Page 51 of Anyone But You

Her mouth gaped. “That’snotmy middle name!” she hissed. I nearly toppled over into the sand from laughter.

Sure.

“Now you know how I feel.”

“I never gave you a stripper middle name, though,” she protested.

“You did call me Sharkeisha that one time.”

“I mean, it fits if you think about it. You are a shark killer.”

“That I am.”

“Are you seriously proposing to me?”

“That I am.”

Victoria’s brows raised to the top of her forehead, and she folded her arms over her chest. “What’s the matter?”

“Where’s the ring?”

“The ring? Victoria, we’re on a fucking island. Where the hell do you think I’m supposed to get an engagement ring?”

“I don’t know, but you could’ve put a little effort into this proposal. You could’ve whittled me a ring out of wood, bamboo, or something. Hell, you could’ve intertwined some palm fronds together. Shit, if you really wanted me to be your wife, you could’ve hunted down an oyster and snatched me a pearl out of it.”

Do I really want to tie myself to this woman for the rest of my life?

I tuned back in when she called me a brokie and made up my mind.

“Victoria Druscilla Caldwell—”

“Asshole,” she huffed under her breath.

“I have full function of my knees, and my mother isn’t waiting for me on the stoop after the street lights came on with a belt in her hand. Will you marry me?”

Victoria’s mouth gaped in abject horror.

“That has to bethemost trifling proposal I’ve ever heard.”

“That’s the only proposal you’ve ever heard.” She squeaked and slapped a hand over her mouth. I smirked.

I love getting under her skin. She makes it so easy.

“And probably the only one you’ll ever get.”

She blew a raspberry and waved me off with your hand. “Watch, Knox. I’ll leave this island and find the man of my dreams.”

“Still me,” I reminded her.

“I said the man of my dreams, not the man of my nightmare.”

“Future Mrs. Knox Ramsey, can you just say yes already? The sand is burning my knee through these pants.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll marry you. I have the perfect idea for a honeymoon.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” I asked, rising to my feet.

“Let’s go hiking. It will—”