Lighthouse Way (Huckleberry Bay 1)

“No, I’m sorry,” I reply. “I overreacted.”

“No, you didn’t,” he says and takes my hand in his. “I need to learn how to be patient. It’s just that I’m excited to start our lives together, and the house feels like a big piece of that. I’m excited to carry you over the threshold one day.”

“I get it. I’m excited for all those things, too.” I brush my fingers down his cheek. “It’s just a lot right now. Maybe a month from now, it won’t feel like so much, but I’m not ready for the house-building thing. Not yet. Let me get the B&B finished, and then we can move on to the next project.”

“We balance each other,” he says softly. “And that’s a good thing.”

“I meant what I said earlier, in the ambulance. We can live anywhere, Wolfe, as long as I’m with you. If Rose hadn’t alerted me today, I might have lost you, and that’s completely unacceptable.”

“I want to live here,” he says. “And, eventually, we’ll build the house. I can rein it in for a little while.”

I snuggle up to him and thank God that he’s okay. As long as we’re together, we can figure everything else out.

“How do they do it?” I ask as Wolfe drives us home from dinner at Three Sisters Kitchen.

“What’s that?”

“How is it that literally everything they cook is amazing? And the restaurant itself is just so pretty. I love being in there. They do such a good job, and I’m so relieved that they’re going to run the kitchen in Luna’s Light.”

“My chicken was great,” he agrees and turns into the driveway.

I grin at the sight of the gazebo.

It’s all lit up with candles and twinkle lights.

“I feel like we’ve been here before.”

Wolfe looks over at me and smiles before kissing my hand gently.

“We’re going to try this again, hopefully with no interruptions this time.”

Without another word, he climbs out of the car and walks around the hood to open my door for me. Then, with our hands linked, he leads me into the gazebo.

Red, pink, and yellow blooms of all different kinds and varieties are in vases and laid on every surface, making the gazebo smell like heaven.

And sitting on the table is a simple, black box.

Wolfe walks over and picks it up. “Come have a seat, sweetheart.”

I do as he asks, and to my delight, Wolfe lowers himself to one knee.

“If I’ve learned one thing over the past few weeks, it’s that you and I can survive just about anything. Whether it’s a fire or my stupidity, there isn’t much of anything that we can’t get through together.”

He swallows and looks down at the box that he’s rolling between his hands, and then he looks up at me with so much love it shines brighter than the candles around us.

“I think I’ve been in love with you since I was nine,” he says, and it surprises a giggle out of me. “No, really. And I hate that it took something bad to drive me back home to you, but I’m also so damn grateful for it. I thought I’d lost everything when I found out I couldn’t race anymore, but little did I know that my life was truly just beginning.”

I can’t help myself; I reach out and cup Wolfe’s face in my hand.

“I’m also grateful for what racing did for me. I wouldn’t have been a good husband to you if I hadn’t gone and lived that life. I know that deep in my bones. I wouldn’t have appreciated you the way I do now. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” I whisper and brush a tear off my cheek.

“I hope so because I’m asking you, here and now—finally—to marry me.”

He clicks open the box, and a diamond ring winks up at me. The center diamond is bezel set and looks…vintage.

“Wow.”

I look up into his eyes and smile.

“Of course, I’ll marry you. I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone but you, Wolfe Conrad.”

He helps me slip the ring on my finger, and then he lets out a loud whoop and scoops me up into his arms, swings me around, and kisses me senseless.

Suddenly, all the people we love surround us. Even my parents are here, and I can only stare at Wolfe in shock.

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “It’s all for you. Because I knew you’d want to share this moment with them.”

“Congratulations, my darling girl,” Mom says as she kisses my cheek.

“When did you get here?”

“This morning,” Dad says and hugs me. “We’ve been planning this for a couple of weeks now.”

I look at Wolfe, but he’s already been swept up by the others, laughing with Apollo.

“I think he’ll have lots of surprises in store for me over the years.”

“I hope so,” Mom says, just as a light breeze blows through, carrying the special scent of Rose with it.