Page 75 of Cupcakes and Kisses in Micklewick Bay

‘Hey, what about me and Mummy?’ Chloe said, hands on hips.

‘You’d both be dead mint, too, especially if we got to eat loads of your mum’s cakes,’ said Connor.

‘Aren’t you forgetting someone rather important?’ asked Max, feigning a serious expression.

‘Who?’ the three children chorused.

Max shifted his gaze to Ernest, who was looking up at him expectantly, a ball at his feet, his fluffy tail swishing across the sand. ‘This fella, of course.’ He bent, picking up the ball and threw it as hard as he could, Ernest and the three children racing after it with whoops of delight.

‘Thanks for that,’ said Jasmine, her face still burning. ‘I love him to bits, but Zak can be a right little rascal sometimes.’

‘He’s a good kid; they all are.’

Max stood thoughtful for a moment before turning to her. ‘Jingilby.’ He rested his hands on her shoulders, gazing deep into her eyes, making her heart thud faster. In the next moment he let out a hoot of laughter. ‘Your face! Don’t worry, I’m not going to get down on one knee in front of the kids.’

‘Phew!’ From the myriad emotions that were currently flying around her, Jasmine wasn’t sure what to think. Surely that wasn’t a hint of disappointment sitting in her stomach?

‘What I was going to say was that I may not have consciously come back here to ask you to marry me – and it’s way too soon to think about now, we’re both cautious people and rightly so – but it’s not something I’d rule out next year.’ He cupped her face inhis hands, rubbing circles on her cheeks with his thumbs. ‘How d’you think you’d feel about that?’

Jasmine swallowed. Howdidshe feel about that? ‘I… I feel the same as you.’ In fact, she’d been shocked to find herself, on several occasions, thinking of a long-term future that featured the two of them and their blended family, and it had made her heart fill with joy.

‘I wish I’d come back sooner, Jingilby.’

‘You came back when the time was right.’

‘I did. And, talking of timing being right, I reckon it’s time I did this.’ He lowered his head and whispered, ‘I love you, Jingilby,’ before pressing his lips against hers, all soft and warm.

If they hadn’t been so lost in the moment, they’d have heard their children cheering.

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