Page 26 of Unlikely Match

"It's…it's black and white," she sputters.

"Jewel, you're the only woman I've ever clicked with. The only person on this Earth I've ever felt such a deep connection to. I want to spend the rest of my days making you happy. Working on creative projects together. And planning a dream vacation to London, hopefully for next month."

She's frozen, barely breathing.

"Sweetheart, my most precious Jewel in the world, I love you. I want to spend all of my days loving you. Will you please do me the extreme honor of becoming my wife?"

She remains still as a statue for what feels like a full minute, and I start to wonder if I've overstepped the mark. Or perhaps blown her mind. Dammit, I should have waited?—

"Yes. Yes.Yes!"

I can barely slip the ring on her finger before she's throwing herself into my arms, the two of us tumbling to the floor, kissing passionately.

Cradling her against me, I groan against her lips. "If we didn't have an appointment at the dealership in thirty minutes, I would strip you naked and take you on this brand new sofa right now."

Her eyes twinkle. "Well then, I guess I'd better go pick out a car as fast as I can."

"That's my girl."

She bursts into laughter as I raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"While we're out, can we stop by a flower store?"

"Putting that woman's touch on the condo already?"

"Ha! No. I feel like we should send your cousin Dora something."

"Ooh, good idea."

We stand up awkwardly, then I spin Jewel to face the streaky peach and gold sunset as it stretches over Kingsville. With her back snug against my chest and my arms around her waist, I feel her entire body relax against me.

Then she giggles sweetly. "I was so determined to win that contest to get a new art room. The trip wasn't important, and meeting a guy was the last thing on my mind. Here I've ended up with everything, despite us being disqualified."

"I prefer to think that we have a storybook love that couldn't be cheapened by a cheesy contest. And our dream vacation is going to be our entire lives together."

She swivels, looking over her shoulder at me as she tilts up for a kiss. "I love it, and I love you. Let's go with that."

We resume gazing at the sunset for a while longer, as I hold my precious Jewel in my arms.

My quirky, artsy girl who has brought light into my life, and pulled me out of my boring rut forever.

She's the perfect match I didn't even know I needed.

EPILOGUE

JEWEL

* One Year Later *

My head is spinning by the time Alex and I head upstairs, and not from the two glasses of champagne I had with our beautiful catered dinner served in front of the giant window where Alex and I shared our first meal together just last year.

No, Kingsville decided to have another art crawl this Valentine weekend, and this time the Gilmour Gallery featured an entire room of my drawings, which tend to be much larger now.

Thanks to our two weeks in London last April, our week in Italy last June, and the three weeks spent roaming all over Europe in October, I've been incorporating so many new styles in my work.

Fortunately, Alex didn't mind in the least spending our honeymoon traipsing around galleries. He's also been becoming far more knowledgeable about art. He finds it's a good way to break the ice with new clients when he visits their offices in person.

As we walk slowly toward our massive bedroom, he stops at the closed door of the small guest room right beside it. "Take a look."

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