Page 34

The flowing chiffon of the pale pink dress I wore danced in the evening breeze as Beckett twirled me around and around in his arms. His smile was huge, as it had been all day long, as we watched our good friends enter the world of eternal marital bliss.

I’d chosen a pink dress because Maddy had chosen a soft yellow.

There was a delicate beauty about the two colors that somehow suited Raina.

Yes, her wedding was a blast of pastel colors—think mini eggs as favors—that made one consider an Easter rainbow, but damn, did Beckett ever look fabulously handsome in the pale pink silk tie he wore to match my dress.

He’d grinned at me when he’d found he’d be wearing pink—to which he’d then announced, “I’m all man, baby. Pink’s not going to intimidate me.” Clearly, pink didn’t intimidate him, because he rocked it.

“You’re beautiful.” He murmured, dropping his head to nuzzle my nose with his. I felt my heart do a little dance and leap at the gesture.

“I love you.”

“I know.” He twirled me around again. “I’m a lucky man.”

I smiled, because I was beginning to think that he was, indeed, lucky. He was lucky to have a woman who loved him as wholeheartedly, and faithfully, as I loved him. Just the same as I was lucky to have him.

We were lucky.

“It’s the toss!” Maddy exclaimed, suddenly appearing beside us. She gripped my arm and did a little bounce, clearly tipsy. “Come on!”

I laughed, moving away from my man to the center of the dance floor that stood beneath the stars.

The Weir’s had an intimate wedding on the hotel ground before a crystal clear lake.

It was stunningly beautiful, and all the guests had cabins booked to stay the night.

It was perfectly Raina and Kaiden Weir. Perfectly wonderful.

That’s when I saw Raina dance onto the floor barefoot, with her lovely arrangement of pink and yellow peonies.

She wore an ivory gypsy gown that had delicate bands of lace hanging limply around her upper arms. The bodice was snug and a tiny braided gold belt hugged the small of her waist. Her hair was loose and wild, and she wore a thin crown of tiny pink flowers.

She looked lovely, and fresh, and Raina. Entirely Raina.

“Ready ladies?” She called, winking to the small crowd before she turned away and tossed her bouquet.

I didn’t even move. It was like the arrangement knew where it wanted to go—and it wanted to slide right into my hands, because that’s what it did.

Loud cheers erupted and a scarlet blush heated my cheeks as strong arms swept around my waist. Beckett’s rumble was in my ear, “Looks like we’re next.”

It was later, after the party had ended, that the moon was high in the sky and I had the bouquet I’d caught dangling from my fingertips.

I was skipping a few paces ahead of Beckett; all too aware of the delicious grin he wore, as we neared our cabin.

That’s when I felt his arm circle my waist once again.

He pulled me into his hard body, caging me against him as he proposed, “How about we honor our friends the way we know they’d want us to honor them?”

“And how would they want us to honor them?” My breaths were starting to come quickly. My heart was beginning to pound faster and harder.

Beckett took a step away from our cabin that was nestled privately into the woods, and closer to the lake.

And then he swept me up in his arms, walking me to the water’s edge.

When my feet met with the cool rocks and I felt his fingers tug on the zipper, my breath caught in anticipation of his intention.

“Beckett, someone might see.”

“Who cares?” He rumbled. “We’re young, in love, and living.”

The dress fell away, leaving me bare apart from my panties. I’d decided to go sans bra as it was a strapless and I was comfortable enough without one. Now, I most definitely wasn’t regretting that as his hand lifted to palm the soft skin.

I moaned, “You want to skinny-dip?”

“Is there really a better way to honor Raina?”

“No,” I was breathless. “There isn’t.”

“That’s what I thought.”

So that night we made love in the cool night water of the clear lake after Raina and Kaiden Weir vowed to stay together forever, as we all knew they would.

It was two weeks later, as I walked hand in hand with the love of my life while we toured the castle district in Budapest, that the promise of the bouquet toss took life.

The city lights danced over the water and stretched up into the dark sky in beams of ancient, and magical amber.

It was unexpectedly quiet and pleasurably private as the soles of our shoes connected with the old stone walk.

We’d been in Budapest for a week and had another week to go.

Even though I knew that we had time, we wouldn’t see everything this magical place had to offer. Still, I was blissfully happy.

It appeared, as Beckett paused to slide into the position that would make any woman’s heart begin to race, that he was blissfully happy too.

And then he pulled a ring from the pocket of his jeans. No box. No ribbon. No fuss. Just a ring he knew he’d slide onto my finger—because he knew I’d say yes.

“Marry me, Amara. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world, and I know if I have your promise of love for life, I’ll have laughter for life.

And I know if you give me that, I’ll give you everything.

” He took my hand in his before I’d even had time to form words, and slid the thin white gold band of diamonds onto my finger. “It’s engraved. Forever and ever.”

The declaration took me back to that moment when we vowed forever and ever, and I smiled. My eyes were shimmering with happy tears as my lips trembled with the power inside my emotion.

I let my eyes move from the beautiful face of the man I loved, to the ring. It wasn’t flashy. It was simple and little and intimate. It was perfect and entirely—us.

“Yes.”

Beckett rose to lift me into his arms, pulling my front into his for a tight embrace.

And then, as my toes touched solid ground once again, he caught my face in his hands and kissed me with a passion that lifted my soul.

I knew then that I’d fly through the rest of my existence with this man, in this life and in the life after it was all finished.

I’d fly happy, with life and love and laughter.

For eternity.