Fresh tears filling my eyes, I throw my arms around his neck and press a kiss to his cheek. “Yes!” I shout, laugh-sobbing as I kiss him again. “Yes, yes, yes!”
He stands, drawing me up until my feet dangle. I cling to his shoulders and he wraps me in his arms and holds me close as the train rushes by. He’s still holding me when the rattle of the wheels fades to a distant rhythm and the smell of diesel is replaced by the sharp winter scent of rotted leaves and frozen earth.
“Think there’s a chance in hell I’ll be able to find that ring box now?” he finally asks, making me laugh.
I pull back to gaze up at his face, relieved to see his walls down and that familiar warmth in his eyes.
“I seriously doubt it, but we could spend a few hours looking,” I say, letting my fingers play up and down his lapel. “Or…we could head home and be naked in your bed in twenty minutes. I know which I’d prefer.”
He makes a low, rumbling sound that sends tingles shivering up my spine. “Tempting. Very tempting, but I wasn’t kidding about that ring costing half my life savings.”
“And I wasn’t kidding about making more money than I ever imagined I could,” I say, shivering. “I can help refill your savings and buy a replacement ring and still have plenty left over to buy us all the fancy cheese and cookies we can eat.”
He frowns. “No. I don’t want your money.”
“My money is going to be your money soon enough anyway. I don’t want a pre-nup, in case you were wondering. I trust you implicitly.”
His frown deepens. “I’m glad, but seriously, Naomi, I don’t need or want your money. All I want is my ring on your finger and you in my life. For keeps.”
I shiver harder. “I want that, too, so much, but I confess I’m starting to freeze to death out here without a coat.”
“Well, I can fix that,” he says, striping off his tuxedo coat and wrapping it around my shoulders. “Sorry I didn’t offer sooner.”
“No worries.” I burrow gratefully into the body-heat-warmed fabric, but I’m not about to give up on getting him naked that easily. “But still… It’s really cold out here. There’s a chance one or both of us might catch pneumonia and die if you don’t take me home and make love to me right now.”
He smiles as he sets me on my feet. “Pneumonia is serious,” he says, kissing my neck as his hands slide lower, cupping my bottom.
“It is,” I agree, my breath coming faster as he urges my hips closer to his. “So let’s get out of here.”
“How about I get my truck warmed up and you can hang out in there while I look?” he asks. “Then, once I find the ring, you can put it on, I’ll follow you back to the ball to return Jamison’s car and apologize for being an asshole who throws punches without hearing all the facts. Then we go home, get naked, and stay that way for at least four days.”
“Five,” I counter, my teeth beginning to chatter.
“Done,” he agrees, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s get you in the truck. It warms up faster than Jamison’s car.”
Five minutes later, I’m defrosting in the passenger’s seat of Jake’s idling truck, watching the flashlight from his cell phone sweep back and forth beneath the bridge as he searches for the ring. As soon as they’re warm enough, I cross my fingers and send out a prayer for a little bit of good luck.
I honestly don’t mind paying for another ring—it’s the thought that counts, and knowing Jake wants to marry me is worth more to me than a hundred rings—but this is important to him. He wants to see half his life savings sitting on my finger, and I want it because he wants it, and I love him.
But if he can’t find it, we’ll be okay.
After tonight, I know we can get through anything the world throws in our path. From here on out there are no secrets between us and if we hit a bump in the road, we’ll work through it and find our way to the other side. That’s what you do when you find love like this—you work for it and fight for it and keep getting better at loving each other with every passing year.
I rest my head against the window and close my eyes, suddenly exhausted, but in a good way. It feels like a weight’s been lifted from my heart and I’m free to charge full steam ahead with Jake.
Full steam ahead…
The phrase makes me think of trains and how very, very glad I am that train wasn’t coming as fast as I thought it was. Pushing away scary thoughts, I start fantasizing about what it will be like to spend nearly a week naked in bed with Jake—I’m absolutely going to hold him to that promise—and before I know it, I’m being shaken gently awake outside Jake’s house.