Down London Road (On Dublin Street 2)

I laughed, giving him another quick kiss, before turning to my present. I slowly unwrapped it, tucking the paper behind me as I turned the gift over. It was a paintbrush – and not just any paintbrush. It was one of the best, most expensive, professional paintbrushes.

‘Oh, Cam.’ I sighed at his thoughtfulness as I pried open the plastic to get to it. ‘You shouldn’t –’ The words abruptly stuck in my throat as the light caught a sparkle on the end of the brush. I shot him a disbelieving look before zeroing in on the handle. Gently I pulled the brush out of its plastic and my jaw dropped at the sight of the object that had been placed through the tip of the handle.

It was a diamond ring.

A white gold ring with a simple princess-cut diamond set in raised prongs in the middle of the band.

My heart racing like mad at the implication, I slowly turned my head to gaze at Cam in stupefied wonder. He casually took the brush from my hand and pulled the ring off the handle. He rose from the bed and went down on one knee in front of me.

‘Oh, my God,’ I breathed, my right hand fluttering against my throat as my pulse throbbed at super speed.

Cam took my trembling left hand in his, his gaze sincere as he looked into my eyes. ‘Johanna Walker, love of my life, I never want to spend another day not waking up beside you.’ He held the ring up to my hand. ‘Will you spend the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me?’

I realized now, after years of waiting for the men before Cameron to ask me that question, that saying yes to any of them would have been absolutely the worst decision I would have ever made. There was one certainty I’d learned in the last few months: when a man asked you that question, there was only one thing you had to ask yourself. Could I live without him?

If the answer was no, then the answer was yes.

I nodded, my mouth quivering as the tears started to fall. ‘Yes. I’ll marry you.’

With a groan of exultation, Cam pulled me towards him for a kiss so deep I was literally breathless when he let me go. I panted against his mouth, smiling crookedly. ‘You know what this means?’

Cam’s eyes glittered, and I was overwhelmed by the happiness in them. ‘What does it mean?’

‘We’ll never be able to live with Joss after this. She’ll think she’s Mrs Matchmaker.’

‘I’ll have a word with Braden. He’ll keep her in line.’ He grinned boyishly. ‘We’re good at that.’

‘You two think you’re in charge, don’t you?’

He shrugged but his eyes said, Yes – yes, we do.

Cupping his face between my hands, I gave him a condescending yet sympathetic smile. ‘Oh, baby, your naïveté is so endearing.’

Laughing, Cam wrapped his arms around my waist and as he stood up he lifted me and threw me on to the bed. ‘Tonight at least, I’m in charge.’ He began to undress slowly as I sat up, braced on my elbows, to watch him, my body already coming alive in anticipation. ‘Now tell me again that you love me, Mrs Soon-to-Be-MacCabe.’

I sighed happily at the simultaneous sound of my soon-to-be surname and the zip on his jeans tugging down. As I prepared to give him what he wanted, it amazed me how easily those words came after having taken me so long to find the courage to say them to him in the first place. Just like I did with Cole, I promised myself there and then that Cam wouldn’t live a day of his life without knowing how I felt about him.

‘I love you, Cameron MacCabe.’

With a cocky grin, Cam dropped his jeans to the floor. ‘I love you, too, Miss Walker-Soon-to-Be-MacCabe.’ And I knew then as I was lying on our bed staring up into his familiar and handsome face that I had something I’d never had before. I had someone who wasn’t going to let me spend a single day of my life without knowing how much I was loved.

I think one of my favourite parts of it all was the fact that finding what we had together hadn’t cost either of us a single penny.

Well … with the exception of an engagement ring and a new paint palette for our flat.