“After next week, you might not have to.”
Scanning his face across the table, I marveled at him—and how much had changed since last summer, not just in my life, but ours. Ryan no longer wore that baseball cap unless it was Saturday, trading it in for a suit and tie. Working with my man every day had its perks—like eating lunch together on a daily basis.
I heard Adam before I saw him. “Aw, you started without me.” He threw a paper bag full of Taco Bell items on the table before walking to the fridge to grab a Coke. “Where’s Janae?”
“Right here,” she said from around the corner. “I told you I wanted to do some homework before lunch.”
I shrugged. “You could have done it here.”
“Not with you and Ryan talking nonstop.”
Ryan folded the newspaper, setting it on the table before picking up his sandwich. “She’s got a point.”
Adam grabbed a seat, crinkling paper as he fished his food out of the bag. “So, Janae, how are classes coming anyway?”
“It’s weird. The online ones seem harder than the ones in an actual classroom. But I have my last final this afternoon and then I’m on break.”
“Are you taking summer classes?”
“Hell, yes,” she said, joining us at the table. “I wanna get this done.”
No way was I going to burst her bubble and tell her she had a long way to go—especially now that she was finishing an entire year. She already had an associate’s degree, and so she’d applied to earn a B.S. in political science—but her eye was on ultimately getting a law degree. I wasn’t sure what had finally pushed her in that direction, but Adam and I were working with her schedule, because we knew she’d kick ass as a fellow attorney.
And that was where Ryan fit in.
After the Ed incident, Ryan started coming to my office for lunch every day. We spent more and more time together and he was there on the day Janae announced her intention to return to school—and she’d jokingly suggested that Ryan cover her during the times she had to be gone. Ryan had asked, “How would that work exactly? I can’t type for shit.”
Ah, but he was charming and cleaned up well. A navy-blue suit did wonders for the man. And our clients loved him.
Of course, so did I.
It turned out that Ryan enjoyed it, too. He’d liked working outdoors, enjoyed the physical activity, but he didn’t care for the unpredictability that came with construction. Working for us was a win-win. And with Janae dropping down to part-time flexible hours, we had her working more like a paralegal.
“You only have one more year, right?” Adam asked before taking a giant bite out of a taco that looked small in his hand.
“Not if I don’t knock two important classes out of the way this summer. Don’t worry, boss. I got it all planned out. I have my fall classes picked out already, and my advisor said there shouldn’t be any problem getting the rest in the spring.”
I picked up my fork again. “Have you decided on a law school yet?”
“I’m going for DU.”
She really did have it all planned out. As we ate our respective meals, we chatted about tasks for the afternoon, and I smiled at all my friends, happy to be surrounded by people I loved and cared for.
We were just about wrapped up with lunch. Ten more minutes and we’d open our front doors once more. Janae excused herself to the ladies’ room and Adam was looking at his phone. “There’s my girl.” Looking up, he said to no one in particular, “Rae’s here. Be right back.”
Yes, Adam and the new defense attorney I’d met on that fateful night were now dating. Only it was more than dating. They were getting pretty serious.
Not as serious as Ryan and I, though.
The two of us were considering cohabitation, especially now that we were working together. We hadn’t quite made the leap, which was silly, because we never spent the night apart.
But sometimes I still doubted all this was real.
Standing up, I carried my things to the sink where I began rinsing them. “You sure you’re okay giving up construction?”
“We’ve been over this, Sam. You know the weather screws everything up—and, besides, contractors can be real assholes.”
“But I know you miss being outside.”
“Yeah, now. But not in the heat of July—or in January when I’d freeze my ass off. Going to the gym takes care of part of that. And if you keep going on hikes with me every weekend, I’ll get in my fix.”
Well…he was doing my yard work, too, but I wasn’t going to remind him of a favor he enjoyed, because it got him fresh air and sunshine. I usually compensated him by grilling a steak or hamburger.
Or other things.
“But you forgot the most important part.” Ryan joined me at the sink. “I love being near you every day.”
Grinning, I looked up at him. “Well, you do look pretty irresistible in a suit.”
He brushed a piece of my hair off my cheek. “You say that every day.”
“Babe, I think you’d look good in a toga.”
Ryan cocked an eyebrow, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Why does that seem dirty somehow?”
I couldn’t help but giggle. “Because you know I have a filthy mind.”
He didn’t answer me with words, instead holding me close and kissing me passionately. In all this time, I hadn’t grown weary of his touch, his taste, his heart and soul and, anymore, I couldn’t imagine not having him in my life.
“God, would you guys get a room already?”
Adam’s voice cut into my consciousness and we stopped kissing, but Ryan didn’t let me go.
“As much as I’d like to, partner, somebody’s gotta work the cases around here.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, somebody around here has to go to court.”
I shook my head, a smile on my face, glad that, after all these years, Adam and I still enjoyed joking around with each other. “Hi, Rae. How are things going?”
“Great. I’m taking more cases every day.”
Adam wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m trying to talk her into moving over here sometime.”
Holy shit. Maybe they were even more serious than I’d thought. I made a mental note that my partner and I needed to chat about that later on. I gave Ryan a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll take a raincheck, babe.”
Adam and Rae sat at the table and Janae stood and stretched while Ryan and I finished cleaning up before heading to the front of the office. Ryan was unlocking the front doors while I headed to my office to check messages and tackle the workload for the afternoon.
I had just sat down and picked up the phone when I noticed a tiny silver box on my desk. Hesitating, I placed the phone receiver back in the cradle before picking up the box.
It was a ring box.
Why had the air escaped my lungs?
I held it in my hands for several seconds before finally lifting the lid—and inside was a beautiful solitaire diamond ring. When I looked up, of course, Ryan was in the doorway. I ran over to him, speechless—because I knew what this meant. All of our talks about the future—about not wanting to be apart, about moving in together, the questions about what we thought about kids, what we imagined doing in retirement, what fun things we wanted to do together in our free time—really, all of that culminated in one simple possibility.
Forever.
But we hadn’t, not once, said the M word.
It didn’t matter. I hadn’t thought about a white dress or wedding vows but I knew Ryan was the only man for me for the rest of my life. I knew there were tears in my eyes as I ran over to him, clutching the box in my hand. “Yes!”
After I kissed him, he said, “How did you know I was coming in here to ask for the day off?”
I shook my head, a smile splitting my face. I loved that Ryan had grown more playful over our months together. But I handed the box to him. “I want you to put it on me.”
Nodding, he slid the ring over my finger, and I realized that that particular finger would n
ever be bare again. That ring would always be a symbol of Ryan’s love for me, and it warmed my heart. “I never want to live without you, Sam. It doesn’t matter if I’m working here or decide to do something else. I need you in my life, not just now, but always.”
I let out a long breath and blinked, trying to keep the happy tears at bay. “Me, too. I don’t want to imagine a future without you by my side.”
He kissed me again and, once more, it was interrupted by my partner’s voice. “Didn’t I just tell them to get a room?” Rae and Janae laughed. That stupid joke never got old for my friend Adam. “And this is why you should join us, honey. Ryan and Samantha obviously need more free time.”
Giggling, I squeezed Ryan before holding out my hand to show off our news. Needless to say, the entire afternoon at our office wound up being a long fun engagement party. We didn’t get much work done that day. But it was the beginning of another partnership that meant just as much to me as my career.
That in itself was a miracle.
I knew a gem when I saw it, and I wasn’t about to let Ryan go.
And I was so fucking glad he felt the same about me.
THE END
Thank you for reading Ryan and Samantha’s story. I hope you enjoyed the journey to their HEA! The next book in the Small Town Secrets series is Love and Music. Megan still has feelings for Tyler all these years later, but does he feel the same way?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” While you’re more likely to see Jade headbanging than Dirty Dancing, she—like Baby—won’t be put in a corner…or a box. So even though you can’t really stick her books in one genre, you could say she mostly writes steamy Contemporary Romance—and, while you’re at it, you’ll notice in her stories that Jade freaking loves Colorado, hard music, coffee, bad words, and CHOCOLATE!!! And so do her characters.
Oh, and there’s always a glimmer of hope…because if life doesn’t have that, what’s the damn point?
Find out more about my books at my website. If you want to say hi, come visit my Facebook page or join the fun in my Facebook group, Bullet Babes—but I love getting emails, too!
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Love and Lust (Small Town Secrets Book 2) Page 17
