“Simultaneously the worst and best,” I tell her honestly. “The worst was thinking I’d lost you. But the best was how it brought us together, and even after the challenges that tried to push us apart, we only grew stronger together.”
Sophie looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “I couldn’t agree more.”
I cup her beautiful face and press a soft kiss to her mouth before sliding my tongue between her lips and taking more of her. She melts into my chest, and soon, we’re a tangled mess of limbs falling on the bed.
“Just so you know, I don’t usually have sex on the first date,” I tell her when I lay between her legs, kissing down her jaw.
“I think you lost your right to say that when you pulled me into a bar bathroom,” she retorts, and I chuckle against her neck.
“Aren’t you the one who said it’d take more than one drink to seduce you?” I taunt. “Pretty sure you were flirting with me.”
“You bought my drink without even asking!” she fires back. “Just assumed I’d want you to buy me a drink.”
I lift up and look into her gorgeous brown eyes. “I didn’t hear any complaining.” I smirk, arching a brow because I know I have her there. “In fact, I remember a lot of moaning…”
“Okay, smartass,” she says, laughing. “We’ll call that our prequel date.”
The corner of my lips tilts up. “Prequel to what?”
“To a wild, exciting, sometimes scary ride. I don’t regret a thing, though. Not when it brought us here, to this very moment.”
“I like to think we would’ve eventually found our way to one another. Maybe.”
Sophie’s brows shoot up, clearly not agreeing with me. “Oh really? If I recall, you were hell-bent on pretending I didn’t exist. Took three years to get that fire burning under your ass.”
My head falls as I laugh in defeat. “Hey, I had my reasons.”
“I know, babe. We weren’t ready back then, but I know nothing could tear us apart now. I think we’ve proven that time and time again this year.”
Brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, I smile at the woman I love more than my own life. She’s talented, sweet, and so damn caring. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, and my world starts and ends with her.
“I love you, Sophie.” I press a kiss to her lips, cupping her face. “I never thought I’d be ready to say that again after Emma, but with you, saying it to you for the first time was effortless. So many crazy circumstances may have brought us together, but my life is a million times better with you in it.”
“Thank you.” Sophie brings our mouths together for a searing hot kiss, wrapping her legs around my waist and arching her hips to create friction against my erection.
“For what?” I ask softly.
“For loving me the way you do.” A kiss to my cheek. “For not being afraid to love again.” A kiss to my other cheek. “For telling me how much I mean to you.” A kiss to my nose. “For not giving up on us when I needed time.” A kiss to my forehead. “And lastly, for loving me for who I am. I know I come with a lot of baggage at times, and I’ve gotten us into bad situations, but you were always there to save me. I don’t know many men who would’ve stuck around after all that.” A kiss to my lips.
I hold her mouth captive, not letting her go. It grows desperate, heated, and eager. Sophie is my everything, and not one bone in my body doubts that we belong together.
“Soph…” I moan against her swollen lips. She’s rubbing her hot body against mine, my dick hard and threatening to burst out of my jeans. But this can’t wait. Not anymore.
She smiles. “Hmm?”
“Will you marry me?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sophie
My heart launches into my throat, choking me as I try to suck in air.
Oxygen. I need oxygen.
As I try to breathe, my eyes flutter, wondering if I heard Mason right. We were making out, about to tear each other’s clothes off, and then he dropped a bomb.
Will you marry me?
I finally clear my throat and look up at him. He’s staring at me, waiting for a response as if he’s just asked me what toppings I want on a pizza.
“What did you say?” I whisper, the beating in my chest echoing loudly in my ears.
Mason shifts off me and kneels on the bed, then grabs my hand and helps me upright. Face to face, he looks at me with a beaming smile and sparkling eyes. He takes both my hands in his and gently holds them. “I had planned on waiting until our final day here, but it feels like the perfect time to ask you right now. So without letting this moment go by…” Mason slides off the bed, reaches into one of his bags, then returns with a black velvet box.