Page 75 of Call Sign: Thunder
“What are you doing here? I’ve been so worried when I didn’t hear from you? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Whoa. One question at a time,” he chuckled hugging her tight.
He pulled back enough so they could look at each other and just as she acknowledged how absolutely perfect he looked, she remembered how crappy she had to look in contrast.
“I’m a total mess,” she said. “I worked a double, unboxing and pricing new inventory in the back storeroom all day.”
“Baby, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.” His broad smile made her want to believe him.
Still, as he continued to hug her, she warned him. “I’m going to get your suit dirty.”
“Who cares. That’s why there are dry cleaners.”
Unlike her, Zach smelled heavenly. She soaked in his heavenly masculine scent, letting it calm her frazzled nerves.
“This is the absolutely best surprise in the world,” she gushed. “But really… how did you end up in Virginia… and in a business suit? Eating dinner with my father…”
“Those are all good questions,” he answered cryptically, a sly smile on his handsome face.
“Do you have a good answers?”
“I do. I had a very important topic to discuss with your father.”
“I see. Too important to give me a call to let me know you had made it back from your mission safely first?”
While she was truly happy he was there, a tiny part of her was annoyed that he hadn’t called her sooner.
“I’m hoping you’ll forgive me, once you hear what I came to talk to him about,” Zach said, that sexy smile of his melting away her annoyance. “Come. Sit. I think then you’ll understand.”
“Okay, but this better be good. I’ve had a pretty hard day.”
Zach walked her to her seat, even pulling her chair out for her. It wasn’t until she reached for the cloth napkin in the middle of her place setting that she noticed the small velvet box sitting in the center of the charger plate.
Her eyes flew up to where Zach was still standing. He had a cryptic smile on his face. Her heart started beating faster and faster as she tried to put the clues of the last five minutes together.
Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up.
She replayed the mantra in her head, not wanting to make a fool of herself when she found out she might be guessing wrong.
Finally, she glanced to her right and it was the unshed tears in her father’s eyes that finally got her hopes up.
Zach reached out and picked up the velvet box just before going down on one knee right next to her chair. Allie’s heart thumped hard against her ribs as she watched Zach lick his lips nervously. Their eyes met. She was too afraid to lower her gaze to the now open box. What if she was wrong and it was a brooch or some other type of jewelry inside that box?
Thankfully, Zach didn’t make her wait too long. “Allison Benson, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I came here tonight to first get your father’s approval, and now that I have it, I’m asking…” He paused, licking his lips again before blurting out, “Will you marry me?”
There was a ringing in her ears. As she felt lightheaded she realized it was because she’d been holding her breath. After taking a gasp of air, Allison finally lowered her gaze to see the world’s most beautiful engagement ring sparkling back at her. This time when she gasped, it was out of surprise.
The center square-cut diamond was huge — bigger than she would have ever hoped for — and it was surrounded by a dozen smaller baguette cut accent stones.
“But how? This is so unexpected and the diamond is huge!” she said, leaning in to get a closer look, but too afraid to actually touch it. The jewels sparkled through her own unshed tears.
When Zach didn’t answer, she looked back up into his eyes. Was that uncertainty she saw gazing back at her? How could he not know how very happy he was making her?
Before she could tell him, he started answering her earlier questions.
“As you know, I’ve been trying to figure out if I was going to stay in the Marines or if I was going to retire and look for another job.
“Well, your father got me an interview with a very lucrative company. I’m in a suit because I’ve been interviewing with them… and well… They offered me a position today and I took it. I decided to use the signing bonus to buy you an engagement ring because… well, I couldn’t wait to share the good news.”
