His words did sweet things to her insides, but she worked an arm free and slapped him lightly on his broad chest. “You distrusted me from the minute you set eyes on me, and you know it. You wanted me gone. If you’d had the power to teleport me to Timbuktu, I’d never have breached the Bluelick city limits.”
He exhaled a quiet laugh. “I knew you were going to shake things up, and by things, I mean me. At the time I didn’t know I needed shaking, but I did. Badly. Since then, my life’s been shaken, stirred, invaded by an ugly dog named Lucky, and a beautiful, chaotic force of nature named Roxy.”
“Invaded?” She bit back a laugh of her own and slapped his chest again. “Try a different word.”
“Enriched.” He leaned down and captured her lips. His were cool from the chilly a
ir, firm, and utterly addictive in a way she didn’t have to be wary of. She clung to them with her own when he eased away. His hands found her face again. “Before you, I was doing my job. Getting along. Existing. But now, I’m living. I’m invested.”
Her heart swelled in her chest. She smoothed her hands along his jaw. “Before you, I was running. Running and hiding because I didn’t think I could have what I really wanted.”
“What did you really want?”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and flattened her face to his chest. “You. At first, just, you know, your very fine body, but soon I wanted your goodness, your strength and stability. I wanted your love.”
“You’ve got it, Roxy. Always. Which is part of the reasons we’re here.”
Her heart started to pound hard as he stepped away and dipped a hand in his pocket.
“West…”
He looked at her then blinked, turned his head to the open door of the truck, and froze.
She grabbed his arm. “West!”
He grabbed her arm right back. “Roxy…shh. Listen.”
Inside the truck, the radio played on low volume, sending a song floating into the night. A familiar song. Her song. “Oh my God! She bounced onto her toes.
The superstar singing it had turned it into a power ballad, but beneath all the showy vocal runs and heavy instrumental arrangement was her simple little tune about a hitchhiker and a cop on a lonely country road in the rain.
He swept her up against him and swayed them both to the bluesy beat, under a blanket of stars, spotlighted by the truck’s headlights. “Congratulations,” he whispered as the final notes faded. “Your first hit. One of many, I’m a hundred percent sure.” He pulled back and gave her a serious look. “Though I have to admit I’m partial to the original version. Are you sure you don’t wish it was you singing it in front of big crowds the way what’s-her-name will?”
“Uh-huh.” She answered without hesitation. “She can keep the crowds and the glory of performing it. I’m right where I want to be.”
He nodded. “Well, in that case…” He released her and dropped to one knee. “Roxy, would you care to take on a slightly rehabilitated cynical, by-the-book lawman?”
Joy really could bubble, she discovered. Better than champagne and way more intoxicating. Laughing, she got down on her knee and succeeded in surprising him with the move. He relocated her so she perched on his thigh. She rolled her eyes but then rested her forehead against his. “West, would you care to take on a slightly rehabilitated wild child formerly known for wanderlust and reckless tendencies?”
“That is exactly what I care to do, for the rest of my life.” He produced a black velvet box and held it out on his palm. In a voice a little thicker than normal, he said, “Roxy, would you marry me?”
She nodded furiously, swallowed past the thickness in her own throat, and finally said, “Yes!” and threw her arms around him.
“Wait. Roxy. Wait.” He disentangled himself. “Don’t you want to see the ring first?”
She shook her head. “You’re all I want. Although…” The box pulled her gaze. “I guess whatever’s in there will be the one thing I wear that you’ll fully approve of.”
His lips quirked. “It’s a nipple ring, actually.”
“It is not.” She reached for the box, but he folded his fingers around it.
“And I wholeheartedly approve, as long as I’m the only one who gets to see it.”
She wrapped her hand around his. “You big liar. Gimme!”
He opened his hand. She popped the lid and gasped at the gorgeous, square-cut ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds. “Oh, West, it’s gorgeous, but…how big do think my nipple is?”
“Too big?” he asked with mock seriousness.