by Jillian Dodd
She smiles at me and swats my hand away, so I take the opportunity to glide it across her ass instead.
“Riley, behave.”
“Since when have I ever behaved?” I flirt.
She rolls her eyes and pulls me into a hot kiss. “Pretty much never. I was asking what you thought of the venue, not my dress. You know, the project I’ve been working on for the last year and a half.”
“Oh, that. Hard to notice details like brick-lined paths, floral arches, lantern-lined terraces, and rustic-chic pavilions when you’re wearing a dress like that.”
“What about the bounce houses, Ferris wheel, and the lawn games for all the kids?”
“They are awesome.” I wipe the smile off my face, stop flirting, and say seriously, “All joking aside, Ariela, the facility is amazing. Kyle told me that it’s booked up for the next year.”
She looks into my eyes. “When I came to California to find you, I ended up finding so much more.”
“What’d you find, kitty?”
“Me. And the life I always dreamed about.”
“You mean, we always dreamed about,” I tease.
“Yes, in fact, I think it was you, during your best-man toast, who said that, when you surround yourself with the people you love, great things can happen. I think that’s the story of your life, Riley Johnson.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulders as we both look out at the people we love, all laughing, dancing, drinking, and carrying on. I make eye contact with Aiden from across the room. He gives me a subtle nod, letting me know that everything is ready.
“What do you say we go take a walk? It’s dark now, and they’re all dancing. No one will notice we’re gone. Besides, I have something to show you.”
“What?” she says, slipping her hand into mine.
“Well, while you’ve been working on your masterpiece here, Aiden and I have been working on something on my land.”
“Oh, I am well aware of the project that must not be named.” She giggles. “Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on back there? And, more importantly, are we going to be able to take down the awful construction plastic covering it before your parents come out to see the completed guesthouses?”
I lead her to a Gator and then wrap a blanket around her shoulders to keep her warm during the ride.
“Actually, yes,” I tell her. “It seems the stars have aligned, and your project is done at the same time mine is. So, yes, when the whole family descends on the West Coast for Easter, everything will be ready.”
We drive down one of the paths that we installed over the last year and a half that connects the vineyard to Knox’s property and the studio and then on down to our house. We finished the renovations of the inside of the house about six months ago, and I love it so much that I sold my penthouse. With the guesthouses nearly finished, it means that my dreams are also nearly complete.
Almost.
There’s something I have to do tonight.
As we pull around our house, she notices it.
“What are all those lights in our backyard, Riley? It looks like a Friday night football game. What’s going on?”
“You’ll see,” I say, laying my hand on her knee and giving it a little squeeze.
“Riley Johnson, did you put in a field just so your family could play touch football at Thanksgiving?”
I grin. “Maybe.”
“Wow,” she says as we come down the hill and she can see the full view. “Ohmigod! You even painted the end zones with your name! And it’s all decorated in our high school colors!”
I grab a set of red and yellow pom-poms out of the back of the cart and toss them at her.
“Are you kidding me? Pom-poms, too?”
“Well, if I’m going to play on this field, I hope you’d still want to cheer for me. You know how those little skirts used to turn me on.”
She swats me with one of the poms as I lead her to the center of the field. “That, I do remember. Do you remember when you first asked me to be your girlfriend? You dragged me out of the cheer line, put that four-leaf clover tattoo on my face, and asked me to be your lucky charm.” She slides her arms around my waist, much like she did on that night. “And then you told me that you loved me for the first time. You never did anything small.”
I laugh along with her. “Well, I am a Johnson.”
“Speaking of Johnsons,” she says, looking down.
I point toward my junk. “This one?”
She laughs again in the shy way she did when we first met. When I believed that we would be together forever from that moment on. Life didn’t go exactly the way I’d planned, but at this point, it doesn’t matter because I’m here with her. Right now.
She points down at the monogram in the middle of the field. “I get why you have your last name in the end zones, but why do you have an A in the middle of the field? Is Asher Vineyards going to borrow it sometimes or something?”
“No, the A is for you, Ariela. Because you and I are back here, starting a new life together. A new chapter to our epic love story.”
“It’s funny,” she says. “Keatyn and I were talking about that the other day. About how it’s not where you’ve been that matters; it’s where you end up that does.”
“That’s right. We’ve ended up here. And I finally understand what the hell that saying even means. So here goes. Ariela, I’ve been directing movies and videos for over ten years, which means I understand the difference between a happy ending and a happily ever after.”
“And does one of those involve a blow job?” she says with a laugh.
I laugh and shake my head. “No. If this were the movie of our life, this would be our happy ending. We’re back together where we belong. I could end it here with a kiss under some twinkle lights, and the audience would be happy.”
“Kiss me then, Riley. Give me my happy ending,” she says with an adorable grin.
“Says the girl who made me wait five months and four days for sex and about killed me.”
“You remember that?”
“I remember you were the only girl ever worth the wait.”
She smiles at me with tears in her eyes. I grab her hand and tightly pull it to my chest.
“Ariela, I’d rather not end our movie here.”
“Why not? Everything is perfect.”
“Because a happy ending isn’t good enough for our movie.”
“It’s not?” she asks, looking slightly confused.
But then the stadium lights are turned off, and the strands of twinkle lights that stretch from end zone to end zone are turned on as a band starts playing our song.
“What is all this, Riley?” she asks, looking around in awe.
“What this is, Ariela, my dear, is what I hope is the start of our happily ever after.” I take her hand back in mine and then drop to one knee. “Since you came back into my life, everything has meaning. Suddenly, I care about everything. Because you are my everything—my all-encompassing, still-can-hardly-breathe-when-you’re-around everything. Will you marry me, have babies with me, and love me forever?”
The second I stand up, she jumps into my arms. If I didn’t have damn good balance, I would be flat on my ass right now. I grab her tiny waist and lean her back just a little.
Just enough to give her a happily ever after–worthy kiss.
“You didn’t even let me show you the ring before you said yes,” I tease her.
She holds up her hand, showing me the Hello Kitty ring I gave her on that football field so many years ago. Back then, I loved her, but all I could think about was getting myself under that cute little cheerleading skirt. Now, I want so much more than that—a bunch of screaming kids and my own mansion of love.
I’m shaky when I pull the ring box out of my pocket. I’m nervous about this part.
Although her body language is definitely saying yes, she’s still yet to actually answer my question. I open the box and show her the large pink diamond ring I had custom-desi
gned.
She freezes, her body tensing up, and I’m afraid she hates it. But Aiden told me not to freak out if she cries. He said that crying is good in this situation. But what if she says no?
Tears stream down her face. “It’s pink. Like the sparkly ring you gave me when you asked me out. But a little more grown-up.”
She throws her arms around me and kisses me.
“Yes, Riley! Yes! I can’t wait to start my happily ever after with you.”
And, when the band has stopped playing and the twinkle lights are turned off, I lie under the stars and make love to the only girl I’ve ever really loved, who will always hold my heart captive.
THE END
Books by Jillian Dodd
The Keatyn Chronicles
USA TODAY bestselling young adult contemporary romance set in an East Coast boarding school.
Stalk Me
Kiss Me
Date Me
Love Me
Adore Me
Hate Me
Get Me
Fame
Power
Money
Sex
Love
Keatyn Unscripted
Aiden
That Boy Series
Small-town contemporary romance series about falling in love with the boy next door.
That Boy
That Wedding
That Baby
That Divorce
The Love Series
Contemporary, standalone romances following the very sexy Crawford family.
Vegas Love
Broken Love
Fake Love
Spy Girl Series
Young adult romance series about a young spy who just might save the world.
The Prince
The Eagle
The Society
The Valiant
Jillian Dodd and Kenzie Harp
Young adult travel romance.
Girl off the Grid
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jillian is a USA TODAY bestselling author who writes fun romances with characters her readers fall in love with, from the boy next door in the That Boy trilogy to the daughter of a famous actress in The Keatyn Chronicles to a kick-ass young assassin in the Spy Girl series.
She lives in a small Florida beach town, is married to her college sweetheart, has two grown children, and two Labrador Retrievers named Cali and Camber. When she's not working, she likes to travel, paint, shop for shoes, watch football, and go to the beach.
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