I shot past the second buoy first, throwing my hands up in the air in victory, an insanely wide grin spreading on my face.
I won! I can’t believe that I actually won!
James rounded the buoy not a second later, wearing a grin that made my heart race and skip a beat at the same time, if that were possible. Around him, it was. I was living proof of that fact.
“Well done, angel. Let’s get back to shore. You ready for your prize?” His eyes had taken on the turquoise hue of the water around him, shining with excitement. Whatever the surprise was, it was sure to be good.
“What? You don’t want a second chance to beat the master?” I joked, already pointing my nose in the direction of the shoreline.
I wanted that prize. I hoped that it involved the motel on the beach and then lunch at the Spanish place. That would be the perfect day off.
“Not today. Besides, we both know who the true master is.” He teased, but his heart wasn’t in it. He fidgeted with the choke chain, eyes pinned to the beach behind me.
James didn’t fidget. Ever. He didn’t get nervous, but he sure looked it as he gestured for me to take the lead and stayed close in my wake.
My heart pounded. If the prize was having that effect on him, it was bound to be downright amazing for me.
Once we reached the beach, he reached for my hand and wound his fingers through my mine as he guided me down the shore without a word. In the opposite direction of the motel.
Damn. Although it had been a while since we’d done anything sexual in a public place, maybe we were—
He stopped abruptly, interrupting my dirty train of thought. I scanned my surroundings. A familiar rock outcropping confirmed what I suspected: we were at the exact spot where we’d sat when he’d first told me about Harper.
A quick glance at his expression told me that he remembered, too. Now that I thought about it, his expression wasn’t one that I could remember having seen before. The love suddenly shining in his eyes nearly floored me.
My knees buckled. My throat went dry. My heart stammered. My body trembled.
God, I loved him. So damn much. My heart soared in my chest as I drank his gaze in, beating like it wanted straight out of me and into him. Like a magnet pulled my heart to his.
James turned to face me, gathering both of my hands in his. Those unfamiliar nerves played in his eyes for just a second before they were gone. He took a deep breath, locking his eyes with mine as he sank to one knee.
My vision blurred. My heart raced. Everything in my world narrowed to those eyes and the man that was on his knee looking up at me with pure, unadulterated love. Adoration.
What the? He couldn’t be doing what I thought he was doing. It wasn’t possible. James didn’t believe in marriage. I’d always known that.
And yet… Hope surged through me. I blinked.
“I had a speech planned.” His voice cracked with emotion. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. “But now, looking up at you, it’s all gone. All I can think about is how much I love you. How I still can’t believe that out of the millions of men on this planet, you chose me. How I will never know how I got that lucky.”
“James,” I breathed, heart hammering in my chest. I struggled to form thoughts, let alone words.
“From the second you walked up to me in that office and kissed the shit out of me, I knew that you were one of a kind. That there was no other woman like you. You intrigued me. I couldn’t stay away from you, even if I knew that I should. I remember the exact moment that I realized that what I felt for you was so much more than intrigue. That I realized that I had fallen in love with you. I remember the exact moment that I realized that, somehow, you loved me back.”
He squeezed my hands. My breath caught in my lungs, and my heart pounded like never before. I squeezed back.
“Exactly two years and one month ago, I told you that I loved you for the first time. Today, I’m asking you to let me tell you that, to let me prove it to you every day for the rest of my life.”
James unzipped the pocket on his board shorts and pulled out a ring. My hands flew to my mouth.
“I love you, Gabrielle Ralls. Will you marry me?”
His eyes were wide. His tongue flicked over his bottom lip. He held the beautiful, intricately designed ring up. Offering it to me.
I dropped to my knees in front of him. “Yes.”
A deep breath that I hadn’t realized he’d been holding escaped. The most radiant, beautiful grin spread on his face. Absolute joy shone in his eyes. He slid the ring onto my finger.
It fit perfectly. I gaped at it. Then at James.