Page 94 of The Kiss Keeper
Dammit, she had a point. A lot of Jakes had let her down.
“What if he’s the right Jake?” Hal called from across the gazebo.
“And remember, none of us are perfect. Mistakes are part of the process, dear,” Natalie’s grandmother added.
He looked to the couple, profoundly grateful to have them rooting for him, then turned to Natalie. In his past life, this would have been the part where he’d close the deal. He’d bullshit his way to get everything the way he wanted it. But tonight, he didn’t have to bullshit. He had love on his side. That emotion he’d once dubbed as something only for the weak had become his fountain of strength.
“Maybe all those Jakes made up a dating roadmap, leading you to the right Jake. The Jake who wants every part of you. Because if you’ll take me, Natalie, I want to be your last Jake and your kiss keeper every day for the rest of our lives.” He steadied himself and stared into her emerald ocean eyes. “We shared our first kiss. Let me keep all your kisses from here on out. I love you, Natalie Callahan. I’ve loved you since I was thirteen years old, and I will never stop.”
“Oh, Jake,” she rasped as a tear trailed down her cheek.
He brushed it away and smiled through his tears. “And, there’s more.”
“More?” she exclaimed.
He nodded. “No matter what you decide. If you allow me to stay or tell me to go, the money is yours.”
“What money?” she asked.
A Woolwich teen held up his phone. “Somebody pledged ten million big ones to the camp. It’s right here on the website!”
He brushed another tear from her cheek. “It’s the best investment I’ve ever made.”
“Ten million dollars?” she repeated with wide eyes.
“That could buy a lot of cinnamon roll-scented foot inserts.”
He and Natalie glanced over at the Woolwich pack to find Lara and Marcus nodding and whispering to each other before Leslie cupped her hand over her sister’s mouth.
“Foot inserts?” he asked.
Natalie released a teary chuckle. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, that ten million is everything I have, and it’s yours. With or without me, it’s yours,” he added softly.
She smiled up at him. “Today, before we left for the island, I asked the tide what it was going to bring me, and now, you’re here.”
His pulse kicked up. She wasn’t telling him to leave.
“We’re not cursed, Natalie. And even if we were, I don’t feel cursed when I hold you in my arms. All I feel is complete.”
“Me, too,” she answered.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what Charlie wanted me to do,” he said, his voice shaking.
She wiped a tear from his cheek. “I know you are.”
“Can you forgive me, Heels?”
There it was, the question that held all the weight.
She watched him, staring into his eyes. “You heard what my grandmother said about mistakes. We’re good at second chances here at Camp Woolwich.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Say you’ll be mine, Heels. Tell me that I can help you carry on your family’s legacy. Say we’ll be each other’s kiss keeper forever.”
“I’ve always been yours. It just took six Jakes to get to you,” she answered with a teary, teasing grin as a chorus of cheers broke out, but the applause abruptly stopped when he stepped back and took a knee.
“Jake, what’s that?” she asked, staring at the box in his hand.
