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“I love you.”
Our words slowly transformed into breathless pants until his orgasm came and he pumped harder into me, letting go of all he had and filling me completely.
He lay on top of me, letting his orgasm dwindle, then he rolled to the side, opening his arms for me to lie in my nook. I kissed the bulge of his shoulder muscle and then lay in his arms. He wrapped them around me, tracing his fingers gently up and down my side, and one word came to mind.
Home.
This was home.
“I can’t believe I get to be your wife,” I said, a smile stretching my lips.
“I can’t believe you said yes.” He froze, then rolled away from me.
His swift distance made my heart stall. “Tyler? Are you alright?” I asked, when really what I needed to know wasare we okay?Did he realize getting back together with me was a mistake?
There was a deep crease between his eyebrows and his mouth was pinched as he kicked off his jeans the rest of the way and paced the room.
“I fucked up, Hen.”
My heart sank, on the precipice of sheer destruction. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head angrily.
“Tyler, you’re scaring me.”
Almost as if he remembered I was in the room, his expression softened and he came closer to me, kissing my forehead. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was me.” And then he was back to pacing. “I asked you to marry me without asking your dad first. How could I have been so stupid?”
All the worry let out of me like a balloon releasing air, and I laughed. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
A tortured expression pained his face as he looked at me. “That’s not how I do things, Hen. I want to do them the right way with you.”
I bit my lip, shaking my head. “My dad’s happy if I’m happy. And I am, Tyler. So, so happy.”
His features lightened a little bit as he knelt by the bed next to me. “I love you. But please don’t tell him until I have the chance to ask for his blessing.”
I’d do anything for this man, but hiding my excitement from our families? “Okay, but only if you promise to tell him soon.”
* * *
Woody’s wasno Waldo’s Diner, but their pancakes were delicious, and they had a table in the back corner perfect for Wednesday morning brunches with my best friends. Only this time, I had news. Big news.
I sat with my pancakes ordered and my coffee steaming and pressedcallto be on Birdie’s table. Within a few rings, they answered, Birdie and Mara sitting on the same side of the booth with their own pancakes.
Mara jumped right into it. “Tell us how it went!”
I grinned at them, holding up my hand to show them the silver engagement ring on my finger with an oval diamond set in the middle. Classic, modest, beautiful, just like the man who had given it to me.
Their screams came through my phone, making a few of the regulars around me turn their heads.
“You’re getting married?!” Birdie cried.
I nodded, smiling so hard my cheeks almost closed my eyes. “He asked me that night I came back. We just got the ring yesterday!”
“That was fast!” Mara said. “The grand gesture must have been really good.”
I laughed and filled them in on the confusion of the day, hearing that Tyler’s brother had bought the schoolhouse and then talking with Tyler on the porch.
Birdie had her hands laced under her chin, practically swooning. “That is so romantic.”