by Cate Ashwood
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know. But I wanted to. Because even if you tell me to fuck off, even if you don’t want this like I want this, it doesn’t change my feelings for you, and I needed the people in my life, the people I care about, to understand.”
He was silent, and I could tell he was thinking it over, processing everything I’d just unloaded on him. It was a lot, and tonight was a big night. He’d have a lot on his mind from that alone, and then I breezed in with my sweeping declarations. It was a lot to think about, but it boiled down to one very simple fact.
“I love you,” I said. “And in the end, that’s everything.”
He slid his phone out of his back pocket, the jeweled case glinting in the light.
“What are you doing?” I asked, doubt slamming into me. Seemed like a messed-up time to be texting.
“Booking a flight to Alaska,” he said, like I’d asked the dumbest fucking question ever. “You can’t live in New York. I’d have to put up with all your bitching and moaning about the traffic and the people—”
I grabbed him, kissing him with enough force that he staggered backward. I pressed him into the wall, pouring all my happiness and love into that kiss. I made up for all the ones we’d missed over the last two months. He clung to me, kissing me back with matching fire that told me everything I needed to know about how he felt.
We kissed for what felt like hours because now we had all the time in the world. Frankie was mine. And I wasn’t ever going to let him go again.
“I’m doing this on two conditions,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“One, we make the spa in Juneau a regular thing.”
“Done.”
“And two, I get to bring Priscilla.”
“I don’t know who that is… tell me it’s not a cat.”
“I really did have you pegged for a cat person.” He shrugged.
“Frankie.”
“Priscilla is my unicorn head. She’s pink with more sparkle than Kendall’s Swarovski knee-high boots.”
I still had no idea what he was talking about, but it didn’t matter. “Whatever you want. Anything.”
“I love you,” Frankie said, and they were the sweetest three words to have ever come out of his mouth.”
“You sure? It’s only been two months…” I teased.
He shook his head. “I’ve known since our trip to Juneau. Or maybe before. That’s when I realized it.”
I laughed.
“What?” he asked.
“Me too. That’s when I knew. At first, I thought I was delirious from some rare mud toxin, but nope. I was just crazy in love with you.” Frankie laughed. “I wish I’d told you sooner. We were apart longer than we were together, and I regret ever letting you leave.”
He kissed me again, like he was making sure this was all real. “Sounds like we need to make up for lost time.”
“I knew you were the smart one in this relationship.”
I took his hand and led him back out into the gallery. Frankie deserved to enjoy his success. There would be time for celebrating our reunion later. We had a whole lifetime to make up for it.
Barrett
“Where are we going?” Frankie whined.
“It’s a surprise.”
“I hate when you do this.”
“I might believe you if I didn’t know for a fact you’re lying. The only place you like blindfolds more than the bedroom is when I’m taking you somewhere as a surprise.”
“This is literally the first time you’ve ever forced me to wear a blindfold.”
“Because I don’t trust you to follow the rules.”
He scoffed. “That hurts.”
“The truth hurts.”
He crossed his arms and stuck his bottom lip out, and I resisted the urge to lean in and bite it. As tempting as it was, I needed to get us where we were going in one piece. My big surprise would have a lot less impact if it happened behind a polyester hospital curtain.
So much had happened in the time since Frankie had moved to Sawyer’s Ferry. He’d settled right into my house—there was no point in him getting his own place. Waking up next to him every morning was the best decision I’d ever made, even if he did drool in his sleep.
The house felt alive when he was in it, and the weeks when he was gone, traveling for a photo shoot or a show, I missed the hell out of him. It was hard to remember a time in my life when I didn’t know him and even harder to imagine ever being without him.
“Are we almost there at least?” Frankie asked, sounding almost petulant, and I stifled a laugh.
“No.”
We were. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. I drove around in circles for an extra fifteen minutes to throw him off the scent, though I had a feeling that the moment we stepped out onto the soft ground and he heard the sound of the waves and the gulls, he’d know exactly where we were.
Peregrine Point was etched indelibly into my heart, and though I’d only taken him there once before, I was pretty sure it was the same way for him.
“What if I guess where we’re going? Will you tell me then?”
“No.”
“You’re absolutely no fun at all.”
I grinned. “Quiet. I’m concentrating on driving.”
“Are we going to the airport? Are you taking me to Aruba?”
“I told you to be quiet.”
“And when have I ever listened?”
“You want me to pull the car over and make you shut up?”
His breath hitched. “Yes.”
At the same moment, I came to the turnout for the lighthouse. I steered the car off the main road and into the parking area.
“Finally, we get to the good stuff,” Frankie said, reaching over and fumbling for my belt.
I killed the engine and stilled his fingers before he could get too far. As much as I wanted his hands on me—and my dick agreed wholeheartedly—there’d be plenty of time for that later.
If everything went according to plan, anyway.
“The good stuff is going to have to wait.”
He whimpered, but then I pulled the blindfold off and his whine became a gasp. He was out of the car before I could say anything else.
“I love this place,” he said, actually twirling like Maria on the hilltop. We’d only been here once before. When Frankie was gone, I couldn’t bring myself to visit, but now that he was back, something inside me said this was the perfect spot.
“Let’s go,” I said, taking his hand and walking beside him toward the lighthouse.
Like always, the property was all but abandoned. It was just Frankie and me and the seagulls. Visiting with him this time felt so different.
I was different.
There’d been so much tumultuousness the last time we’d been here. I had been in the middle of a personal crisis, questioning everything about myself, about Frankie, about the way I felt about him and the way I thought I should feel about him.
This time, there was no question at all.
Everything was clear and sure and right, and I was almost giddy with happiness.
We climbed the stairs to the top of the lighthouse, the sounds of the gulls getting louder with each step. They were almost loud enough to drown out the harsh sound of my beating heart.
Stepping out onto the catwalk, the sun shone through Frankie’s hair, highlighting the warmer tones of dark brown.
“It’s just as amazing as I remember it,” he said, trailing his fingers along the cool metal railing.
I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep them from shaking. I was so fucking nervous—so terrified that maybe I’d imagined how serious his feelings were for me, maybe I’d misread the signals all along.
Frankie and I were happy, and we hadn’t been together all that long. There was a good chance I was about to fuck it all up. But I couldn’t wait. I wanted to make him mine.
Permanently.
Forever.
Until de
ath do us part.
Frankie sauntered the circumference of the catwalk, leaning out over the railing every so often to look at the view below. I stood, frozen in one place, until Frankie came back around the other side.
“This alone was worth coming back for,” he said, sounding wistful.
“I hope not the only thing.”
He smiled and leaned forward to kiss me. I let his lips linger a moment before I pulled back, and with one single fortifying breath, I dropped to one knee.
“What are you—”
“I love you, Frankie Bell. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. I can’t imagine my life without you.” He looked absolutely stunned, but I’d gotten this far. There was no stopping now. “You moving to Alaska to be with me was a huge commitment and one I could never take lightly, but I want more. I want one more commitment from you.”
I took his hands in mine. They were shaking, and he looked like he was about to cry.
“Frankie, will you marry me?”
“Oh my God. Yes.” It came out more of a squeak than words; then his arms were wrapped around my neck and his mouth was on mine, and the tears hitting my cheeks could have belonged to either one of us.
He was everything to me, and now he was mine for always. I had never been happier than I was in that moment. I held him tight, picking him up off the ground for a moment, nearly crushing his ribs.
“Barrett?” he asked, sounding almost tentative.
I set him back down. “Uh-huh?”
“I know it’s not really traditional for guys, and maybe it’s dumb, but maybe we could get engagement rings?”
“Oh shit! The ring.” I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out the black velvet box. “I knew I would fuck this up.”
“You got me a ring?”
“I did. I thought you’d want one.”
He pulled open the box and peered inside. “It has diamonds!”
I laughed. “You like it?”
“Put it on me,” he said, doing a little jump.
I took the ring carefully from the box, my hands not altogether steady yet, and slid the ring onto his finger. It was a perfect fit. The gray diamonds glinted in the sunlight, and neither of us could take our eyes off it.
“I love it,” he said, holding his hand up to admire it. “There’s gonna be an awful lot of jealous bitches on Insta.”
Goddamn, he looked good wearing my ring. I was so glad I’d decided to get one. I’d waffled back and forth for days before finally deciding that if there was something that sparkled, Frankie was a fan.
He turned to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. “You wanna reenact the first time we came here?”
I kissed him, basking in the taste of him for a second. “As hot as that was, and the memory of it gets me hard every time, I wanna take you home and love you properly.”
“Take me home, then. I got plans for you.”
If you enjoyed Frankie and Barrett’s story, please consider leaving a review, and look for Beck and Brody, coming May 2019!
Make sure you check out Laguna, the prequel to their HEA. It can be read for free.
Click here to download.
Sawyer’s Ferry Series
Alaska
Laguna
Bishop Ridge
Zero Hour Series A Forced Silence A Fallen Heart A Forgotten Life (Coming Soon)
Hope Cove Series
Brokenhearted
Wholehearted
Ironhearted
Newport Boys Series
Keeping Sweets
Resurrecting Elliott
Standalone Stories
All He Ever Needed
Home Skillet
When the Devil Wants In
Textual Relations
Married for a Month
The Mistletoe Effect
His Fairy Godfather
Thirty Things
Tasting Notes
The Storm Before the Calm
Bloom Box (Heartsville)
Brick by Brick
Five Ways a Boy Can Break Your Heart
Riding the Board
Cate discovered her love for books of all kinds early on, but romance is where her heart truly lies. She is addicted to the happily ever afters and the journey the characters take to get there. Currently residing in British Columbia, Cate loves living just a stone’s throw from the water. When she’s not writing, she can be found consuming coffee at an alarming rate while wrangling her children, her husband, and their two cats.
Cate loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at [email protected] or on her website http://www.cateashwood.com.
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