“You brought me to Pepper’s? After I was here all day, slaving away? Tell me we aren’t here for me to bake you a pie.” Every word that fell from her mouth was playful, filled with a tease.
A chuckle rumbled free. “Wouldn’t dream of it, baby. Come on.” I unlatched the door, hopped out, and jogged around to her side. I was already there, helping her down when she opened her door. I threaded our fingers, brought her hand to my lips, brushed them across her knuckles. “Tonight’s all about me taking care of you.”
Six months had passed since the fire.
This day could have been somber.
But no.
Rynna and I? We were celebrating.
I led her across the sidewalk to the door, and she giggled, struggling to keep up with my long strides in her heels. I was quick to insert my key, unlock it. I pulled it open a fraction and stood in the middle of it, turning around to face the girl who’d changed everything.
The one who’d knocked free all the bitter, broken pieces of my heart and found what was hiding underneath.
“This building, Rynna . . . this building has come to mean so much. That fire—” My throat grew thick and moisture gathered in Rynna’s eyes, her gaze so intent as she stared back at me. “You and I, we almost lost everything in that fire. This building. Your dreams. Frankie. Each other.” Each word that fell from my mouth came more intense with each one that passed.
That energy lapped, blazing to life. Inciting that never-ending desire.
“But from those ashes rose the greatest hope. My greatest joy.”
I’d never thought I’d truly love a woman again after I’d lost Sydney. But Rynna changed all of that. Rekindled places in me I’d thought had gone forever dormant. Even though I hadn’t told Ollie yet, I would. I was no longer afraid of him hating me, I was just worried that I’d bring him more pain.
But Rynna and I had also learned that keeping those kind of secrets only hurt us more in the end.
I gathered both her hands in mine, pulling her inside, quick to lock the door behind us.
It was dark, all except for the hurricane lamp I’d placed on a blanket on the floor in the middle of the room. Beside it was a bucket, chilling our champagne. It was all set up right where all the new booths would be installed next week. This afternoon, me and my crew had raced in after Rynna left and hung pictures on the walls.
They were pictures I’d had enlarged, all in black and white, and set in giant frames.
They were images of Rynna’s grandmother in this place, serving her pies, baking in the back, working the register, and making customers smile where they sat at the counter. The old pictures had been in a box in Rynna’s bedroom closet, waiting to be reclaimed. To be given a voice.
Overwhelmed, Rynna looked around. Tears glided down her cheeks, glistening in the faint electric light that danced in the lamp.
“Rex,” she whispered, biting down on her lip, trying not to cry. “This is amazing.”
I pulled her a little farther into the room. “Nothing has made me happier than giving this building back to you, Rynna. There’s been no greater honor than resurrecting each brick. And I’ve never been prouder than being at your side while you’ve brought this place back to life.”
Another two steps, and her chest was heaving while my heart was running wild, blood a thunder in my veins. “Six months ago, we could have lost it all, and instead, we were given everything. We were given another chance.”
I blinked at her. Overcome by emotion. By feeling. “You came into our lives, Rynna, and you made everything better. I was filled with so much fear and hate, and you taught me how to love again. You showed my daughter what it is really like to be loved by a mother. You gave us a joy unlike anything we’ve ever known. I see you with her—”
I gulped around immensity of it. Rynna and my little girl. The way it felt when Frankie called her Mommy. The way Rynna adored her with all her soul.
I squeezed Rynna’s hands. “I see you with her, and every single thing in my world is right. Because you and Frankie, the two of you are my world. My entire world, and I don’t ever want to be without you.”
I dropped to a knee and shock jetted from Rynna’s mouth.
Tears came in a free fall, the wet streaks doing nothing but illuminating that gorgeous face.
I pulled the ring from my pocket and held it up between us, my hand trembling while I offered this girl all of me. “Marry me, Rynna Dayne. I want to give you all my days. My heart and my life. Tell me, you’re always going to be mine.”