I gazed into Libby’s beautiful blue eyes. “He told her she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Then he kissed her and whispered against her lips, ‘I’ll love you forever plus infinity, princess.’”
Libby let out a small laugh. “He’s always called her princess.”
I nodded my head. “I know, and they’ve always mentioned loving each other for infinity, but it was something about that moment. It was different. I never understood what it was until the first time I made love to you.”
Biting on her lip, Libby began to sob. “It was different because in that moment, I knew I wanted that with the girl who was sitting next to me. She wasn’t only my best friend; she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on. The girl who made my heart stop with the sound of her voice.”
Dropping her hand, I opened the ring box. Libby let out a gasp. “Oh my goodness.” Both hands came up and covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face. “It’s beyond beautiful.”
Inside I was fist pumping and thanking God she liked the ring. “I saw this ring and immediately thought of you, Libby. The color just reminds me of you. Sunshine. You are the sunshine in my life every single day. You warm me, make me feel so loved, and so very blessed to call you mine. Your light is like the ocean. It kept pulling me to you when all I wanted to do was run away. You led me back to you when I was so scared of my feelings. I promise you, Libby. I will never leave your light again. Ever.”
Falling to her knees Libby cupped her hands on my face. “I love you, so very much.”
“And I love you, baby. So very much. I want nothing more than to make you my wife.”
Libby dropped her hands and looked down at the ring and then back into my eyes. “Isabella Gemma Hayes, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife and lifelong side-kick in pranks?”
Her smile grew bigger on her face and she let out a short chuckle. “Yes, and yes!”
I took the ring out of the box and reached for Libby’s hand. I slipped the ring onto her finger as Libby gazed upon the ring. Libby threw her arms around me and kissed me. I could kiss her forever.
Pulling back, our eyes met. “I’ve never been so happy in my entire life. Pinch me so I know I’m not dreaming.”
Placing my hand behind her neck, I brought her lips back to mine and gently bit her lower lip before sucking it into my mouth as she let out a long low moan from the back of her throat.
Standing up, I took her hands in mine. “Come on, I want to climb to the top. Colt said the view is amazing.”
Libby and I began walking along the trail and climbing further up. A few times, I stopped and reached back to help her up and over rocks. “Are we still on the trail, Luke?”
Looking around, I called over my shoulder. “It looks like it. Damn thing is steeper than it looks.”
“And taller!” Libby called out. “If I scratch my new ring, it’s your fault.”
Laughing, I made my way over rocks. Finally, making it to the top I saw the trail. “Shit. We must hav
e gotten off of it somewhere along the way.”
Libby walked up next to me. It took us longer to hike up to the top than I thought it would. It was already getting late. My plans of taking Libby against a tree may have to wait. Walking along another trail I cut across to get to the other side. The view looked better. Looking back to check on Libby every now and then to make sure she was still right behind me. “Doing okay, Lib?” She gave me a thumbs up and said, “Yep.”
“Be careful, it’s a steep drop off on this side. Let’s get to the right trail and then we’ll start heading back down.”
Libby smiled. “Okay.”
I glanced up to see where the trail was and quickly looked down when I heard something. A rattlesnake sat on the rock I was about to step on. I kicked a rock, causing it to hit the snake. It lashed out but thankfully toward the direction of the rock and not me. I jumped back and my foot landed right on the edge of the cliff.
Shit! I felt the rock slip and I knew I was going to slip right with it. I tried to find something to grab onto. Libby screamed out my name as I began to go over the edge. Trying to ride it down on my ass, my foot hit a boulder, causing me to tumble forward. The moment my head hit the rock I felt the pain. It was almost more than I could bear. One more hit of my leg on something and I heard a crack and let out a scream. The pain moved up my leg and my body instantly felt cold. I couldn’t tell what hurt worse, my head or my leg. Yelling out, I could hear Libby above me screaming. All I could think about was the snake. When I finally came to a stop, I looked up. Using all my strength, I yelled out, “Libby! Rattlesnake, get out of there.”
Everything started to get blurry. I could barely hear Libby calling out my name. I heard her scream again and I tried to turn in the direction of her voice. She was sliding down the trail on her ass. She stood up and began limping as she made her way over to me.
She fell down next to me as she began crying harder. Her face had dirt on it and I could make out the trail her tears were making. “Oh God, Oh God, Luke. Your head is gashed open and—” She looked down at my leg and let out a gasp. My right leg was throbbing. Her hands covered her mouth as she began crying harder. “There’s so much blood! I see your bone; it’s sticking out of your shin.” She snapped her head back to me as she shook her head quickly. “Luke! I don’t know what to do!”
Swallowing hard, I tried to talk, but the pain was unbelievable. My head was killing me and everything seemed to be clouding over. “Call … for … help.”
Libby quickly stood and reached into her back pocket. When she pulled her phone out her mouth dropped open. She began shaking her head as she screamed out, “No. No. No! It’s broke! Oh my God, my phone must have broken when I slipped and fell.”
I held out my hand and Libby fell to her knees again. Luke, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay baby, we have to hike out of here, but I need you to stop the bleeding.”