Page 91 of Single All the Way

“That’s great, Ems,” I said, maybe a second or two later than I should’ve. “Tell me about it.”

She shook her head, lowered her gaze for a moment, then met mine again. “I decided not to put an offer in.”

“What? Why?”

“There’s”—she flashed a nervous smile—“not enough room for llamas.”

I narrowed my eyes as I tried to decipher her meaning. “Are you…getting llamas?” As I said it, I had a flash of a thought that maybe she meantmyllamas, but that didn’t make sense.

She held out a hand palm up in an invitation for me to take it. I grasped her fingers, hope bubbling up like a hot spring.

“I realized the perfect house sometimes actually isn’t perfect. That one was missing something I don’t want to live without.”

I didn’t breathe, waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t, I raised my brows in question, about to come out of my skin.

“There’s this guy,” she said, glancing down at our joined hands, her lips fluttering upward into a hint of a smile, “and these two little girls plus some dogs and cats and chickens and horses and”—she pierced me with those sage-green eyes again—“llamas.” She shook her head and laughed. “And I realized I love the guy and the girls and the dogs. Maybe the cats. The chickens I’m not so sure I’d call it love, but the horses have potential, and apparently my daughter loves the llamas. And I’m pretty sure the entire herd comes with the guy, and I figured out…I want the whole herd almost as much as I want the guy.”

I laughed, but it was more than just amusement. So much more. It was elation and disbelief that I could be this lucky. And love.

I stared into her eyes, assuring myself she meant it, that this was real. It wasn’t every day that every dream you’d ever had was suddenly in reach.

“Really?” I said dumbly, aware on some level that a person wouldn’t say all of that if it wasn’t true. I laughed at myself.

Emerson went serious in an instant, and I wondered if I’d misinterpreted after all.

She let go of my hand, worrying me further, then reached under her sweater from the hem and…adjusted her bra?

As she removed her hand, she fell to the floor, or rather, she kneeled. Make that went down on one knee. Gazing up at me with nervousness and love all over her beautiful face.

I caught my breath when I saw the men’s ring she held between her thumb and index finger. “Holy shit, what are you doing, Ems?”

“Ben, I never, ever thought I wanted to get married again, but then you rescued me and my kids by taking us in. And then you rescued me again by loving me so patiently, wholeheartedly, purely, so I could finally,finallypull my head out and realize you’re my other half, and I don’t want to ever live without you. Will you marry me?”

“Get up here,” I said, tugging her off the floor and into my arms, overcome with lightness and pure euphoria. “I’ll marry you, Emerson,” I said, laughing. “I’ll marry you right fucking now if you want me to.”

I pulled her into my arms and wrapped her up in my love as tight as I could, then lifted her off the floor and turned us in a circle. When I set her back down, I gazed into her eyes, my face splitting with an elated grin.

“I love you, Emerson. I can’t believe you proposed. There’s never been a better Christmas present.”

“I love you too. Enough to propose. Phew, that was terrifying.”

“As if I could ever turn you down.”

“I’m so sorry I freaked out and ran away.”

“I’m sorry Kizzy let you down again. I’ll do everything I can not to. You and the kids are first in my life. All four of them.”

“Same.”

I pressed my palms to her cheeks, leaned down, and kissed her, trying to infuse everything in my heart into that kiss. Her body melted into mine, making my need for her pound through me.

“Can we get married as soon as possible?” she asked.

“Like, courthouse soon?”

She nodded. “I want it official before I move into your room. Because of the kids.”

“I’ll marry you the minute the courthouse opens,” I said with no hesitation. “Day after tomorrow. But I have my own condition.”

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