I’m ready to live, finally, fully. I’m ready to freaking live.
But I needn’t have worried, anyway, because Henrietta and Sebastian welcomed me warmly.
I think Henrietta is already counting down the days until I give her a grandchild.
And I can’t wait to, either …
I hope, I pray.
“Are you looking forward to later?” Sebastian asks me, with a Colton-style smirk on his lips, seeming that suggest they know something I don’t.
Later—Colton asked me to meet him in the city after work, said he had a surprise for me.
What sort of surprise?
“Why do I feel like you’re all plotting something behind my back?” I laugh.
Henrietta grins and Sebastian smiles widely, but neither of them will say another word.
I turn to watch Scrappy and Rusty, belly fluttering with butterflies.“Where are you taking me?” I ask, heart thumping as I stare into the blankness of the blindfold.
His powerful hands move reassuringly over my shoulders, sending silent shivering messages all over my body.
I feel my womb shimmer just as brightly as my heart, our lust and closeness melding together to make something unique and beautiful and just-ours.
Then we stop and I sense we’re inside, the air warmer, the street quieter than it was before.
He wraps his arm around me and hugs me close to his irrepressibly hard torso, his pecs pressing firmly against my back, his abs a solid mass of muscle against me.
With his free hand, he reaches up and removes the blindfold.
I look around in confusion.
We’re standing in an empty lobby area, bright and friendly-looking, plants in the corner, but empty as far as furniture and meaning go.
And then I look closer and see that there are little doggies on the wallpaper, and behind the desk there’s a sign, but the sign is bare except for the doggie decorations fringing it, as if it’s awaiting a name.
“Something about this place looks familiar,” I whisper, tears of joy beading in my eyes.
Tears have come to me far too easily lately.
When I lived on the street, I did my best to beat down my emotions.
And now it’s like I can finally let it all go, because I’m safe, I’m his.
“It should,” he says, his warm breath moving over me as he brings his face close to my ear. “It’s the orphanage. I bought the building and had it remodeled. And I thought you’d want it. You can start a dog shelter here. If you don’t want to, I’ll donate it, but—”
“Don’t want to?” I cry, swiveling in his embrace so that we’re facing each other.
I gaze up into his possessive eyes, his square jaw covered in a light sprinkle of salt from where he’s let his facial hair grow out a little bit. He exudes power in his iron suit as he gazes back down at me, a smile on his lips, not a smirk, a smile.
“You’ve taken hell and turned it into heaven,” I whisper. “And I’ve always wanted to run a shelter, where I could train the dogs at the same time. And maybe Colton another woman would tell you no, I want to work up to this on my own. But I’ve lived on the streets far too long for that sort of pride. So all I’ll say is thank you. Thank you so much! For everything.”
Colton steps back, a knot of indecision tightening his expression.
“What is it?” I ask.
“It’s just I was going to take you to dinner, but I don’t think I can wait. This moment feels too perfect.”
“You can’t wait for dinner? What, are you going to eat me?”
He grins savagely. “Now there’s a idea. But no. What I can’t wait to tell you is that I love you, Kat. I love you more than life itself. I loved you from the second you walked into my office and I’ll love you every day for the rest of our lives. I love you, I fucking love you.”
I gasp and bring my hands to my mouth as he slides fluidly to one knee, moving with a SEAL’s easy confidence, but his hand trembles slightly – with emotion – as he reaches into his suit jacket pocket and comes out with a ring box.
“Katherine Jenkins,” he rumbles. “Will you make me – and Scrappy – the happiest man in the world and marry me?”
I giggle.
And Scrappy.
He’s using my love of dogs against me and I love him for it.
I stare at the ring, an elegant diamond set within a silver band, the same as the color peppered through his hair.
“I love you, Colton,” I sob, the tears streaming now. “I love you more than I can even believe. You brought my Rusty back to me and I’ll be forever grateful to you. I love you and I can’t wait to be the mother of your children.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes!” I cry.