anything. He was her life, her future, and she’d never let him go again.
“Get a room, you two,” Kal hollered from across the lawn as he walked outside to his truck.
Carmen pulled back and laughed, laying her head against his chest. “I’m sorry.”
He tipped her chin up to look down at her. “Forgiven. No more I’m sorry.”
“Okay.”
“How’s your grandpa?”
“Doing well enough to lecture me on being an idiot in letting you go.”
His lips curved. “He’s a very smart man.”
“Thank you for what you’re doing in my garage.”
“You need a stress reliever, and you need the space to work on the furniture you want to restore.”
He always thought of her, and her needs, because he loved her. God, she was so lucky he still wanted to be with her. She would never take that for granted.
“I love you, Rafe.”
“I love you, Carmen.”
“We were making dinner. Are you hungry?”
“Always.”
“Okay. Finish dumping those two boxes first, and then you can eat.”
He laughed. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”
“That’s how it’s gonna be.”
He planted a quick kiss on her lips and then got back on task. Carmen went inside. Felice was in the kitchen getting the chicken ready for the salad.
“Everything okay?” Felice asked.
“Everything’s perfect now. Rafe’s cleaning up the garage, then he’s going to come in and have dinner with us.”
“That’s wonderful,” Felice said, a happy smile on her face. “I’ll set an extra place at the table.”
Carmen slid her glance over to her grandfather, who smiled and nodded.
Oh yeah. Everything was going to be absolutely perfect.
Her grandfather was healthy and in love.
Carmen could help take care of Grandpa—when he needed it. But he was right about one thing—it was time to take a step back and let him have his life. Because now it was time for her to have a life of her own. A love of her own.
And had she ever found the love of a lifetime.
It was time for her own happily-ever-after.
EPILOGUE
“HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO KEEP MY EYES CLOSED?” CARMEN asked. “I’m getting carsick.”
“Just another mile.”
“Bleh.”
Rafe grinned as he turned down the street and pulled into the driveway. Or at least, it would be a driveway someday soon. Right now it was dirt. But it was dirt and a promise, and he wanted to give it to Carmen.
“Just another minute,” he said, turning the engine off. He came over to her side of the truck to open the door.
He saw the disgruntled look on her face and smiled. He took her hand and helped her out of the truck.
“Okay, open your eyes.”
She did, and frowned. “What the hell is this?”
“It’s a house.”
“No, it’s not. It’s a frame of a house.”
He took her hand and led her down the dirt drive. “It’s four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms. It has a huge kitchen and an amazing master bedroom. It has a huge yard for kids and still plenty of space to build a workspace for your furniture restoration—”
She tugged on his hand to stop him midstride. “Wait. What are you talking about?”
“A house. A brand-new, not-yet-built house. For us. To buy.”
She blinked and stared at him. “You want us to buy a house.
Together.”
His lips curved. “Yeah.”
He pulled the brochure out of his back pocket and handed it to her.
Carmen stared down at the beautiful color picture of what the house would look like finished. Incredible colors, ample windows to let in light, an amazing island and plenty of space in the kitchen for entertaining, and so many bedrooms. And the lot size was huge.
She lifted her gaze to Rafe. “But how . . .?”
“I have a friend who builds homes. He’s giving me . . . us, a great deal on this one with all the land. I want to marry you, Carmen. Build this house with you. Or if you don’t like this one, we’ll choose another one. I want you to have your dream—a brand-new house that we can make memories in together. That we can have our forever in together.”
Forever. Together. She had thought she’d move into an apartment so her grandfather could sell his house. Not buy a house. She never thought she’d be able to—
Stop overanalyzing everything and just go for it, Carmen. This is the man you love.
“I want forever with you, Rafe. I want this house with you. I love you. Yes.”
She laughed, she cried and she threw herself into his arms to kiss him.
And then they walked toward the house that would someday become theirs, where they’d start