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“Yeah,” I agree. “It felt pretty nice.”

I meet his gaze and smile, certain I made the right decision.

Ever since I left Bliss River Thursday night, I’ve been feeling off-center. I assumed it was because I was finally sorting through all my feelings about my divorce—and spending an hour on my birthday writing Serge a long email saying I’m not ready to be friends, after all—but now the reason for those off-center feelings is abundantly clear.

Jamison and I were out of sync, and I felt the wrongness of that in every moment of every day.

In the past three weeks he’s become more than a dear friend, he’s part of my heart, and I’m not the kind of person who can walk around without my heart fully functioning and feel like everything is right with the world.

“I’ll give you two a minute.” Jake backs away from the door, clearly sensing that we need some time alone.

“Hey, there,” Jamison says after Jake retreats into the house, a hint of shyness in his expression. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

“Looks like you didn’t need rescuing, after all,” I say, feeling a little shy myself. But good. So good.

“Yeah, but I’ll need rescuing again, sooner or later.” He steps onto the stoop and shuts the door behind him, moving close enough to set my entire body to tingling. “I’m assuming telling Jake how much you love me means you’re up for the job long term?”

I nod. “If you’ll have me.”

“Always. And forever. Thank you very much.” He draws me into his arms, sealing the promise with a kiss that floods through me like warm cider on a cold winter’s day.

It’s a kiss that clears out the last of the cobwebs lingering in my heart, leaving no room for doubt.

Jamison is my One, the man I’ve been waiting for, the partner who’s never going to leave me or betray me or treat my love as anything less than a precious gift. And I’m going to do the same for him.

As I kiss him back, hands tangling in his still damp hair, my body pressing closer and closer to his, I swear to make the most of every day, to treasure each moment with him and never let fear steal another second away from us.

“Thank God,” he murmurs against my lips as we take a break to catch our breaths. “I’m so glad you’re back. Let’s never do that again, okay? Thinking I’d lost you took a year off my life. Minimum.”

“I’m sorry.” I run a gentle hand down his still bruised face. “I should have stayed and talked things through, or at the very least made sure you were okay. Are you okay? You look better than I expected, aside from the stitches.”

“I’m fine,” he says. “I’m sorry I screwed up. I know it was before we started dating, but it was a dumb, selfish thing to do and I regret it. I wish like hell I could go back and put a stop to things with Wendy before they got started.”

“I know,” I say. “I’m not thrilled that she was married, but I overreacted, too. The cheating thing reminded me too much of my ex. It brought a lot of feelings to the surface that I’ve been doing my best not to deal with.”

“What kind of feelings?”

“Anger, hurt, betrayal…more anger,” I confess with a short laugh. “But I wrote Serge an email yesterday and I feel so much better now. I feel…ready. Completely ready.”

“How ready?” He studies me carefully.

“Totally ready,” I say, without a shred of doubt. “If I could marry you today, I would do it. In a heartbeat.”

Something sparks in his eyes, a tiny flame I usually associate with fun of the no-clothes-required variety.

“What?” I ask, a smile teasing my lips. “What are you up to?”

“Well, I don’t think we can get married today—Jake and Naomi kind of have that locked down. But I can give you this.” Without another word, he reaches into the front pocket of his jeans and pulls out a ring.

Before I can catch my breath or convince my brain this is actually happening, he’s down on one knee, right there on Jake’s front porch.

“Maddie Whitehouse, I have loved you my entire life,” he says, sending tears springing to my eyes. “It wasn’t always romantic, and for a while there were absolutely too many slugs involved…but it was love. It was real and what I feel for you now is the truest thing I’ve ever known. I don’t want to move forward with my life without you in it. You make me a better person, and when I’m with you I feel like the luckiest man in the world.”

He pauses, reaching up to brush a tear from my cheek with a smile. “I love you, and I will spend the rest of my life making sure you know it. If you’ll do me the honor of being my wife.”


Tags: Lili Valente Hometown Heat Romance