the best lover you’ve ever imagined.”
She shivered at those words. “And I promise to be a good wife to you. To always love you and support you. And I’ll be the lover you always wanted. Just tell me how.”
All of the stars of the heavens seemed to shine in his eyes as he gazed at her, and she felt the presence of something bigger than both of them.
“We’ll both tell each other how,” he said, leaning in to kiss her gently on the lips. “It’s like writing a song and then adding the lyrics. You have to take it slow and listen to what makes the best melody. Experiment with what makes the best music. For me, that part is as fun as playing the final melody.”
Her belly tightened with sheer lust. She almost had to fan herself. Experiment? She hadn’t thought of it that way. It sounded fun and forbidden all at the same time.
“Let’s experiment then,” she whispered and felt her cheeks flush.
“You’re adorable when you blush,” he said, tracing that heated flesh. “I’m going to enjoy making you blush even more.”