“I love the hell out of you Jana. You are the best damn thing that ever happened to me.”
“And you are more than I imagined I could ever have out of this life, Max.”
He kissed me long and tender, sweet. When he pulled back he wore a nervous smile. “I was going to wait and make it really special, but this seems like the perfect time.”
“For what?”
He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small velvet box and my breath caught. He flashed a knowing smile that made my heart race. “This. Jana Carson, hottest, sweetest, most amazing woman on the planet, will do you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
In a million years, I hadn’t expected Max to take this step, to want to take this step. Marriage, for me, had always been a pipe dream so now, in this important moment in my life, I could only stare at the gorgeous emerald cut diamond that did its best to outshine the Nevada sun.
“Don’t leave me hanging sweetheart.”
I blinked and looked up at those amazing gray eyes with a shaky smile. “Oh Max, I can’t wait to be your wife. Yes, I’ll marry you!” I jumped in his arms as tears slipped down my cheeks, feeling happier than I could ever remember feeling in my whole life. This man, so strong and sensitive, was all mine.
Forever.
“Oh boy, they’re at it again,” Teddy said, breaking the spell we’d woven around ourselves.
“We were celebrating,” I told her, pulling Max beside me as we stopped in front of Teddy and Tate. “We are officially engaged.”
Teddy squealed as I knew she would, wrapping both of us in her lean arms. “Congratulations guys!”
I basked in her praise and her affection along with Tate’s and the feel of Max’s steady hand at my back, had me full to bursting with love.
It took a long time—a lot of therapy and acceptance—to get here but these three people, were now my family.
In every sense of the word.
* * * *
~ T H E ~ E N D ~