Without a Doubt

by Lindsay Paige

  FOR FOUR YEARS, I've been dating Eva Harvey. It's been the best four years of my life. After Eva graduated, she was able to find a job in public relations with a company close by. We moved farther from the college and closer to both of our jobs once I graduated last year. Since then, we've taken a couple of dream vacations to new and exciting places. Without a doubt, life has been good.

  I hoped to propose after I graduated, but when I totaled Sweet Irene one day during my senior year, I had to dip into that fund to help get a new truck, which Eva named Sexy Pablo. Apparently, that was the first name to pop into her head, so we went with it.

  I try to think of one bad thing that's happened during our time together, but I have nothing. Nothing seems so terrible when Eva is with me. Not even kidding. I can find something good out of every situation because she is the something good. We have an argument where Eva gets so pissed off, she leaves? She comes back before the day is over when we've both cooled off and we settle the issue. We somehow have trouble paying the rent? We make a budget and stick to it. We have a pregnancy scare? I finally do something Eva deems embarrassing enough to erase all the things she's done, and she laughs at me for having a panic attack before we realize we could handle a kid.

  Yeah, that was the longest week of my life. When Eva blurted out, during sex mind you, that she thought she might be pregnant, I panicked on the spot. Not only did I pull away from her, I started hyperventilating while trying to question her and nearly fainted. She hadn't taken a test yet, but she's normally regular and she was worried. She couldn't hold it in until she knew for sure. Never before did we exhaust every last what if possible as we did that night. The next day, we went to buy her a test. It took two days to convince her she was brave enough to take the test, that without a doubt, we were strong enough to handle it if it was positive.

  It came back negative and her period started the next day.

  We were extremely relieved, truly realizing how much we wanted to do before kids came into the picture. It's one reason why we've traveled this year.

  While we don't want to rush that step, it's definitely time to take a step.

  I've had the ring hidden for three months now. I can't stop obsessing over the perfect proposal for Eva. There seems to be so much more pressure than I anticipated with the viral videos of proposals online and Eva commenting on how sweet they seem to be. For as close to her as I am, for me to know her so well, I don't have a damn clue on how to ask her to spend the rest of her life with me. I wake up every morning wondering how I'm going to do it.

  Eva's grabbing her purse, keys, and drink while I slip my wallet into my back pocket and find my keys.

  “I have a surprise for you,” I blurt out.

  She turns to me with a grin. “Another one so soon?”

  I laugh. The last surprise was yesterday when I baked brownies after dinner. “Yeah.”

  “When do I get it?”

  Shit. I'm talking about proposing and I don't have a plan! I shrug. “You'll get it when you get it.”

  She rolls her eyes at me. “Fine. You can cook again tonight. I want steaks on the grill.”

  “Done,” I agree, walking over to her. I do most of the cooking anyway. I kiss her softly once before pulling away. “Don't forget to pay the water bill on your lunch break.”

  Eva sighs. “You just had to ruin the moment, didn't you?”

  I laugh and we leave for work.

  How long can I get away with not giving this surprise to her?

  I don't want to mess this up for her. Yet, I don't know what I'm doing either! This is impossible. Thoughts of proposing plague me all day. My plan to call Glen for his input on my lunch break is ruined when I have to work through it. I'm screwed. This shouldn't be so damn hard! As the day wears on, things don't look up. I text Eva that I'll be an hour or so late. Part of me wishes I were still in college. School didn't last as long as work, and sometimes, I miss it.

  When I get home, I find Eva on the back porch. “What are you doing?” I ask, seeing her standing in front of my grill.

  “I'm starving, so I started it myself.”

  I frown. She's never operated my grill. I stand next to her and begin to check that she hasn't somehow messed it up.

  “I've seen you do it enough, I know how to work it,” she tells me.

  “Appears so.” I sit down on a chair and she sits in my lap, resting her head on my shoulder. “Did you have a good day?”

  “Yeah, it was just long. Glen wanted us to meet for drinks later, but I didn't feel like it. It's going to be a lazy evening, Emerson.”

  “Lazy sounds good.”

  We finish cooking dinner, eat our steaks and drink a beer, and then lie down on the couch to watch a movie. I'm pretty sure we've nearly watched everything Netflix has to offer. A movie starts and like always, I'm waiting for Eva to fall asleep. It's impossible to get through an entire movie with her. I'm about to check to see if she's asleep when she lifts her head, her eyes sleepy as I predicted.

  “I don't get my surprise tonight?”

  “What if I said I wasn't sure if you should get it tonight?”

  She frowns, her eyebrows pulling together. “I'd say give it to me anyway.”

  I laugh. “Of course you would. Just remember, you could have waited and it could have been better. Sit up and wait here.”

  She does and I leave to get the ring from my nightstand. Hey, if I could hide the key to my apartment there, it had to make a good hiding spot for her engagement ring. I pull out the black box. This is a terrible idea. I need to tell her she needs to wait. Or come up with another surprise. This isn't how I should propose to her. It's not special. It's not romantic. It's too simple.

  I sit on the bed, staring at it. I want to ask her so badly already. Maybe she wouldn't mind something simple. Shouldn't I have figured this out by now?

  “Emerson?”

  I look up to see Eva standing in the doorway, her eyes focused on the jewelry box. She walks over and sits next to me, finally lifting her gaze to meet mine.

  “Having doubts?” she carefully asks, trying to keep the emotions out of her voice.

  “Yeah, but about how to do this the way you want,” I confess.

  Her grin surprises me. “Want me to give you a hint?” Eva doesn't give me a chance to answer. Her voice lowers to a whisper and there's a hint of laughter as she says, “Get on one knee and ask me.”

  I watch her for a moment before dropping to both of my knees in front of her. The words begin to pour out. “I love you, Eva. I love everything about you, about us, and our lives for the last four years. There's never been any doubts when it comes to you. I want all your time, all the years in the future, and I want to love you for the rest of our lives. I want us to grow old together. I want you to eventually burp your abc's.” She laughs. “I want to make all those dreams we've been talking about come true. I want to make you happy. I want you. Will you please marry me?”

  She's quiet for a second before she nods. “Since you said please.”

  Laughing, I open the box and proceed to slip the ring on her finger.

  “You shouldn't have worried so much,” she says. “All I ever pictured was you asking and me saying yes.”

  “So you're happy?”

  Eva smiles. “Not yet. I'm waiting on a kiss.”

  THANK YOU, KRISTALYN Thornock, for being with me for every chapter of this book. Your feedback is always so helpful and I'll take your long, rambling emails any day of the week!

  Thank you, Heidi Grubb, for taking the time to provide feedback as well. You see things most don't and I'm so grateful you've been willing to read my work when I ask.

  Thank you, Rebecca Cartee from Editing by Rebecca, for editing my book and leaving little comments in the side to make me laugh.

  Thank you, Robin from Wicked by Design, for working with me and making this cover more beautiful than I thought it could be.

  Thank you, Julie from JT Formatting, for being the best formatter ever! Y
ou're outstanding and such a pleasure to work with.

  Last but not least, thank you, reader, for taking the time to read Emerson and Eva's story.

  LINDSAY PAIGE IS the author of multiple Young Adult, New Adult, and Sports romances. She also co-authors sports romances with Mary Smith. Along with writing, she loves reading, watching hockey, especially the Pittsburgh Penguins, and finding funny terrible puns and recipes on Pinterest. All the while, she is also focused on completing college.

  Lindsay resides in North Carolina and is inspired by the world around her and the people in it. She is currently working on numerous solo works and a couple of projects with co-author Mary Smith as well.

  Lindsay has written the following books/series:

  Bold as Love series

  Bracing for Love series

  Don’t Panic

  Without a Doubt

  You Before Me

  She has co-written the following series:

  The Ninth Inning series

  Oh Captain, My Captain series

  The Penalty Kill trilogy

  Author Links:

  Blog:

  authorlindsaypaige.blogspot.com/

  Twitter:

  twitter.com/lindsaypaige11

  Facebook:

  facebook.com/authorlindsaypaige

  Pinterest:

  http://www.pinterest.com/authorlindsay/

  Instagram:

  http://instagram.com/authorlindsaypaige