Page 57 of Fierce Love (Tucker Billionaires)
“It can’t wait until tomorrow?” I ask, nuzzling closer.
“Definitely not.”
“Boo,” I say, kissing him. “What could Cal possibly have that you need to get right now?” I run my hand along his thigh, drawing close enough to tease before backing away.
“You’re tempting me to postpone my visit, Ms. Davis.”
“I can be very persuasive, Mr. Tucker.”
“I made a promise,” Nate says dropping kisses on my lips between words.
“Cal is very understanding.”
Nate chuckles. “Only because I never break my promises.”
“If I didn’t appreciate that you’re such a good man, I’d be a little bit pissed off right now,” I say as his teeth graze my ear. “I just want to get you home and all to myself.”
The car slows down and comes to a stop, and when I glance out the tinted windows, I find we’re already at the campground.
Nate opens the door, and he urges me to climb out. “You want me to come with you?”
“Why not?”
“I’m all flushed and turned on. Cal will take one look at me and know what we’ve been doing.”
“Pretty sure he already knows what we’re always doing.”
“Nathaniel Tucker, are you kissing and telling?”
“My level of happiness does not lie. What can I say?” He’s walking backward, leading me across the campground toward the cliff.
“I thought we were going to Cal’s house?”
“No, something was missed by the cliff a long time ago. I need to make it right.”
It’s such a weird comment, and I just frown while I try to puzzle out what he means.
The campground is getting close to low season, and there are only a few spots taken by people in mobile homes.
The whole place has a hushed, romantic atmosphere.
It reminds me of the first time Nate brought me here—on the cusp of high season after he convinced me to give him one date. Four of the happiest months of my life.
And look where we are now?
Ahead, there’s a trellis strung with lights and flowers. It’s almost as pretty as the ones Posey had dotting the wedding.
“Oh gosh,” I say, breathing out my surprise. “Isn’t that pretty?”
As we get closer, I see there’s a blanket and a bottle of something in a steel pot.
“We’re going to interrupt someone’s night,” I whisper to Nate, clinging on to his hand. “We should go a different way.”
“Nah, let’s check it out. Just quickly. We won’t stay long. There’s no one here.”
I glance around, trying to gauge whether we’re ruining a romantic surprise. Once we’re standing under the twinkling lights, Nate turns to me with an amused expression.
“The first night I brought you here, I wasn’t sure I’d get a second.”
“I think you knew.”
“I hoped. I definitely hoped. From that first night in the bar, there was something about you that just spoke to me. I can’t explain it.
But I wanted you in a way I’d never wanted anyone before or since.
Maybe my soul really did recognize yours.
Just this, like”—he touches his chest—“ click click inside me. The world finally made sense.”
“Nate,” I breathe out, touched by his love, by how in sync we are.
“And so, when I knew we were going to be separated by distance and college, I had hoped to bring you here one last time—get one last ‘yes’ out of you.”
My throat closes at the implication, and I press the hand he’s not holding to my chest.
“I didn’t get to ask my question then, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. Not as bad as I thought for so long, because I wasn’t sure what you’d say then. Not really. Not truly. But I am now. I don’t have to convince you or talk you into anything—we know where we’re headed. Together.”
Tears flood my eyes, and I step forward to run my hand along his jaw.
Out of his pocket, he removes a small box, and then he falls to one knee, flipping it open. “From the first moment I saw you, I knew what I wanted, and now I’m confident that you want it too. Hollyn Davis, will you marry me?”
“Yes. So many, many yeses,” I say, launching myself at him, and we both fall backward onto the blanket.
He chuckles, trying to pluck the ring out of the box after keeping me from landing face-first on the ground. He takes my hand and slides the ring on, grinning.
The diamond is small, and everything about the ring seems right. “This is perfect, Nate. So, so perfect.”
We’re facing each other on the blanket, and he’s looking at me with so much tenderness and love that my throat threatens to close up again.
“I’ll get you a bigger one,” he says. “But I needed to give you that one first.”
“It’s the same one?” My voice is thick with renewed tears.
“Kept it all this time. Don’t even know why. But I’m glad I did. Getting to do this—I don’t know—I think it finally set this fierce love I feel for you back in its proper place.” He touches his chest. “Like everything in my life is finally where it belongs.”
“I want this ring. I don’t need any others.”
“Then this ring stays.”
“I cannot wait to live this life with you,” I say, cupping his chin. “I’ve never looked forward to the future before, but I’m so excited to see where life takes us.”
“I don’t even care where it takes us. As long as I’ve got you, I know we can conquer anything.”
Since the moment I saw the house on the cliff that we now live in, something inside me knew .
This life with him has been calling to me since I was a teenager, but I didn’t know how to grasp it, how to trust it.
It’s as though everything that went right between us as teenagers was in a holding pattern, waiting for us to find the path back to one another again.
And this time, I’m going to protect this life, this love, with everything I’ve got. No one will ever manipulate me into giving up what I’ve got with Nate again. This time, we’ll last forever.