Fight Like You've Never Lost (Summer Lake #14) - S.J. McCoy Page 0,68
pockets.
She straightened her skirt and looked around for her blouse.
He caught her hands, making her turn back to him. The intensity in his eyes made her catch her breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong, Lee. This couldn’t be more right. I thought I had to find a way to be romantic. To do this right. But this is perfect for you and me.”
She grinned. “It was awesome. I’d give us a ten.”
“I don’t mean what we just did. I didn’t mean that. I meant, this. This is the way it should be between you and me.”
Her heart slammed to a halt as, without letting go of her hands, he got down on one knee in front of her. “It’s not about the romantic dinner or the music and candles. Not with us. It’s about you and me, challenging each other, teasing each other, taking each other to the edge and beyond. That’s what we do when we make love and it’s what we do in life. I want us to do that for the rest of our lives.” He held up a little box and flipped it open to show a beautiful diamond solitaire ring. “Will you marry me, Leanne? I want you to be my wife. I want to be your husband. It won’t be easy.” He smiled. “But then neither of us is used to easy. I can promise you that it will be a wild ride. And more than that, I promise that I will love you forever. I’ll never cheat on you and I’ll always be there for you.”
Her heart restarted and galloped away. She stared down at him. She hadn’t expected this. They hadn’t talked about marriage. She hadn’t thought she’d ever want to get married. But that was before Ryan. She realized his smile was starting to look frozen; she hadn’t answered him.
“Yes! Oh, God, Ryan! Yes.”
He took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. “Jesus. You scared me for a minute there.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply and for the first time since she was twelve years old, she felt as though she was where she belonged with a safe and happy future ahead of her.
They spent that weekend just as her friend Ari had joked that they would—mostly in bed. They went out for a walk on Sunday morning and Leanne kept holding her hand up so that the ring could catch the light. It sparkled so bright.
Ryan caught her hand and grinned at her. “You like it, then? Did I do well?”
She stopped and reached up to kiss him. “You did amazingly. I love it. But not nearly as much as I love you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I love you more.” He winked before she could protest. “More than anything.” His smile faded. “I meant it when I said that I love you more than any trouble that might come between us.”
The look in his eyes worried her. “Do you see trouble coming our way?”
He shrugged. “We’ve already had our share of it. There may be more. But I won’t let it come between us.”
She nodded. She knew what he meant. She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to let that sick feeling taint this weekend. This weekend was the happiest of her life. Still, she couldn’t help but think about Brittany—Brittany had been the first girl who’d tried to convince her that Ryan didn’t care about her as much as he claimed. He’d explained it to her, and she’d believed him. He’d told her a little bit more about his work—at least, he’d explained that some of the people in his world preferred to only have single guys working on their teams. She could even understand why—no complications, no attachments, no divided loyalties. But it made her sick that they’d pull shit like that to try to make sure that Ryan ended up single again.
He’d introduced her to his boss Callahan. They’d had dinner with him when he and Ryan had first come back to San Francisco. She liked the guy, but it had been weird. When Ryan had gone to the bathroom, Callahan had warned her that there might be some situations where she’d need to trust Ryan even when it looked like she couldn’t.
“Hey.” He tipped her chin and made her look up at him. “Will you promise me that you won’t let anything come between us either?”