Page 130 of Hot Momosa

A memory fluttered across my consciousness. I’d stood in this exact place too many years before to count. We had been kids at the time, still in college, and more than a little love sick.

Smiling, I held my arms out wide like I had before. “This is my favorite place in all of Italy. You have to kiss me here, right this minute, or I will never forgive you.” That I’d remembered the words made me laugh. “I was such a romantic back then.”

Leo dropped to one knee and took my hand. “That was impressive. Perhaps, you still are?”

“Maybe a little.” My voice cracked. “What are you doing?”

“Proposing. What does it look like I’m doing?”

“But you already did this, and I accepted.”

“Yes, but it was lame. I want to do it again. Properly.”

“But…”

Leo chuckled. “Will you please be quiet. Just for a moment.”

I mimed zipping my lips.

“Dahlia Elizabeth Calhoun, you’ve owned my heart since college. It will make me the happiest man who ever walked the face of the Earth if you agree to spend the rest of our days together. Marry me, Dahl.”

My stomach did a cartwheel. “I already said yes.”

“Say it again.” He pulled a ring from his pocket. The diamond in the center sparkled like the sunlight on the water, and the rubies surrounding it reminded me of the flowers trailing down the side of the cliff.

“Yes. I’ll marry you.” I wanted to throw my arms around him, but the stitches tempered my enthusiasm.

Leo slid the ring on my finger, stood, and pulled me into an embrace. Laughing, he kissed a line from my neck, across my jaw to my lips.

Our families cheered and shouted from the deck above us.

Tuning them out, I lost myself in his kiss, the feel of his body against mine, his gentle caresses and demanding tongue. I could have stayed there, kissing him, in our favorite spot, for the rest of my life.

“Mamma!” Gunnar broke free of Evelyn and ran toward us, downhill, on uneven rocks.

Leo released me and met him halfway. Swinging him into the air, he spun in a circle that had my heart leaping to my throat, but they laughed like they didn’t have a care.

He tossed the boy skyward one more time, before catching him and blowing on his tummy.

Gunnar squealed.

Leo turned to me and his smile wilted. “What?”

Unable to catch my breath, I motioned to the cliff and then to Gunnar.

He slung his arm around my shoulder and kissed my cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll blow on your belly later.”

Since we’d reunited, I’d longed for our relationship to be like it once was, to tear down the wall between us, to have the old Leo back.

In that ridiculously high garden overlooking the sea, I realized my wishes had come true while I wasn’t paying attention.

I rose to tiptoes and whispered into his ear, “Too bad we can’t do what we did on this spot ten years ago.”

A slow grin spread across his face. “Who says we can’t?”

I loved the devious twinkle in his eyes, but there was no way I was going to risk getting caught naked in the garden. “You’re mother, for one.”

“She raised six boys. She has to know at least one of us has had S-E-X on every available surface in the house and grounds.”

---