by Liz Peters
It just so happened that things with Reid were easy. They just worked, just like the way the two of their bodies worked together perfectly, the way his fingers fit perfectly into the curve of her waist, and how the friction between their bodies worked to bring them to a climax at the same moment. She was still half clothed, her blouse hanging off her shoulders and her skirt in a puddle on the floor as the two of them made an attempt to catch their breath when she heard the sound of the front door of the building opening and Debbie calling her name.
“Sam! I brought you a cheeseburger, but I saw Reid’s truck outside. Just tell me the two of you aren’t naked before I bring it in.” She could hear the laughter in her best friend’s voice. Debbie knew she was right without even walking into the office.
Sam leaned down and pressed her forehead to Reid’s with a sigh.
“Well, I guess we better get dressed before she decides to just walk in here and plop the cheeseburger down on the desk. Trust me. She’d do it without even blinking if I know her.”
Reid shook his head and stole another kiss off her lips and pulled her in close.
“Tonight, I’m meeting you at your place. Just promise me she’s not bringing you a burger there, too.” Sam just laughed.
“I promise. No burgers. Just me and you for the entire night. If you’ll have me.” She looked down at him expectantly.
“Oh, Legs, I’ll have you alright. Any way you want.”
Chapter Sixteen
It had been a few weeks since Samantha had moved to Colleston, and Reid had spent almost every night he could in her company. Most of the time he wound up spending the night and driving back out to the ranch before the start of the next work day. It was a life he was enjoying and starting to get used to. Things hadn’t ever been this good in his working memory, and he wanted to make them last. There was really only one way he could imagine making it better, and it involved making a move he hadn’t ever seen himself making before now.
Reid had no idea how Samantha was going to react to what he was about to do. She could say no. She could kick him out of her place and tell him never to come back, but she hadn’t moved to another state to be close to him just to break it off with him now for wanting to take it further. He just had to gather the courage to get the job done and go do it before he scared himself out of it.
It wasn’t that Reid was scared to take that next step. He was terrified that Sam was going to think it was all too fast or that he was out of his mind for wanting to be this serious with someone he’d honestly only known for a couple of months. But there were women he’d known his entire life that he didn’t know as well as he’d known Sam in the first couple of nights after they’d met. He didn’t think he was ever going to meet anyone who turned out to be as perfect for him as she was.
He could have agonized for days over a ring, but he wasn’t the type of guy who was going to do that. Instead, he pulled a tiny box out of his closet that had moved everywhere with him since he was a teenager. It contained a small, old fashioned diamond ring. He just hoped it would fit her finger as well as it had fit his grandmother’s. All that was left to do now was the asking.
Reid wasn’t certain if he wanted to do something huge and dramatic or sweet and simple. Both options had the same outcome, but he also knew his girl. She was a fan of simple and straightforward. It was part of the reason he’d fallen for her in the first place. It was the same reason he knew she’d rather have his grandmother’s ring than something he’d gone to the jewelers and picked out at random. He was certain enough of all that. It was an easy plan, just do all of this the old-fashioned way: down on one knee and with a ring in his hand.
He had to admit he was nervous on the drive over. He hadn’t told anyone what he was planning to do, not even Matty when he’d caught him digging through the closet on his side of the cabin like a mad man. He hadn’t offered any explanation either, just grabbed the box once it had been found and rushed off to stow it in a place where it would be safe and never lost again.
When his mother had given him that ring, he was pretty sure he wasn’t ever going to get a chance to use it, but he’d accepted it out of the urge to be kind to his mother. Reid was her only child, and the ring had been given to her by her mother. She wanted to pass it on to him. There was no way he was going to tell her no to something like that. He loved his mother too much to do that to her, and he’d already disappointed her in dozens of ways besides that. Now that she was gone, there wasn’t anything more sentimental he was going to be able to offer the woman he was beginning to think of as the love of his life.
The drive out to her place seemed to take forever now that he ‘d made up his mind what he was going to do. He knew the path like the back of his hand, but even though he was traveling at the speed limit, the miles seemed to crawl by. In reality, the drive only took half an hour, but he could have sworn that it took twice as long.
All the way over there he was rehearsing what he was going to say to her when she opened the door. How he was going to go down on one knee and pull out the ring and pop the question that had been on the tip of his tongue for days. This was a first for him. Reid wasn’t in the habit of asking women to marry him.
When he pulled up into the driveway and shut off the truck, he had to sit there a few extra moments and gather his bearings. The idea of getting out of the car made him feel a little dizzy. What was he going to do if she turned him down? Tuck his tail between his legs and go whimpering off back home? What was he going to do if she told him yes? Was he going to be able to be the kind of guy that Samantha deserved?
His head was swimming with a million questions that wavered from one end of the spectrum to the other. He was terrified she’d say no, but he was also terrified she’d say yes. Reid wasn’t certain that he was the right man for her, but he knew for certain that she was the right woman for him. It was never a question of her being able to make him happy. She could do that just by being a part of his life every day. It was his fear that he wasn’t going to be able to keep her happy, and he knew for damned certain that she deserved to be happy.
Finally, he just took a deep breath and got out of the truck, taking the front steps two at a time and ringing the doorbell before he lost all of the courage he’d managed to muster up at the moment. When Sam opened the door, Reid didn’t even wait for her to greet him before he looked directly into her eyes. She returned the look, and it was as if the two of them both knew this was going to be a historic moment. He went down on one knee and pulled the ring box from his pocket. He’d imagined being a lot smoother about all of this, at least getting the both of them into the house before he just let the question come flying out of his mouth, but when he saw her face he knew he wasn’t going to be able to stop himself from blurting it out right here and now.
“Samantha Crawford. I’ve known since the moment that you stepped out of that car back on the ranch that you were something that was supposed to be a part of my life. I just didn’t know how important a part of it you were going to become. I’m still the same sorry son of a bitch that commented on your legs as soon as you got out of the taxi, and I’m going to be commenting on those legs until the day you get tired of me and tell me to get lost.” He knew he was rambling, and he didn’t care. Reid had a lot on his mind. He needed to get it all out before he finally got to his point.
“I haven’t ever in my life wanted a person to be a part of my everyday life, but with you, I want you to be the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see before I fall asleep. I want to spend every part of my day with you that I possibly can. I want your face to be the one that’s across the table from mine for breakfast, lunch and dinner instead of Matty’s stupid grin back at the ranch. Basically, what I need you to know is that I’m all yours, if you’re all mine, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Samantha, will you marry me?” He finally spit it out, though he could tell from the look on Sam’s face that she’d known what he was going to be asking the minute he
fell down onto one knee on the front porch of her new house.
“Get up here and kiss me, you crazy impulsive man! Of course I’ll marry you! She was grinning and pulling Reid to his feet as she pressed a kiss to his lips. Reid slid the ring on her finger and pulled her into his arms.
“I don’t know who you think is crazy. You’re the one who said yes. Don’t forget that.” She laughed, draping her arms across his shoulders and stealing another kiss off his lips.
“Damned straight I did, Cowboy, and I’d say yes for the rest of my life if you asked me every day!
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