Page 6 of Needing Happily Ever After

“Break up?”

She nodded. “Exactly.”

“You’ve got it all figured out, then.” Damon shook his head a little and stared out over the waterfall that crashed to the rocks below. It was mesmerizing, even from a distance. “I guess I should set up a dinner with my dad then.”

“The sooner the better, right?”

He nodded and was silent for a few minutes. “I went by ElkView today.”

“You did? And?”

He could feel Katie looking at him, but he didn’t take his eyes off the waterfall. “I didn’t go past the gates,” he confessed. “I could have punched in the code and at least driven up the drive to see what it looks like. I mean, I don’t even know what kind of condition it’s in.” He chuckled, because he knew it didn’t matter. ElkView could have fallen into complete disrepair, and he’d still want it more than anything else in the world. The fact that his dad wouldn’t even consider offering it to him without fulfilling the stupid stipulation of the sale was maddening. And only made him want it even more. Not that he’d admit that out loud. “I chickened out at the gates,” he continued. “I didn’t want to run into him. Not yet.”

“But you’ll be okay with dinner? Maybe we should just stick to drinks.”

Finally, he turned to her. “That’s not a bad idea at all. Drinks seems safer.”

“And shorter.” She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

“And shorter.” He couldn’t argue with that. “Okay, I’ll set it up and I’ll get my lawyer to work up a contract for the purchase. Maybe we can take care of it all at once.” It was a long shot that the transaction would go quite that smoothly, but there was no harm in hoping it would.

“Well, you never know.” Katie reached out and patted his thigh.

It was a simple touch, and she’d touched him a million times in the past, so it could only be because of the messed-up situation that they were about to get involved in that he felt a flash of heat in his leg where she’d touched him. Still, Damon’s eyes fixated on his jeans for a moment before he remembered what he needed to do.

Next to him, Katie was chattering on about organizing an actual dinner with her family, because they definitely were not going to be satisfied with only drinks when it came to this situation. But Damon was only half listening when he put his coffee down next to him and jumped up off the table.

“Where are you—”

“Katie Langdon?” He interrupted her in a loud, booming voice.

Instantly, she was paying attention. Her head swiveled around to see who else was in the park and whether Damon’s loud voice had caught their attention. It had. He’d made sure of it. He waited until her gaze flipped back to him and then he dropped to one knee.

“What the hell are you doing,” she hissed as he reached into his pocket.

“Katie,” he began again, making sure to keep his voice nice and loud. “I’ve known you for most of my life, and for all of that time you’ve been at my side. You are the most beautiful, sweetest, and sassiest woman I know, and I love you.” Damon took a breath and pulled the ring out of his pocket. He’d picked it up in the city two days earlier. It was a beautiful, huge sapphire surrounded by diamonds. It was big and sparkly, and completely untraditional, and he knew she’d love it. He held up the ring and Katie’s hand went to her mouth. He took a deep breath and focused on her eyes. “Katie, will you do me the honor of being my fiancée?”

Of course she nodded, but Damon waited until she said yes, and then wanting her to say it a bit louder for their impromptu audience, he raised his eyebrows and gently gestured with his head.

“Yes!” she yelled. “Of course I will.”

Damon grinned as he got to his feet and slid the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit. Without missing a beat, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her hard, his lips grazing her cheek as he whispered into her ear. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you, but I wanted it to look real.”

He could feel her smile against his face. “You almost made me cry. That was really sweet.”

Damon pulled back so he could look in her eyes. “I meant every word.”

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