Year 28 - J.L. Mac Page 0,117

tell he practiced. “As I said, I don’t have any right to say these things to you, to ask a thing of you, but that’s never stopped me before when it comes to you. I have a deal for you.” He swallows roughly and I narrow my eyes on him. “Give me a chance to make things right. Let me make it better. Let me love you,” his voice wobbles. “And love away the hurt and bury all the bad memories with amazing ones. I know I can make you happy, dammit, and I swear I can and will,” he says checking his watch yet again.

“Sylas,” I whisper touching his cheek gently. “The truth is, we had something special and real back then. We had something great, but we were kids—totally different people. The woman I am today is a stranger to you in the same way I don’t know you. On top of that, BCF, and you, and Dale don’t deserve to inherit my bad press or my enemies. Those things worry me. I want us too, and I’ve been trying hard to work on myself but what if this can’t work? We may as well be strangers.” Sy nods and looks at me speculatively with his full lower lip trapped between his teeth.

“All right then. Hello,” he says softly then he extends his hand to me. “I’m Sylas Broussard. I grew up here. After I was wounded in Afghanistan, I came home and started up Buzzsaw Chartered Fishing—a nonprofit. I have a home here and another down in Cattail. My time is split between the two places. I like Chantilly cream on carrot cake. I hate cheese. I love the Old Bayou Diner and I want very badly to get to know you every day for the rest of my life.”

The grin on my face is so wide my cheeks ache. Leave it to Sylas to find a way around anything and everything. I love that about him.

“Hello, Sylas. I’m Raegan Potter. I carry around more luggage than the baggage claim carousel at LaGuardia Airport. I need saving from myself more often than not. I’m unemployed at present and homeless,” I snort loudly at the ridiculousness of my life at the moment. Sy’s lips twitch. I laugh then laugh more and eventually double over, clutching my stomach as raucous laughter grips me.

“You are definitely not homeless,” he says tugging me closer to him. “Marry me, dammit. I won’t stop asking until you say yes,” he warns as he pulls a sparkling diamond ring from his pocket and holds it out to me as he gets to one knee. He hasn’t even made it to one knee before I am joining him on my knees, nodding my head with tears collecting in my eyes.

“You going to save me?” I ask, looking up at him. His enchanting eyes glitter back at me with so much love as he leans forward catching the tears on my cheeks with his kisses.

“Only every chance I get for the rest of my life if you’ll let me,” he says with his rich timber.

“I’m letting you,” I promise, then punctuate my vow with a kiss. I move my mouth over his, breathing him in, breathing in the promise of a new future, a new life laid out before us. “I love you,” I vow with my mouth pressed against his.

“I love you too, Snow. Always have. Always will.” He murmurs as he slips the stunning engagement ring on my finger. It fits me perfectly just like him.

“Just in time,” he says checking his watch again. “Happy twenty-ninth birthday baby,” he says with his lips pressed to my ear, his hand tucked into my hair at the nape of my neck.

I gasp realizing he was rushing around impatiently because it was nearly midnight and my year twenty-eight, the year we were to honor our pact, was coming to an end.

Best. Birthday. Gift. Ever!

“I’m gonna need another boat,” he says softly, as he gently tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. His palm brushes against my cheek and I nuzzle toward him, my eyes slipping closed. I melt into him and allow all that we were, all that we are and will be to wash over me. His lips find mine and I’m consumed by his reverence. “Year Twenty Eight,” he murmurs against my lips.

Epilogue

One year later…

It’s so cliché but it’s true when they say what a difference a day makes. When we were ten,