by Ali Parker
He was funny and hardworking and kind, charming, dedicated, caring, and intelligent. Though I wasn’t sure at first that he would, he’d also kept his word about Lyons. In the six months since Harris’s death, all had been quiet for us on that front.
Sonny was, of course, still looking into his father’s case from time to time. He would never let it go. But it no longer owned him, or us. When he told me he wanted a life with me too, he meant it. Both of our priorities shifted that day, both of us now focused on us and our relationship first.
It was a glorious feeling. For the first time since my parents passed, I felt like I belonged. I had a real home. Sonny was home to me now, as were his arms, his heart. Just Sonny, really.
His brothers had also welcomed me with open arms. They kept saying I was their family now. I thought it was a little premature to say, but I liked hearing it anyway.
Evan, in particular, and I had grown close. He really stepped up after their father’s refusal to accept Sonny’s help and Harris’s death. We spent a lot of time with him, Jeremy and Marie. Beau and Tyson joined us when they could, but those two worked insane hours.
Since Jeremy and Marie usually left our barbecues a little earlier thanks to Austin’s bed and bath routine, Evan, Sonny and I were often the last ones left standing.
Sonny started arranging events like family barbecues at least twice a month. He said with everything that happened and how his brothers stood by him, each in his own way, he remembered the importance of family and wanted to spend more time with them.
It was like a dream come true for me, suddenly having four older “brothers,” one sort of, almost sister-in-law and a precocious, adorable nephew in my life. I was pretty sure that was part of the reason Sonny kept insisting on having everyone over.
Mentally, I ran over the things we had planned for this month, wondering if that was why Sonny was at the library waiting for me. He chuckled when he saw me running toward him and opened his arms to envelop me in a giant hug.
I nestled into his chest, looping my arms around him as I held him to me and breathed in his comforting, familiar scent. “Did I forget about something we had planned?”
My voice was muffled, but Sonny heard me anyway. His voice rumbled deep in his chest. “Nope. I’m here to surprise you.”
Pulling back, I rose up on my toes to press a kiss to his lips. I threaded my hands into his hair, wondering if I would ever get enough of kissing him. “Consider your mission accomplished. I’m surprised. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I want to take you somewhere,” he murmured against my hair, not letting go of me. “Wanna take a drive with me?”
I nodded. “Always.”
Excitement bubbled up inside. Sonny and I occasionally went on drives, just the two of us. We talked, we relaxed. He showed me some of the places they frequented as kids. A few times, we’d driven to the town where I was born, and I showed him some of the places I remembered from there.
It was getting late, and I didn’t know how much we would be able to see of this drive, but time spent alone and relaxing with him was always worth it.
“Where are we going?” I asked when he took my hand and started leading me to his truck, away from my little car. “And can we come pick up my car later?”
The corners of his mouth raised into a smirk. “I’ve already taken care of it. Evan has your spare key. Jeremy’s bringing him by later to pick it up. Don’t worry.”
I bumped my hip into his as we walked. “I’m not worried. I just wanted to be sure this wasn’t part of your elaborate plan to get rid of my car.”
He winked, draping his arm around my shoulders. “It might be.”
I sighed, hoping he was joking. Sonny and Evan were convinced my car needed to be replaced. I kept telling them it was still fine, but knowing Evan was going to be collecting it made me wonder if this drive Sonny was taking me on was a distraction.
“Will my car be at home when we get back?”
He shrugged playfully, widening his eyes as his shoulders dropped. “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.”
We got into his truck. I waited until we were on the road to start questioning him. “I don’t want to wait and see. What’s Evan going to do to my car?”
Sonny laughed, leaning his head back against the neck rest. “Nothing, love. I promise. He’s just getting it for me so we don’t have to worry about picking it up later. Although, if you wake up tomorrow morning and he’s tweaked it a little, would you be mad?”
I shook my head. “So long as tweaking doesn’t amount to selling or replacing, I’ll learn to live with it.”
He reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze, resting it underneath his on his gear lever. We drove in silence for a couple of miles until I recognized the road we were on.
“Are we going back to Nonna’s?” I thought back to that night, our first proper date. We’d had plenty since, but that one would always hold a special place in my heart.
Shaking his head slowly, he turned off the road exactly where we had the night we went to Nonna’s. “Not exactly.”
“Exactly where are we going then?” Curiosity was winning out over playing it cool. I didn’t remember seeing other places around here the night we drove to Nonna’s, and we were definitely on the same road.
Sonny pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key. “You’ll see.”
I was about to protest, or maybe break down and beg him to tell me, when he took an unexpected turn. I turned in my seat to face him. “Okay, so we’re not going to Nonna’s. Please tell me where we’re going.”
“Patience, love.” He smiled, knowing patience wasn’t a strong suit of mine when it came to surprises. “We’ll be there in a few more minutes.”
In a few more minutes turned out to be eight and a half minutes, almost to the second. Sonny slowed down the car and parked behind a copse of trees. I looked around us, but I didn’t see anything except for long field grass and trees.
Hesitating before I got out of the truck, I looked back over at Sonny. “You didn’t tell me I would need different shoes.” I pointed to my sandals. “These won’t do well with hiking through an open field.”
“We’re not hiking,” he assured me. When he walked around the truck, he opened my door and hoisted me out, hooking one arm beneath my legs and the other around my back. “Just in case, I’ll carry you to where the ground evens out.”
I melted against him. Cryptic clues and random hike aside, I wasn’t even going to pretend he wasn’t super sweet for carrying me when I wasn’t sure about walking on this terrain in these shoes. A lot of guys might have complained, or even accused me of ruining the surprise.
Sonny didn’t even blink. He simply listened to my concern and offered a solution. A definite pro to dating a cop was that he didn’t let small stuff hold him back. If there was an obstacle in the way, even if it was something silly like my shoes, he simply found another way.
As we broke through the trees, I noticed small glimmers of light coming from all around us. Fairy lights were strung in the branches overhanging a familiar spot next to a stream. Lanterns were packed around a blanket set up next to a log overlooking the water.
“This is where we walked to in the moonlight that night from Nonna’s,” I exclaimed. “What are we doing here?”
Sonny set me down on my feet next to the blanket. “We’re having a picnic.”
Sure enough, there was a basket I hadn’t noticed next to the log. I beamed at him. I mentioned once how my parents and I used to picnic along the stream in my hometown when I was young. “You remembered.”
Sonny nodded, smiling. But he also seemed nervous suddenly. “I wanted them to be a part of this, so I tried to recreate one of your memories with them in a place special to both of us.”
“Part of what?” I asked, sinking down on the blanket. I pulled the basket closer while I waited for him to answer, inspecting what appeared to be delicious treats from Nonna’s kitchen.
&
nbsp; Sonny didn’t answer me right away. Finding a bottle of wine in the basket, I dug around for glasses and turned to him.
Expecting to find him on the blanket beside me, I froze when I realized he was down on one knee right beside the blanket. It took me a second to register he was holding a small, velvet-lined box. Right in the center of it sat an ornate, shiny ring.
Light from the lanterns and the fading sun bounced off its gleaming surface, casting rainbows from the diamond in the middle. I opened my mouth to say something, but no sound came out.
Sonny smiled, his gaze warm and steady on mine. “I’ve loved you since the day I met you. It took a while for me to figure out what I already knew deep down inside, but when it finally clicked, I realized there hasn’t been a day since I met you I haven’t loved you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, Niki Holmes. I wouldn’t be anywhere without you, and I never want to be anywhere without you ever again. What do you say? Want to be my partner in everything but crime for the rest of our lives? Will you marry me?”
My hands flew to my mouth. My entire vocabulary eluded me. I looked into the mesmerizing eyes of the man I loved, seeing the fierce and passionate love I felt for him reflected there. I would never know what I did right to deserve a man like him, but I knew I would never stop loving him.
“Yes,” I breathed finally, locating the only words that mattered. “Of course I will. I love you too.”
Lips curling into a relieved smile, he plucked the ring from its velvet box and slid it onto my finger. It was a perfect fit.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him, kissing me until I was breathless. It felt like I would float away to the clouds if not for his strong embrace.
Smiling against my lips, Sonny tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek in his palm. “If we were in one of your books right now, what would my next line be?”
“I don’t know about yours,” I told him, “But the next line in the book would probably have been, ‘and they lived happily ever after.’”
He kissed me deeply, lying down on his back on the blanket and taking me with him as he whispered, “I can live with that.”
The next title in the Shameless Southern Night Collection is coming soon! Evan & Sadie’s story, Hot & Handy, is set to release on September 21st.
Check here!
Acknowledgments
A shout out to our readers for supporting our books, making us laugh & being awesome.
No book would be complete without our advance readers - we’re stoked that you love the Lovett brothers as much as we do!
Our PA’s who tap us on the shoulder with reminders, tidy up the details and make sure we stay in line - Mary W., Charlotte B., Katelyn W. and Ashley B.
Family, friends, coffee, and more make it all even better.
xoxo
Ali & JH
About the Author
Ali Parker is a USA Today Best Selling contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and thirty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green stockings for her.
She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and types of writing.
If you enjoyed her writing style, please check out her other pen names at the pen names link below!
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About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author J. H. Croix lives in a small town in the historical farmlands of Maine with her husband and two spoiled dogs. Croix writes steamy contemporary romance with sassy independent women and rugged alpha men who aren't afraid to show some emotion. Her love for quirky small-towns and the characters that inhabit them shines through in her writing. Take a walk on the wild side of romance with her bestselling novels!
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2018 J.H. Croix & Ali Parker
All rights reserved.
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Cover design by Cormar Covers
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
