Page 123 of When Morning Comes Around

“Ready?”

“Ready. It seems like forever now since we first walked on the beach together.”

He nodded as he took her hand. “Doesn’t it?” He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a pretty pink stone. “I forgot to give you this; I found it when I was over here with Damon.”

“Wow! That looks like rose quartz.”

“I thought so – that’s why I saved it for you.”

“Thank you.”

She followed him eagerly down the path to the beach. When they reached the bottom, he laughed. “I was going to help you down, but you’re like a mountain goat.”

She laughed with him. “I’m in a hurry – there’s quartz down here.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked along the water’s edge. He pointed out the property line that divided Damon and Jo’s place from the empty lot.

“We’ll have to get surveys and everything, but what do you think – would you like the house there?”

All her breath caught in her chest as she nodded. “It’d be perfect.”

His eyes seemed to twinkle as he smiled down at her. “I thought so. It’ll be amazing to have a house right on the water like this, but what will make it perfect is sharing it with you.”

She rolled up on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him. When they finally broke apart, he kept his arms around her waist.

“Is this what you want?”

She nodded. “This – a house here – would be wonderful, but the most important part is what you said.” It had touched her so deeply when he said it, that she remembered it word for word. “I want to be with you – live with you. Go to bed with you every night and find you in my arms when morning comes around – every day for the rest of my life.”

He chuckled and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “You stole my line.”

She shrugged happily. “It was too good not to.”

As he kissed her again, she could only hope that the rest of their lives would last a long, long time.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Three Months Later

Dom stood at the grill out on the pool deck, getting everything ready. He’d been looking forward to this day for weeks. Sadie’s divorce had been finalized, and she’d received the divorce decree yesterday.

Everything had gone off smoothly in the end, and she was happy – so he was happy.

He looked up when Damon came and set a beer down beside him. “How many people are coming?”

“Just a handful. There’s you guys, and of course, Harvey’s here. Taryn and Dalton are going to stop by when they can. There’s Cal and Terry, Manny and Nina, Russ and Ria, and Tino said that he’ll try to come to at least show his face.” He shook his head with a smile. “It’s funny to think of Sadie being friends with Terry, Nina, Russ, and Tino when they were all kids here.”

Damon laughed. “Someone should get out an old photo album.”

“I’ll probably be able to dig out some photos of them all,” said Harvey as he came to join them.

“I’d like to see that,” said Dom.

Harvey laughed. “Sadie wouldn’t thank me for showing you.”

“How’s it going, Harvey?” asked Damon.

“I’m great. Where’s our boy?”

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