Page 195 of Lavender Lake
I dropped my hand from the picnic basket. “I got a good video of you chopping wood, though. I think it would be perfect to post on your social media.”
“Do it,” he said. “You’re in charge of my page now. Rudolph Lancaster loves everything you’re doing for buzz.”
“I post from the female gaze. Ergo, more women are drooling over you each day. Ergo, more women telling their boyfriends that they should dress like you. Ergo, men running out to buy whatever clothes you put on your body to please their women. It’s a win for all of us.”
“I never thought I’d be a model,” he quipped.
“How do you feel about billboards?”
“Obnoxious. Annoying. Huge.”
“Like your ego?” I grinned.
“You like my huge ego. Just like you like my huge?—”
“Billboards,” I interrupted. “As in, how would you feel about being on one? In Times Square?”
“Holy hell, are you serious?”
I nodded.
“I have to be wearing clothes,” he warned. “I’m not going to be a naked sex symbol. I’ve got my pride, you know?”
“You’ve also got a very jealous, hormonal girlfriend,” I said with a chuckle. “I already told them you have to be in clothes. Maybe you can have one button undone. Two at the most. But that part of you is so damn lickable, so I don’t know if I want everyone else to see it.”
“Lickable, huh? Come here.” He rested the paddle in its holder and held out his hands to me. I inched toward him on my haunches, my dress riding up my thighs.
“You’re so beautiful,” he said when I was close enough to touch. He cradled my cheeks in his hands and kissed my lips, and then he pulled back. “Hand me the picnic basket.”
I leaned over to grab it and nearly lost my balance, but I knew if I fell Cas would be there to catch me.
He took the basket from my hands and opened the flap. “I had Muddy help prepare all of this.”
“All of what?” I asked. “The food?”
“The food, the rowboat, everything.” He peered at me for a long moment, the sunlight streaking through the clouds behind him.
I closed my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “I’m just—taking a mental photograph of you. In this moment, looking the way you do. So I can always remember it. Or at least the feeling of it.”
I took a few deep breaths, breathing in the scent of the water, the dying heat of the air from a hot summer day.
And when I finally opened my eyes, Cas was sitting in front of me, holding out a ring box. It was open and presented toward me.
It was an emerald cut sapphire nestled among diamonds in a gold setting. It was beautiful and unique, and I knew just by looking at it that the moment I slid it onto my finger, I’d never want to take it off.
I looked at him and met his solemn gaze.
And then I held out my left hand to him.
He took the ring from the box and slid it onto my finger. Then he brought my knuckles to his lips.
“A perfect fit,” he rasped.
“Yes, we are.” I leaned forward and kissed him.
