by A. J. Wynter
Freddie was the first boyfriend she had ever lived with, and it had been an eye-opening experience but even with the ups and downs including those of the toilet seat (and the fact that his aim was terrible), Serena was in heaven. Waking up next to Freddie over the past few months felt like something she had been doing for years.
They broke off the engagement after the contract was up and Freddie sold the ring. The Sidney’s executives didn’t care. They had gotten great exposure through the couple and were happy with how they completed the contract.
A piece of Serena’s heart broke off when they agreed that it was just too soon to be engaged but with the honesty and openness of their new relationship, she felt closer and more intimate than she had when they’d been engaged. She didn’t make an official announcement though. That had been Freddie’s idea.
“Why don’t we just consider it paused,” he had said. “No one needs to know.”
The night they called off their engagement, they made love on the living room sofa and then again in the kitchen. He loved pressing into her as he held her on the kitchen counter.
Now almost two months later, they were sitting on the edge of a pristine lake watching the sun slip behind the jagged peaks of the mountain.
“Want to go for a sunset cruise, babe?” he asked.
“With these boots on?” she pointed to the burly hiking boots on her feet. “I’d sink right to the bottom of this lake.”
“You still haven’t learned your lesson about standing up in the canoe then?” he asked and pulled her to her feet. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I don’t know if I’ll ever set foot in one of those boats again.”
Freddie kissed her gently. “You’re not a Rapidian until you’ve made love in a canoe. Come on...”
She pulled back, her eyes wide. “You’re crazy,” she said, but let him lead her by the hand to the red canoe sitting on the sand beach. There was a thick blanket folded in the bottom and candles spread in the sand beside it. He pulled out a lighter and soon the twilight night was highlighted with flickering candles and a driftwood beach fire.
“Nobody said that the canoe has to be in the water.” He kissed her then, needing her lips. He was hungry to taste the salt on her skin. Their down jackets compressed against each other as Freddie lifted Serena up and set her down gently on the bottom of the canoe. He pulled the bow to rest in the water, the stern safely perched on land and then crawled in. The water rippled from the rocking of the canoe as Freddie made Serena Cruise a real Rapidian.
They snuggled up under the blankets until it was completely dark and the first stars were starting to shine.
Freddie gently eased himself out of the canoe.
“Where are you going?” Serena reached for him. She wasn’t ready to leave their cuddle cocoon just yet.
Freddie tossed another log onto the fire and adjusted the burning pieces, sparks flying up into the night sky.
“I’ll be back in a second.”
Serena relaxed and gazed up at the stars. A flash of light shot across the sky and she gasped – her second shooting star. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake as last time and she quickly made the wish she had planned out months earlier.
“You missed it,” Serena said as Freddie returned.
“Missed what?”
“A shooting star. It was beautiful.”
“Did you make a wish this time?” he asked.
“I did,” she whispered. She felt like she was in heaven watching her very own mountain man tend to the fire. He walked back to the canoe with his hands in his pockets, but instead of crawling back in, he knelt down beside it.
“Serena.”
She sat up and gripped the gunwales of the canoe, his voice was serious.
“When I proposed to you on the rooftop, I felt like an actor. I remember thinking that if I was really proposing to someone, it wouldn’t be in front of a bunch of people or require a spreadsheet and elaborate plans. It would just be me and the woman I loved somewhere that meant something to both of us.”
Serena couldn’t have agreed more. The proposal was elaborate and wasn’t what she would’ve wanted either. She wanted to speak. To tell him that she agreed, but couldn’t find the words. Instead, she reached out and gently touched his face.
He continued, “And that ring... man, was that hideous.”
“It was.” She laughed and cried at the same time while tears brimmed in her eyes. “Hideous.”
“I have to come clean about something,” Freddie said. He pulled the Royal Blue Sidney’s box out of his pocket. “I didn’t sell that ring. I exchanged it...” Freddie opened up the velvet box and a simple princess cut ring glinted in the firelight.
“Serena Cruise, will you marry me?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Yes,” she gushed. “Freddie Brush, I will marry you.”
Freddie slid the perfectly sized ring on to her finger and leaned into the canoe to kiss Serena. He wiped away her tears with his thumbs and she kissed his tears from his cheeks.
Her shooting star wish had just come true.
Serena held her hand out in front of her and admired the ring. She stood up and accepted Freddie’s hands to help her out of the canoe, but the toe of her boot caught under the wooden gunwale and she screeched as she tumbled into his arms.
Freddie grunted and took the brunt of Serena’s weight as the two of them landed with a thud on the sand.
“Are you okay?” Serena asked. She sat up and brushed her hands off as she straddled Freddie.
“Serena,” Freddie said. “I think we need to agree on one thing before we get married.”
She saw the side of his mouth turn up into a smile and knew exactly what he was going to say.
“No more canoes.”
“No more canoes,” she echoed. They stood up and headed into the cabin. Serena’s thin fingers interlaced through his, her very own real fiancé.
Deleted Scene
SERENA’S FIRST TIME...in a canoe.
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Coming Soon
“A SECRET CHANCE”
Chance Rapids, Book 4
Coming November 2019
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Also By A.J. Wynter
Chance Rapids Series
Second Chances
One More Chance
Accidental Chances
A Secret Chance (Coming November 2019)
Her First Time Series
The Biker’s Virgin
The Mountain Man’s Virgin
The Rancher’s Virgin
Her First Time Boxed Set
The Billionaires of Torver Corporation Series
One Perfect CEO
One Perfect Boss
One Perfect Billionaire
One Perfect Professor
One Perfect Fake Boyfriend
Connect with A.J.
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