Page 75 of Sunrise

We start eating, and I find myself staring at her more than eating. She looks at me now and then, and after a few bites, she pauses.

"Are you really here?" she asks.

"I really am, and I'm not going anywhere," I tell her.

With that, she rolls her eyes, and it's so damn sexy.

"Sure, you are only in the middle of filming a soon-to-be blockbuster movie," she says.

"Not anymore. I realized I don't want to make movies anymore. After working side by side with you at the inn, and the time I spent here, I realized this is what I wanted to do. I want to be here with you, run the inn with you, have a family with you. All I ever wanted growing up was to have the love I've seen between my parents and raise a family. That never changed. It was just put on the back burner."

"There is no way you'd give up a life in Hollywood to be here in this small town." She shakes her head.

"I got home from shooting one day and realized the house may be mine, but nothing in it was. I didn't decorate it. With the exception of a few things in it, I didn't buy anything there; my designer did. What little I actually wanted to keep fit in a small moving truck that my PA is driving across the country as we speak. He texted me earlier and said he was stopping just outside Dallas, Texas, tonight."

"So, what you are moving out here?" She doesn't hide the shock on her face.

"Yep, Goldie, you will be stuck with me. I want to run the inn with you. With Brynn's help, I was able to use my name and connections and buy the land across the street. I was thinking we could expand the inn to include some private luxury beachfront villas. Otherwise, I invested my money well and never overindulged. I don't need to work at something I hate just to support that lifestyle. Besides, I don't want the lifestyle anymore. What I want is right here, and I am wherever you are. No matter if it's in the studio here at Sunrise or a house on the island. As long as it includes you, I'm in."

Her eyes search mine, wanting to believe me but needing confirmation.

I chuckle. "Do you need to see the deed?" I ask.

"No, it's just... I'm in shock, I guess. I was convinced what I felt was one-sided," she says.

At this, I get up and round the table until I am standing next to her. I drop down to my knees and take her hands in mine.

"I felt it too. I felt it so strong it scared me, and I didn't know how to say goodbye. That's why I left the way I did. But I'm here, and I need you to know, I love you, Lin. I love you, and I want to marry you. I want to spend my life with you here. I'm not leaving. Even if you tell me I messed up so bad I can't fix it, I'm staying, and I will spend every day until my last breath loving you and trying to prove how sorry I am."

"Kade. You want to marry me?" she whispers.

I smile and cup her cheek. "Yeah, I do."

I rub my thumb over her cheekbone, and a brilliant smile lights up her face as she throws her arms around my neck and kisses me. It's a short kiss because when she pulls back, she whispers on my lips.

"I love you too." Then she is right back to kissing me again. Her lips dancing across mine, bringing me back to life and making everything fall into place. I could kiss her forever, and my hard cock wants me to lay her down and make love to her right here in the sand, but I'm not done.

I pull back and rest my forehead on her hers as I gather my thoughts.

When I pull back, she smiles at me again, and I know my smile is just as wide.

"You love me?" I ask, needing to make sure I didn't imagine it.

"Yes, Kade." She laughs. "I love you, and I've been so miserable too. Everywhere I turned, there were memories of you, and then the one day I get off the island to get a break? I get recognized, and they, of course, have a million questions they want to know about you. I was actually training a girl at the front desk just so I didn't have to be there this summer and be hounded by your fans."

I cringe. "Yeah, I've seen the hashtag. I didn't think it would be that bad."

"Oh, that was Brynn's idea. She ran with it. She can tell you all about it."

I shake my head and just stare at her. She's here in front of me, and I still can't believe it. I look over at the security guy closest to us and nod. He walks over and hands me something, and it doesn't go unnoticed by Lin.

"What's that?" she asks.

"Brynn gave me this. I had a much harder time convincing her that I loved you, but I did." I open the small box that contains her parents' wedding rings. Brynn told me they both saved them, and Lin had always wanted to wear her mother's rings. I would have bought her any set she wanted, but I know this one will mean more than anything I could possibly buy her.

"Now that I convinced her, I need to know if I convinced you. Will you do me the incredible honor of becoming my wife? Allow me to live out this life I crave with you by my side?" I ask and hold my breath.

Just like earlier, she smiles and throws her arms around my neck again. "Of course, I will marry you!" she squeals, and this time, I pick her up and swing her in a circle as I kiss her.

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