Her breath rushed out. A bunch of messy emotions jogged up her throat, making her fear she’d do something girly and bawl. She reined it in. She was not going to bawl while her hero asked her to marry him.
“I see,” she rasped.
He gestured with his good arm. “I want something different now. I want to settle down with you. Have a few kids like Keith, who’ll paper our refrigerator with their drawings.” He pointed to a paper card decorated with a lopsided heart and Keith’s name in a blue crayon.
“Is that what you’re suggesting?” she squeaked out when she could finally speak through her suddenly dry mouth.
She hadn’t expected this. No, not at all.
He snapped down the rail separating them. “Yes, and I’m doing a damn poor job of it. Look, I know your divorce wasn’t that long ago, but I love you.”
The intensity of his expression made a tear slide free.
“I want to marry you. I want kids with you. The whole she-bang.” His mouth turned up in a nervous smile as he took a deep breath. “I know you’ll need time to start trusting me again, but I want you to know that I’m in this for the long haul. I’m going to extend my teaching position, and if you’re okay with it, I want to help out at the paper. Your grandpa has a desk waiting for me.”
Oh, her sweet gramps. She fingered the cotton tank, soft as a baby’s skin. God, he’d mentioned wanting babies. Her mind skyrocketed with possibilities.
“Why the tank?”
His ears turned a pleasant red. “Well, you said you wore cotton before, so I thought you might consider a new alter ego.”
When she lifted her eyes to his, his mouth turned up. “Married Woman.”
She pressed her hands to his rough face. “You’re too funny. I bought my first cotton underwear since the divorce in New York. While I’ll bring the La Perla out every once in a while, I don’t need it to show me who I am anymore.”
“Who you are is beautiful.” He grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it like an old-world gentleman. “I love you.”
Her whole body relaxed. “I love you, too.”
“I won’t rush you, I promise. I know you like to take your time.”
She thrust the ring toward him. “Some things don’t need more time. I thought I was going to lose you, Tanner.”
He shuttered out a sigh. “Me too.”
When she looked into his eyes, she saw herself. It really was true. You could see yourself in someone else’s eyes.
“I don’t want to wait.”
He pulled her against him with one arm, and she carefully wrapped her arms around him.
“God, I love you,” he whispered. “So much.”
His kiss gave her the punch, followed by the liquid tide of love, lust, and longing she had only found with him.
He pulled back and slid the ring onto her finger. “I would have followed you to New York.”
Oh that wicked gleam in his eyes. It was good to see it again.
“I’m where I belong. I just have one more article to write. Then I’ll be done.”
He drew her onto the bed beside him. “What’s it going to say?”
She traced his lips and settled her body against his.
“I’m going to write about how we found our happily ever after.”