He nodded and sat down beside me. “Exactly three months since the night at the winery.”
“Awww.” I gave him a quick kiss. He still wore his dress pants and shirt, although he’d cuffed up his sleeves before Paisley’s bath. He’d also ditched his tie and loosened his collar. Sexy as hell, even half undone. “And I’m supposed to eat them before dinner?”
“Yes. Or at least open them.” He handed me the dark chocolate dipped. “Here. This one first. I’ll go get your drink.”
With my belly fluttering, I cracked it open. Setting the pieces back on the plate, I pulled out the little paper. It said, Only you.
“Awwww.” I smiled at him as he set my drink on the table and sat next to me. “So sweet.” I set the little piece of paper down and picked up the next cookie, although I knew what it was going to say, because it was the second half of something I asked him to tell me all the time. I cracked it open over the plate, and pulled out the paper.
Then I gasped. Because it didn’t say what I thought it was going to say. It said, Will you marry me?
And Nate was getting on one knee at my feet.
My jaw hung open. My heart clamored in my chest.
He pulled a ring box from his pocket and opened it up. “Always you,” he said. His voice cracked. His eyes were shining. But he smiled at me and everything, everything fell into place.
I shrieked and threw my arms around his neck before bursting into tears, clinging to him like he’d just rescued me from drowning.
He laughed. “Is that a yes?”
But all I could do was sob.
“Want to at least try the ring on?”
The ring! I hadn’t even looked at it.
Sniffling, I let go of him and he held it out for me again. “I asked your sisters’ opinions, but if it’s not what you want—”
But I was already blubbering again. I see a lot of rings in my business, but this one took my breath away—a two-carat elongated cushion-cut solitaire with a narrow pave band in white gold. “It’s p-perfect,” I managed. “Ab-abso-lutely p-perfect.”
“I’d like to take more credit, but your sisters said you’ve described your dream ring to them so many times they had it memorized.” He took it from the box and slid it onto my finger.
I laughed through my tears. “It’s true.” It took me a few more minutes, but eventually I calmed down enough to speak. “Oh my God, Nate. It’s real. It was a dream, but you made it real.”
“It’s real.”
I looked at my hands in disbelief—one held a tiny slip of paper with Nate’s proposal on it, the other wore a ring he’d just slipped on my finger. I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around him again, pressing my body against his from knee to chest, burying my face in his neck. I closed my eyes, breathed him in, and saw it all unfold. This man would be my husband. This house would be our home. This life would be ours to share.
“You really want me to be your wife?” I asked, tipping my head back to look up at him.
“Of course I do.” He kissed my lips. “But that’s not all I want. I want you to help me raise Paisley. And I want to have children with you. And I want to spend every day dedicated to our family and our home and our dreams.”
“I want that, too.”
He grinned. “Then can I please get a yes? Because I don’t think you’ve actually said it yet. What do you say, Calamity, will you marry me?”
I smiled up at him, my wish come true. “Yes.”
* * *
THE END
Acknowledgments
I am so grateful to the following people:
Kayti, Laurelin, and Sierra—you never let the snakes get me.
To Jenn Watson, Sarah Ferguson, and the incredible team at Social Butterfly PR, for all your hard work.
To Melissa Gaston and Candi Kane, an unbeatable team.
To Nancy, once again, for tolerating my last minute begging.
To the Shop Talkers, for being funny and smart and generous.
To my earliest readers, Cheryl Guernsey and Michele Ficht.
To my eagle eyes, Janice Owen and Karen Lawson.
To Rebecca Friedman, for building me up.
To Flavia and Meire at Bookcase Literary, for tireless efforts on my behalf.
To my PQs, who always make me smile.
To the Harlots, for being an awesomely positive and supportive group, always.
To my ARC team—a force of nature. You’re the best.
To the bloggers and event organizers who do it all for the love of books and this community. You amaze me.
To my readers, near and far. It’s all for you.
To my family, whom I love so. Always you, only you.
Coming Soon…ONLY HIM
Don’t miss the next book in this series, ONLY HIM! Dallas and Maren’s story will release in June 2018.
He was my first crush, my first kiss, my first everything.
* * *
But I’m not a lovesick teenager anymore, and I refuse to let him break my heart again.
* * *
So when he shows up out of the blue asking me to take a road trip with him “for old time’s sake,” I say I will. After all, it’s been ten years. I’m stronger and smarter, full of inner peace and harmony.
* * *
Except he’s still got eyes that make me weak. Kisses that steal my rational thoughts. Tattoos that declare war on my senses and a body that renders me completely defenseless. We’re just as good together as we were back then—better, even—and I’m willing to give the only man I’ve ever loved another chance.
* * *
But he’s got to tell me the truth.
She didn’t need to be rescued. I did.
* * *
From guilt. From regret. From the nagging fear that I’d wronged the one person in my life who’d loved me unconditionally.
* * *
All I’d wanted was her forgiveness. To know in my heart that she’d made peace with the past and had moved on without any permanent scars.
* * *
But that’s not what happened.
* * *
Because when I saw her, everything came back.
* * *
I can make her laugh, I can make her cry, I can make her body surrender to mine in ways that neither of us could have imagined back then. I can—and I do—love her more than she’ll ever know.
* * *
But I can’t tell her the real reason why I needed to spend these days with her.
* * *
And I can’t stay.
* * *
Preorder here!
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* * *
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Also by Melanie Harlow
The Speak Easy Duet
* * *
The Frenched Series
Frenched
Yanked
Forked
Floored
* * *
The Happy Crazy Love Series
Some Sort of Happy
Some Sort of Crazy
Some Sort of Love
* * *
The After We Fall Series
Man Candy
After We Fall
If You Were Mine
* * *
Strong Enough (A M/M romance cowritten with David Romanov)
* * *
The Tango Lesson (A Standalone Novella)
About the Author
Melanie Harlow likes her heels high, her martini dry, a
nd her history with the naughty bits left in. In addition to ONLY YOU, she’s the author of the After We Fall Series, the Happy Crazy Love Series, the Frenched Series, STRONG ENOUGH (a M/M romance co-authored with David Romanov), and The Speak Easy Duet (historical romance). She writes from her home outside of Detroit, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not writing, she’s probably got a cocktail in hand. And sometimes when she is.
Only You Page 26
