Page 82 of Meet Me in Tahiti

Her heart skipped a beat. What was he talking about? “Who’s they?”

He grinned. “My new bosses. Key Biscayne Fleet. I took a job here.”

“You did what?” Her voice cracked with surprise and something dangerously close to hope. Did this mean…?

He nodded. “Started last week. Training’s done. I take my first charter out next Friday. Five days to the Keys. After that, to the Bahamas, sometimes. Depends on the season.”

She blinked. “So…” She almost couldn’t mouth the words. “You’re… working here now?”

He nodded.

She was almost too scared to ask. “And you’re… staying?”

His lips parted. “Yeah.” The words came out softly. “I’m staying.”

Tessa inhaled. The tears of joy came too fast to stop. She threw her arms around him before she could talk herself out of it. His arms wrapped tightly around her, grounding her like nothing else had in months.

“I missed you,” he murmured. “I missed you so much.” His voice broke as she ran her hands through his hair, across his shoulders. The same strong, capable shoulders she remembered. This was almost too good to be true.

He was really here. This was Russ, in the flesh. The man she’d wept over, missed, pledged her heart to. Wished things could’ve been different with, every night since she’d left him in Tahiti. And he was staying?

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Tess’, I couldn’t breathe without you.”

She pulled back, her breath catching. “I didn’t mean to wait for you, Russ. You told me not to. But I didn’t want anyone else. Not when all I could think about was you. So, if you’re just here to say hello and be on your way again, I need to know now. I can’t… I can’t go through that again.”

He took her face gently in his hands. “I’m not here just to say hi.”

Then he lowered his head with a gentle gaze at her and met her lips. And she let him kiss her—soft and slow, like he had all the time in the world.

“I’m here,”he said, his forehead against hers, “because I love you.” They’d sat on her sofa for an hour, talking, catching up, holding each other, laughing, crying.

But Tessa gasped, her eyes filling again at his words.

“I love you, Tessa. I should’ve said it back then, on the island, when you said it to me. I loved you then. And I love you now. But I was scared back then, and I was stupid. I didn’t know what to do with something that felt so real when I knew you were leaving.”

This time, he was going all-in. He wasn’t going to lose her again.

He moved from the sofa and dropped to one knee.

Tessa sat up, and her hands flew to her mouth.

Yes, he’d surprised her. He’d been too afraid to giveher fair warning, in case she might not agree to see him. It was cowardly—maybe—or it was fearless, reckless, even? Because sometimes, fearlessness was needed.

Before his nerves got the better of him, he pulled the small black box from his pocket that he’d stuffed there just hours ago. Then he opened it.

A pear-shaped diamond ring sparkled from inside, round on one side and pointed on the other, creating a stunning asymmetrical design, at least as far as he was concerned. Tessa’s eyes widened again. He smiled as she stared at him, speechless.

“I don’t want to do anything else in this life without you, Tessa. I want to wake up to you. Build a future with you. I want to ride every wave with you. Harness the wind with you. Explore every port together. And I don’t want to lose you—ever again. Tessa Reed, will you marry me?”

His heart thudded in his chest as he waited. Had he skipped too far ahead, asked her too soon? Maybe he should’ve simply told her he wanted to be back in her life, if she’d have him?

But he’d done it specifically, so that she knew he was serious this time. That he meant what he said. That he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. That he wasn’t leaving.

She erupted into tears and nervous laughter, and the worry inside him gave way. Breathlessly, her head bounced up and down as if she couldn’t yet speak. “Yes,” she finally blurted. “Yes. Oh my gosh, Russ, yes!”

His heart lifted as he slipped the ring onto her finger. He stood up, pulling her to her feet in front ofhim, and she fell into his arms again as they both laughed and held each other. Relief washed over him, and he squeezed her tightly. He’d made it. He’d made it back to her.

He kissed her then, a long, deep kiss full of all the love and passion in his heart.

---