She gasps as I slowly lower myself to one knee, looking up at her, the beast within stirring when she adjusts her dress. But mostly, it’s the love bursting out of me, overflowing.
“Hallie Davis,” I say, as I reach into my pocket.
When I open the ring box, she gasps again, and her hands fly up to cover her mouth.
She gazes down at the ring – a diamond, glistening with love, as full as my woman is, set within a band that highlights the rock.
“Will you marry me?”
She lets out a cry of pure joy. I can hear it, but I can feel it moving through me, the love, the want.
“Yes,” she sings. “Oh my God, yes!”
My heart is hammering in joy, my body singing. My seed roars at the conquest, the victory of claiming a woman so beautiful, funny, compassionate, and mine.
Slipping the ring onto her finger, I leap to my feet and pull her into my arms.
The city winks at us from below with innumerable lights, but none of them are brighter, warmer, or fiercer than the glowing certainty within us.
She throws her arms around me as I melt against her, as our lips magnetize, and we give into our desire.
But now, there’s no guilt and there’s no shame. There’s no doubt.
There’s only us.
“I love you,” she says between kisses, breathless in that way that drives me feral.
“I love you too,” I growl, then claim her with another possessive kiss.
EPILOGUE
THREE DAYS LATER
Hallie
“I can’t figure out which is prettier,” I say, staring down at Hayden’s marble-effect bathroom counter.
Lila laughs over speakerphone. Ever since we told dad the truth – and mom upon our return trip – things have been so amazingly, purely perfect.
Every moment with Hayden has been like a mini vacation… and we get another, and another until I realize this is it.
Our life.
“You can’t decide between your gorgeous engagement ring and the stick you just peed on?”
I laugh. “Well, when you phrase it like that…”
But it’s the truth.
The ring shines and winks up at me from the mirror, but there’s something even better in the test: I’m pregnant.
We’re pregnant, my man and me.
My Hayden, who’s back to being best friends with dad, whose arms I wake up in every morning, a smile on my face so wide and so filled with contentment my cheeks sometimes ache.
“I’m so psyched to be an aunt,” Lila says. “You’ve got no idea.”
“You’re going to be amazing,” I tell her. “I can’t wait…but at the same time, I want every day to last forever. I don’t want to miss a single moment. Does that make sense?”
“I can understand what you’re saying,” Lila replies. “But I’ve never felt it. Hell, sis, I’m a tiny bit jealous.”
“You’ll have this one day,” I tell her.
“I hope so.”
Lila and I talk about my current work project.
Hayden has been liaising with Christina, the wife of the congressman, and she’s started sending clips over for me to edit. It’s a simple task, but it feels so rewarding, especially because Hayden and I are working together.
Later, my heart goes into complete fast-beating overdrive, and giddiness grips me.
Hayden’s home, walking down the hallway.
I spring up, rushing over, meeting him before he turns the corner into the living room.
He smiles when he sees me, staring down with that new look he has, as though he feels free now we’re out in the open.
“I missed you so much,” he says intensely, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me up against him.
I collapse into the kiss, my insides going warm as though my core is telling me to share the news, share it now.
“What is it?” he asks, tucking hair behind my ear, his touch tickling, tantalizing.
“What’s what?” I ask, smiling up at him.
He grins, leaning down, gently kissing me on the cheek. I love when he does that, the warmth lingering, telling me to lean forward, to kiss him harder this time, more passionately.
But first, he has to know.
“I’m pregnant,” I say, and then I can’t contain myself. I say it louder. “Pregnant, Hayden. We’re pregnant.”
He lets out a cheer and sweeps me up, spinning me, so the room rushes around. Laughter bursts out of me, a squeal of pure delight, and then he sets me on my feet and kisses me again.
The world rushes around, my head swimming, my soul soaring, as I mutter a silent thanks that we don’t have to do this over the phone anymore.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Hayden
I sit with Isabel – or Bella as we like to call her – in my arms, staring down at her with all the love in the world bursting out of me.
It’s nighttime, the world silent except for my daughter’s soft breathing.
Sometimes, when it’s quiet like this, I try to remember the man I was before the kidnapping story and before I returned to the States to find my Hallie.