Page 183 of Protecting What's Mine

“I’m picking you. I’m choosing you. And I’m asking you if you’ll…” Her voice got tight. Her words stalling.

Dreamy was never without her nerve.

“Are you okay?” He reached for her, but she took a step back.

She shook her head impatiently and took a breath. “I’m asking you, Lincoln Reed, if you’ll marry me. If you’ll move into this fire station with me. If you’ll help me plant roots here.”

Sunshine let out a happy little bark as if she understood everything Linc was having trouble grasping.

“What? Wait. What?” This time when he reached for her, she let him.

“Oh, come on! I’m asking you if you’ll make an honest woman out of me, Hotshot.” She grinned up at him and threw her arms around his neck. “Say yes.”

He was the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.

“You’re damn right I’ll marry you,” he said, lifting her feet clear off the ground and spinning her around. Sunshine ran in delirious circles.

“I knew you were beautifulandsmart.” Mack laughed. Her arms tightened around him, and he saw the glisten of tears in those beautiful, bottle green eyes.

“Are you sure about this?”

She shook her head. “I’m scared shitless. That’s how I know it’s going to be good.”

“I won’t let you down, Dreamy,” he promised her earnestly.

She smirked. “I knowyouwon’t. And I’ll do my best to return the favor. This is going to be one hell of an adventure.”

“I’ll make sure it is,” he promised fervently.

“It’s a wreck,” she warned him. “I’ve already walked the building with Luke. It’s gonna be a lot of work to make it livable.”

“A hell of an adventure,” Linc repeated, feeling his heart swelling in his chest.

She’d chosen him. Mackenzie O’Neil had picked him to spend the rest of her life with. He wasn’t just lucky. He was golden.

“You must really like this idea,” she whispered, cuddling against the hardness in his pocket.

And that’s when he remembered what he’d put in there.

“About that, Dreamy,” he said, sliding a hand into his pocket.

“Don’t you dare get your dick out yet,” she hissed.

“I’m not getting my dick out.”

But his complaint was drowned out by the creaky ascent of the fire station’s garage door. He saw feet. A lot of them. And tires. And a gleaming chrome grill.

“What did you do?” he asked her. Sunshine darted under the door and disappeared.

Mack grinned at him and pressed her face into his chest. “Happy engagement present.”

His crew, all of them grinning maniacally, surrounded his beloved Betsy. His 1954 Mack B85 Antique Fire Engine. But it wasn’t the wreck it had been. It was pristine, perfect.

“How?” It was the only word he could get out.

“Abner Kersh and Shorty’s garage helped out with the bodywork, but your guys did the rest,” Mackenzie told him.

“You do a lot for us, chief,” Brody, in a Santa beard, told him. “This is a thank you.”