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 t
he 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.
I pinched myself. I wasn’t dreaming.
We’re engaged! James really wants to marry me! My inner cheerleader zoomed around my brain so fast that I felt slightly dizzy. My heart swelled. I laughed. I had never felt that way. I hadn’t imagined it was possible to be that happy.
James tugged me to him, wrapping his arms around me. “Thank God,” he whispered against my lips, pulling me in for a kiss that made my toes curl.
At that moment, I knew that he was mine. The bad boy star athlete that I had fallen in love with, and the incredible man that he had become, was all mine. Forever.
An errant thought broke free. “Wait, you actually let me win?”
“Totally worth it.” He smirked, lowering his lips back to mine.
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