Page 126 of Whiskey Chase
He wasn’t exactly excited when I pulled him away from my house and bed and headed for my truck instead. But I had one hell of an idea, and I didn’t want to lose it in a cloud of lust.
“It’s worth the wait. I promise.”
Devlin held my free hand as I floored it toward our destination. There was only one thing I wanted more than to get him naked and under me. And it was important.
I turned onto the bumping lane and stopped by the peeling For Sale sign. The fields stretched out, bright under the nearly full moon. The tree line whispered quietly in the light breeze that stirred up. I could just make out the sparkle of lake water beyond.
I patted the For Sale sign. “What do you say, Dev? Build a life with me here? You can open your practice or do something else. Teach yoga, sell nuts and bolts, keep my books. I’ve got some money saved, and I can do some of the work myself. I’m thinking four bedrooms and one of those big soaker tubs in a window facing the lake.”
I could feel him practically vibrating next to me, and I wasn’t sure if it was the physical need to strip me down and make me come or if it was the plan I was laying out.
“We can build a house, a life, a family. And someday, when the kids are being obnoxious, we’ll tell them how it all started right here on the tailgate of my truck.”
His mouth lifted. “Why Scarlett Bodine, are you proposing marriage?” he teased.
I wrinkled my nose at him. “Not yet. I promised Mama not ‘til thirty, and a Bodine doesn’t—”
“Break promises,” Devlin filled in, reeling me into him.
“I want this with you, Dev. I want a big house and wild kids and bonfires.”
“I want to give you anything and everything you want,” he reminded me.
“Is that a yes?”
“Honey, that’s a hell yes.” He kissed me hard under the moon on the land we’d buy together. “Why are you wearing this, by the way?”
He’d pulled back and was studying my dress. “I was planning to impress you with my chameleon-like ability to blend in when I crashed your place in Annapolis. Because I came to my senses first.”
Devlin threw his head back and laughed. “Scarlett, honey, you couldn’t blend in if you were invisible. Please don’t ever try. I’d miss my beer-drinking, boot-wearing Bootleg girl.”
I grabbed him by the tie and yanked him down to me. “Yeah, just remember who said ‘I love you’ first.”
Epilogue
Devlin
Iwas already awake when Scarlett’s alarm went off. Today was a big day, not that Scarlett Bodine let anyone forget that it was finally her thirtieth birthday. Four years together, I thought, rolling to my side, and I was finally going to ask her to marry me.
Her brothers had given me their perfunctory approval ages ago. It was totally ceremonial—they’d dunked my ass in the lake again—but I was a part of them now. And it was time to make it official.
Scarlett stirred when I dragged her up against me, kissing her bare shoulder.
The morning light poured through the windows facing the lake. We’d built this home together, Scarlett doing a good portion of the work herself and teaching me a few things along the way. And every damn day, I counted my blessings when I pulled up the long drive. Everything I cared about most in this life was here.
The ring was in the drawer of my nightstand. I’d thought of a million ways to do this over the past four years. As with everything involving Scarlett, I had a Plan A, B, C, and D on top. It was a necessity when your girlfriend was as unpredictable and wild as Scarlett.
My soon-to-be fiancée let out an inelegant snort and sat straight up. “Christ on a cracker! What time is it?”
“It’s early,” I said, propping myself on my elbow and watching her spring naked from the bed. “What’s the hurry, birthday girl?”
She paused mid-hop as she dragged on a pair of cutoffs and grinned at me.
“I’ve got birthday things to attend to. Hair, massage, and facials with the girls,” she said. She hopped in my direction and laid a kiss on me that turned my morning wood into a raging hard-on.
“What about me? Don’t I get to spend your day with you?” I asked.
Her grin was as honeyed as her accent. “Don’t you worry, Dev. You’ll be the highlight of my big day.”
