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“Normal couples take their dogs to the dog park,” Cam mentioned, a grin on her lips.

“Normal couples are boring as shit,” Lex shot back, heading toward the path that led to the water where weeping willows bowed, their long branches and leaves almost brushing the surface. “Thank fuck we’re nothing like that.”

Cam shook her head, knowing the response had been coming. They neared the lake, and each step closer had Lex brimming like she did any time a serious talk was coming. As much as Lex reassured her it wasn’t anything bad, she couldn’t help but teeter into a vat of worries that Lex had changed her mind, that she had gotten bored with their life together, that she’d somehow fallen out of love.

Lex’s fingers threaded through hers as if she could sense the panic. The woman had an uncanny way of reading her that she’d never expected when they first met. Lex had appeared all cocksure arrogance and bluster, but beneath all that lay a heart as sensitive as her own.

They reached the weeping willows, and the pups scrambled forward, kicking up mud as they thrust their little faces into the water and began slurping.

“Ugh, guys, really?” Lex said, scratching the nape of her neck the way she always did when she was nervous. “So, ignoring these thirsty assholes,” she started, casting a glare at them before returning her gaze to Cam. “I realized the other day if you count our first six-month experiment, we’ve been together for almost a year.”

“I’m willing to count it,” Cam said with a wan smile. Their time together beat most of the longer, half-assed relationships she’d been in that didn’t have a fraction of the depth.

“Right.” Lex licked her lips, staring at the ground. “Well, it’s the longest relationship I’ve ever been in. And the thing is? The longer we’re together, the more time I want with you. A year isn’t enough. Ten years isn’t enough. I want to be eighty and still the one fucking you and falling asleep at your side.”

She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a box. Cam’s throat dried as realization crashed over her.

“So yeah, I brought you to a cemetery, because I want to be with you until death do us part,” Lex said, the rough scrape of her voice sending shivers through her. She flipped open the box to reveal an engagement ring—a delicate circlet of diamonds in rose gold that surrounded an oval yellow diamond. Cam’s eyes heated at the sight of Lex standing before her, heart exposed. This alone proved the sheer amount of trust Lex had come to place in her.

“Camilla Muhuri, from the moment I met you and caught your rose perfume, I knew you were my spring. You’re every unfurled bud, every blossoming dream, and every hope I’ve kept in secret begging to be set free. Will you marry me?”

The tears slipped down her cheeks, and her shoulders trembled. She opened her mouth to respond, but a sob slipped past her lips. All she could do was nod as she reached forward to wrap her hands around Lex’s shaking ones.

“I called your parents, you know,” Lex commented, her voice watery. “But I didn’t ask for your hand. I just told them I was going to propose to their daughter whether they liked it or not.”

“You’re an asshole sometimes,” Cam said, shaking her head, even though she couldn’t help the way her smile strained so hard her cheeks hurt. The tears trailed down her cheeks, but she let them fall, droplets of unadulterated joy.

“You love this asshole,” Lex said, slipping the ring onto her finger. “Though I’m beginning to question how much, since you never gave me an answer.”

Cam shoved Lex in the side before she leaned against her. “It’s yes,” Cam said. Lex wrapped her arm around her shoulders, the possessive grip and the strength she emanated something Cam would never get tired of. “I didn’t realize I was living in a cage until some cocky woman swaggered on in promising to unlock it. You freed me back then, Lex, and for that, I’ll always be grateful. But this future with you? This is pure selfishness on my part because the moment you gave your heart to me, I knew I’d never be able to give it back.”

Lex leaned in to press her lips against hers in a kiss that descended light as gossamer, teasing at first. All too fast it deepened. Lex growled into her mouth with a hunger that reverberated through her bones, one that sparked her senses to life. Cam shifted her hips until they were flush with Lex’s, and those hands slid up and down her waist.

At least, until the dog leash slipped. “Oh fuck.” Lex pulled away to reach for the leash trailing across the grass in front of them as Cerberus scampered in the opposite direction. Cam laughed and then bit her lip as she stared at the yellow diamond sparkling on her finger. When she looked up, Lex’s knees hit the mud, and she tugged at the leash with the pup in a fight that had already turned messy.

Her heart squeezed so tight it hurt. Joy radiated from her like the first sip of coffee at sunrise, like late-night walks by the water in the middle of the summer. Like standing in the middle of a cemetery and watching the love of her life wrestle in the mud with their three hyper puppies. Back when she’d agreed to Lex’s proposition, she had been sure it was a terrible decision. She’d been wrong. Taking the risk with Lex had been her best one.