Page 180 of Foreplay on Words

“Anyway...” I cleared my throat.

She giggled and stepped toward me with the rose still in her hand.

“I knew that you would be important when I saw your picture for the first time. I knew I loved you when you relentlessly teased me about my inability to write anything resembling a sex scene. And I knew that I wanted you forever when I wrote that line in the book.”

I took a deep breath and looked up at the woman I was determined to have in all my future plans.

“Will you please put me out of my awkward misery and say you’ll marry me? Will you be my wife?”

Full tears streamed down her cheeks as she stepped forward again and dropped to her knees before me.

“Yes!” she cried, falling into my arms and tucking her face into my neck.

I closed my eyes and hugged her tightly to my chest as tears pooled in my eyes. She’d allowed me to grow and flourish as a person, and I couldn’t wait to start our journey together with her as my wife.

“Give her the ring, doofus!” Kristine called out from the stone pathway, and I shook my head with a laugh.

Chase chuckled into my neck and leaned back, cupping my face with her hands and wiping the moisture with her thumbs.

I brought my hand up, the ring lying flat in my palm.

“Wow...” she whispered as she picked it up with her right hand and looked closely at it in the dim light—the stone sparkling from the lights in the trees.

I took it back from her and grabbed her left hand, slowly sliding it into place.

“It’s gorgeous,” she whispered, looking up at me and then back to her hand.

“Just like you,” I whispered back.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she laughed as she leaned forward and kissed me slowly before grabbing my face and slipping her tongue into my mouth.

Applause started from the crowd behind us.

“Get a room, you freaks!” Miguel yelled as we continued to kiss passionately.

Chase laughed against my lips and pulled back, flipping him off over my shoulder.

“Do we have to invite them to the wedding?” she whispered in my ear.

“I’m afraid they’re all part of the package,” I sighed with a laugh as I heard Kelly start whistling and catcalling us.

“As long as you’re by my side...” she smiled as she looked into my eyes.

“I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else.”

Chase

Connecticut

As the moving truck visibly dipped with every bump in the road in front of us, I gripped Evan’s hand tightly.

I’d never lived with a guy before.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I’d lived with my brothers before they left for college. But I’d never lived with a guy I wanted to strip down and do naughty things to.

Moving in together had been more of a challenge than either of us had anticipated. Evan was used to living in orderly solitude, and I…was not. There wasn’t one thing that was orderly about sorting through the stuff in my condo.

You don’t really think you’re a hoarder until you have to evaluate the contents of your living space. Writing had taken up so much of my time in the last several years that I didn’t even know when the last time I’d sorted through any of my belongings was.

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