She swallowed hard. “Logan?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you marry me?”
“In a heartbeat.” He smiled. So kind. So totally missing the point.
Her heart skipped a beat. “Is that a yes?”
His eyes went wide. “Wait, was that a—did you just propose to me?”
She nodded weakly.
“Tori…” He said her name reverently. “Are you serious? Now?”
Another nod. Her heart was pounding. “I don’t want to have a big engagement. Or a black tie wedding, either. How would you feel about getting away somewhere, at some point, and exchanging vows, just you and me and the sea?”
“Like the luckiest man in the world.”
“Because I want forever with you, too. I want to be your wife, I want to have kids, I want to find a bigger apartment than this, and decorate it for real, and a whole bunch of things that are all probably way too soon and way too much, but we’ve wasted so much time, Logan. I don’t want to waste a second more.”
* * *
Never in a million years could Logan have hoped for this. With a happy roar, he surged off the couch, holding Tori in his arms.
“You crazy man, you put me down,” she whispered, clinging to him tightly.
“Never.”
He carried her into his bedroom and deposited her on his bed. “We can go house hunting tomorrow.”
“I need a job first.”
“You’ll get one in a heartbeat. You’re perfect.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
He fell on top of her, giving in immediately to her glorious demand. Her, and him, and the sea. A bigger place. Kids, down the road.
A heady need tugged low inside him. Consummation of vows.
He’d carry her over a threshold, anywhere in the world, and they’d make the most beautiful babies together.
He could see that. A hazy image of a pregnant Tori flitted through his mind. A little boy that looked like him. A little girl with long dark hair racing into the ocean’s surf.
“I love you, Tor. I’m in love with you,” he murmured. “And I will be for the rest of my days.”
Her eyelids fluttered open and she blinked up at him, her lips parted and her eyes glassy with lust. “I love you too.”
She’d said it before. It had never been in doubt.
“And I’m in love with you,” she whispered. “So much. Forever.”
