“We can rent it out until you’re ready for us to let it go.”
“I’m ready.” I close my eyes and drop my forehead to his chin. “I . . . I want to live with you. I want to start a life with you. I don’t care where we live. I don’t even care if you want to move back to Tennessee. I’ll follow you wherever you go.”
“Baby.”
“My home is you. Wherever you are is where I belong, the only place I belong.”
“Fuck . . . I wasn’t . . . shit, I wasn’t going to do this now. I was going to wait until we had our families around to do it, but fuck it.”
Having no idea what he’s talking about, I pull my head back in confusion to look at him. Then I watch him dig into the pocket of his slacks. His eyes fill with relief when he finds whatever he’s looking for. When he grabs my left hand and holds it between us, I drop my eyes forward and watch his fingers as they run over mine.
“Tyler,” I whisper as confused excitement fills my stomach.
“I love you, Leah.” My eyes fly up, and I look into his. “I love you more than anything in this world. I can’t imagine waking up without you by my side every day, and I fucking hope I’ll never have to.” My heart pounds when I notice the shimmer of something glittering between his fingers, and then my world seems to come to a stop when I recognize it’s a ring—a beautiful ring with a thick gold band and an oval-shaped diamond. “Marry me, baby. Marry me and make me the happiest man in the world.”
“Yes,” I whisper, and he slides the breathtaking ring onto my finger. “Oh my God, yes.” I laugh, wrapping my arms around him and holding on tight.
“Thank God.”
I laugh harder. “Did you really think there was any chance I would say no?”
“I wasn’t sure. You seemed pretty shocked about the idea of us living together, when we’ve been doing that for a while,” he says, pulling back to look at me.
“It takes me a while to catch up.” I grin.
“I see that.” He grins back before his eyes drop to my hand.
When his thumb touches the edge of the diamond, tears fill my eyes. “I can’t believe this is real, that you’re real,” I breathe, and he looks up at the same time I do. “I never thought I would be this happy or this excited about the future. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” I lean forward and press my mouth against his. “Thank you,” I tell him, then jump when someone pounds on the window behind Tyler, startling me.
I peek around his shoulder and smile at his mom, whose face is pressed to the glass. “Are you two coming in or staying out here?” she asks when Tyler rolls down the window.
“We’re coming. Just give us a minute.”
“I’ve given you ten minutes,” she informs him, and then she looks at me. “Remember, we followed you here.”
“Ma, I need a couple more minutes with my fiancée,” he says, and I see the moment his statement registers. Her eyes widen, and I lift my hand toward her, watching tears fill her eyes.
“Oh my God, I’m going to cry.” She covers her mouth while holding my hand. “I’m so happy for you two.”
“What’s the holdup?” Tyler’s dad asks, and then his eyes drop to my hand, which his wife is still holding, and he grins. “Congrats, you two.”
“Thank you.” I smile at both of them.
“We’ll give you a few more minutes.” His mom wipes at her cheeks as his dad shakes his head and wraps his arms around her.
“Thanks, Mom,” Tyler murmurs, watching them walk off before he rolls the window back up. “We should head inside. Your mom and dad knew I planned on asking you to marry me tonight. Your mom will want to see the ring; she never got a chance to before.”
“My parents knew?”
“I’m southern, baby. I couldn’t ask you without asking your dad for permission.”
“Right.”
“And it’s the twenty-first century, so I had to ask your mom as well.”
“I’m sure she loved that.”
“I know your family means everything to you. I wanted to make sure they were okay with the idea.”
“Were they?” I question. I know he and I haven’t been together long. I’m not sure if my parents care, but they might think it’s too soon.
“You’ll