Page 36 of Breakfast Included

“A ride? Where?”

Tate didn’t answer, but his eyes danced with excitement. Tate led him along a path he didn’t remember from their visit the year before. They came around a clearing in the tall snow-covered trees, and Reno saw two large draft horses hitched up to a red sleigh with white trim, that looked like something out of a Christmas movie. Both horses were dappled gray, and their dark leather harnesses were decorated with red bows and ribbons. Their manes were braided with boughs of holly, and there was a red ribbon braided into the top of their tails.

“Are you free for a ride?” Tate asked the driver when they approached.

The man smiled. He was wearing a tan parka with a fuzzy cream collar and one of those hats that had flaps over the ears.

“Of course, hop on up.” He gestured to the sleigh. “There’s a wool blanket on the seat you can drape over your legs.”

Tate dropped Reno’s hand and bent into a bow. With one hand behind his back, he waved toward to the sleigh with the other.

“After you, my love,” he said in a formal voice and a horrible British accent.

Reno snorted and climbed in. “You’d never pass for a Brit.”

“My name is James,” the driver said once they were comfortably seated.

Reno couldn’t help the bark of a laugh that burst from his mouth, and heat crept into his cheeks. “I’m so sorry. Your name is really James?”

James nodded and with a smile said, “Go on. Say it.”

Tate’s shoulders shook as he tried smothering his own laughter.

Okay then. . . Reno sat up straight, and in his own poor imitation of a British accent, said loudly, “Onward, James.”

Tate lost control then and brayed, which sent Reno into a fit of giggles along with him. From the front of the sleigh, he could hear James’s chuckling too.

Those poor horses . . .

When their laughter finally ran its course, Reno snuggled into Tate’s side, and Tate tightened his arm around him. The day was quiet but for the lulling beat of the horses’ hooves on the plowed trail and the steady swoosh of the sleigh. The route followed the river deeper into the postcard-perfect backcountry before it looped back toward The Retreat.

“It’s breathtaking out here,” Reno marveled. “This was a good idea. Thank you.”

He kissed Tate softly. His lips were cool, and his nose was red. They were going to need some skin-to-skin action to warm up when they got back to the cabin. Something Reno looked forward to.

Tate smiled and pushed a stray lock of hair that escaped Reno’s hat off his forehead. That dreamy, blissful expression was back on his face as he gazed into Reno’s eyes.

“What?” Reno asked again, his voice breathy.

Tate shifted on the bench, took both of Reno’s hands into his, and dropped down to the floor of the sleigh on one knee.

“What are you doing?” Reno gasped. He knew, of course he knew, but that it was really happening seemed unreal.

Tate smiled, and Reno’s heart swelled in his chest.

“Reno Pierce,” Tate began, his voice husky and full of emotion. “I love you more than anything in this world. You are the best thing in my life, and I don’t want to spend a single day of it without you by my side. Will you marry me?”

Reno would deny it until his dying day, but he squeaked. A sharp, high-pitched gasp of air blasted from his lungs and burst out of his mouth. He pulled his hands free and grabbed Tate’s face.

“Yes!” He leaned forward and kissed the man of his dreams.

“Yes!” He kissed the man he’d loved his entire life.

“Yes!” He kissed the man he would get to love for all their days to come. He leaned back and wiggled the gloved fingers of his left hand.

“Where’s my ring?”

A throat cleared, and it took a minute for Reno to realize the sleigh had stopped moving. He looked up to see James had turned in his seat toward them.

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