“Everything you do, every person who crosses your path, contributes to where you are today. Who you are today.” She reached toward him, her hand shaking, and caressed his lightly stubbled cheek. “And who you are today is the man I love.”
He pulled away from her, his gaze meeting hers. As Annie looked into his eyes, she swore she saw straight into his soul.
“Say that again,” he said. “Please.” His chin trembled, and his emotion swirled into Annie as if it were her own.
“I love you, Dallas McCray. I have since that first night when you stayed with me and comforted me. I knew then there would never be anyone else.”
“Oh, Annie. Baby.” He pulled her into his body and took her mouth in a frantic meeting of lips and tongues. Annie’s heart burst with the joy of his kiss. Of his love.
“Say you’ll stay with me.” Dallas nipped her earlobe and whispered against her skin. “Please. Say you’ll stay.”
“I’ll stay, Cowboy.” She pushed away slightly. “But you’d better never hurt me again.”
“God. Never. I swear it. I never—”
“Make the same mistake twice,” they finished in unison.
“Well, I don’t,” he said. He nibbled on her neck, his hands roaming over her breasts. “I want to take you to bed. Now.”
Annie’s pulse raced. “Here? On my stoop?”
“I could.” He pressed her hand onto his arousal, which was very apparent through his jeans. “I don’t even have to work up to it. I’m hard whenever I’m near you. Hell, I’m hard whenever I’m thinking of you, which is all the time. It’s made me crazy.”
“You’ll have to wait a little while, Cowboy.”
“Not long, I hope.”
“No.” She smiled into his eyes. “Not long.”
“Oh”—Dallas scrounged in his pocket—“I almost forgot. I know it’s soon and all, but since you’re staying, and since you love me”—he winked—“I’d like to give you this.”
In his hand was the most beautiful ring Annie had ever seen. Amethyst baguettes surrounded a large emerald cut diamond set in yellow gold.
“I never realized this before, but those purple stones match your eyes perfectly,” Dallas said. “White gold or platinum would be better with your skin tone. We’ll have it reset.”
“Reset?”
“Yeah. I want it to be perfect for you.”
“It is perfect, Dallas.”
“It doesn’t have to be an engagement ring. I know it’s early. You can wear it on your right hand, and maybe someday, soon I hope, you’ll want to wear it on your left.”
“Dallas, I—”
“It was my grandmother’s. My ma gave it to me when I turned twenty-one. I never gave it to Chelsea. It didn’t feel right. But it feels exactly right to give it to you, Annie.”
“Oh, Cowboy.” Annie closed her eyes and two tears squeezed out and trickled down her cheeks.
“It’s okay, Doc.”
“Yes. It’s very okay, and don’t you dare have this ring reset, Dallas McCray. It’s perfect as it is.”
“All right. If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what I want.” She sniffed. “Well, aren’t you going to put it on me?”
He smiled and took her right hand, but she pulled it away. “Wrong hand, Cowboy.”