Page 39 of Undaunted

I frown. “Why?”

“I realized I don’t have to go home just to prove to everyone I’ve made it,” she says. “To be honest, it would have been the only reason I’d have taken the job over another offer somewhere else.”

“Did the rehab center offer you a position?”

“No, but I applied for a clinical fellowship at Norfolk General,” she says, smiling broadly. “I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to jinx it. My clinical instructor wrote me a letter of recommendation.”

My heart is pounding. Did she sayNorfolk? “Aaand?”

“I got accepted. I received the acceptance letter this morning,” Claudia replies. “As soon as I pass the board exams in two months, I’m—”

I don’t let her finish. I wrap my arms around her, lifting her off the floor as she yelps in surprise, the sound she makes interrupted further by my kiss, a chaste one this time.

“I knew you could do it, Claudia. You…” I stop, needing to catch my breath as I set her back down and gaze at her beautiful face.

So this is love. Pure unadulterated love. It makes your heart race like you’re about to run headlong into the face of danger. It makes you forget the world around you, your focus only on how beautiful her eyes are, or how full and soft her lips taste, and when she says your name, you wonder if that’s how angels sound. It’s so crazy. I swear it must be the jet lag, but I’ve stopped worrying about it.

“Are you okay?” she asks, frowning.

“Will you marry me?”

Claudia stares at me. “What?”

The realization of what came out of my mouth hits me. But I’m not afraid. I’ve never been more certain about anything in my life. I’d thought about it during our flight home, driving Quinn and the guys crazy with the tapping of my good foot on the floor and the relentless drumming of my fingers against any surface. And then there was the question I asked all of them:When did you know?And their answers, their expressions bemused before turning thoughtful.Oh, you’ll know.There’s nothing like seeing everyone work together like we were still in the Teams to make sure I’d make it to Claudia’s graduation on time, complete with the addition of some cologne Quinn picked up from God-knows-where.Woodsy with just the right amount of sex-ay, he said right before he sprayed that shit all over me.

“Will you marry me?” I ask Claudia again. “I don’t have a ring to give you but—”

Claudia silences me with a kiss, her hands cradling my face. As I get down on one knee, I taste her tears, our lips still pressed together. “Yes,” she whispers, wiping her tears from my cheeks with her thumbs.

“Are you sure?”

“Well, we may have to wait a while for the wedding because I’ve got exams and a residency, and my family will want a traditional wedding at San Francisco de Asís because that’s how we Taoseños do things which means we can’t elope, but yes.” She’s talking fast but she catches herself and takes a deep breath. “My answer is yes.”

I bring one hand against the wall for support. Thank God we’re still at the entryway because all that traveling, dancing, and now this—the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life—suddenly catches up with me. “I should have planned this moment better.”

Claudia runs her fingers along my jaw, smiling. “They say the best moments in life are often unplanned.”

“Right, like getting down on one knee when you’re bone-tired,” I mutter, wondering how the hell I’m going to get back up gracefully.

“Is this your way of telling me you need help getting up?”

To hell with grace. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Come on.” She helps me up, both of us laughing as we collapse on top of the bed. As I stare at the ceiling, I still can’t believe what I did but I don’t have any regrets.

She said yes.

“By the way, where will you be staying during your residency?” I ask a few minutes later, neither of us moving from where we landed.

“Leigh says I could stay with—”

“—with me, Claudia.” I squeeze her hand. “The correct answer is, you’re staying with me.”

She giggles. “I figured. But I wasn’t sure…”

I roll to my side to face her, propping myself up with one elbow. “We’ll find you a ring so you won’t ever not be sure. And I will ask you to marry me again with said ring, preferably with both of us looking more refreshed than we do now.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

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