Rough Terrain (Vista Falls #1) (25 page)

“I remember.” She smiled, looping her arms around his neck. “You were going to build the house by hand—a log cabin, you said.”

“I thought my dad and brother could help. Colt too. I didn’t realize my dad and Colt would be gone before I made my dreams come true.”

“That’s not true.” She kissed him. “Colt will always come back to you, and your dad got to see plenty of your dreams come true. He was so proud of you. You have to know that.”

He leaned into her, nestling his face between her neck and shoulder. “He didn’t get to see us make our dreams come true though.”

“No, he didn’t.” She held her breath as his fingers, still under her shirt, found the clasp at the front of her bra and released it. She closed her eyes when he dropped open-mouthed kisses below her jaw.

“Tell me your dreams.” His voice was deep and thick with emotion as he popped the buttons on her fitted black sleeveless blouse, spreading the material open. “Let me see what I can do about making them come true.”

She watched him circle her breast with his lips before his tongue darted over the rosy peak. “I want this. I want you. Every night.” Sleeping without him last night had made her realize she preferred sleeping with him. She wasn’t afraid to be alone, but she felt safer wrapped in his arms.

“Mmmm.” He blew on the moist trail he’d left over her breast as he moved to the other.

“I want to watch you build a relationship with Nick.”

He was already kissing a path down her stomach when she lifted her hips so he could slip off her white denim shorts to reveal sheer white panties. “What else do you want?”

She realized she hadn’t asked what he wanted, but looking into his eyes, seeing how much he adored her, made it easier for her to jump without looking for a net. “I want to be your wife someday.”

He smiled while hooking his thumbs into her panties and sliding them down her legs. “I like the sound of that. Go on.”

“I want another chance to be a mom.”

His eyes softened before he pressed his lips to her belly, inhaling deeply. “God, I so want to give you that. Do you know how much it killed me to admit to myself and you that I wasn’t man enough to take care of you and our baby?”

She sat up on her elbows, battling outrage on his behalf. “What are you talking about? You were just a kid. We both were.”

“I was man enough to get you pregnant. I should have been man enough to do right by you. Signing those goddamn papers was the worst experience of my life. You know why?”

She bit her lip, trying to suppress tears as she shook her head. “No. Why?”

“Because I could see how disappointed you were that I caved. I was so tempted to tear them up, to swear to you that I’d find a way to take care of you both, but then reality came crashing down on me. I heard your old man’s voice telling me that we’d end up living out of my old beat-up truck.” He sat back, running a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk messing up your lives that way. I loved you too much.”

“I hate that my father made you doubt yourself,” she whispered, reaching for him. But she’d been no better. She’d doubted herself and him too. She’d let her parents get inside her head and convince her they only had one option.

“None of that matters now.” His eyes raked over her body. “What matters is that I’m gonna do it right this time. We’re going to have the biggest goddamn wedding this town has ever seen.”

“I don’t need that.” Though exchanging their vows in front of everyone who’d thought they’d never make it, that their love wasn’t real, would be nice.

“And this time when you get pregnant”—he reached for the hem of his gray T-shirt and peeled it over his head before he went for his belt—“I am going to be the happiest son of a bitch alive. No fear this time. Just excitement and pride.”

As he stripped off his jeans, she thought it couldn’t get much better than this until he reached into his pocket. She assumed he was looking for protection, but instead he produced an engraved white gold ring with a modest diamond.

“No.” She half laughed, half cried as she reached for the throw on the back of the couch.

“No?” He curled the ring into his fist. “But I thought you said you wanted—”

“You can’t propose to me here, like this,” she squealed. “I’m naked.”

“Believe me, I noticed.” He tried to tug the blanket away, laughing when she gripped it tighter. “What?”

“What are we going to tell our kids when they asked how you proposed to me?”

“We’re going to tell them the truth.” He smiled. “That I waited for just the right moment.”

“This is the right moment?”

“I can’t think of a better day than the anniversary of our very first date, can you?”

“Oh my God.” Her hand flew to her mouth as she scrambled to remember what day it was. He was right—eighteen years ago, he’d asked her out on her very first date. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”

“Baby, a man doesn’t forget the day he finds the girl he’s going to spend the rest of his life with.”

“Wait.” She gestured to the ring in his hand. “You’d planned to do this all along? Today? Tonight?”

He laughed, rolling his eyes. “No, I carry my grandmother’s ring around all the time just in case I feel like popping the question.”

She knew none of this mattered now—the only thing that mattered was the man she loved wanted to marry her—but she had to say, “But you weren’t even going to come in. You were upset with me—”

He kissed her, threading a hand through her hair. “Silly girl. You really thought you could get rid of me that easily?” His grip tightened, his expression fierce as he whispered, “Never again, Sage. You and I are never going to be apart again.”

She kissed him, letting the blanket slip down when he pressed her back into the cushions. When she moaned and tried to draw him closer, he pulled her arms from around his neck with a laugh.

“Oh no, you don’t. I’ve got something to say, and you’re not going to distract me,” he said.

She rolled onto her side, propping her head in her hand as she tried to hide her smile. She still couldn’t believe he was down on one knee, in his boxer briefs, ready to present her with a family heirloom. It meant more to both of them than any other diamond he could have given her.

His paternal grandmother had lived in Vista Falls all of her life. She’d been a staple at every town event for as long as Sage could remember, and she’d treated Sage like family even long after she and Wes broke up. Wearing her ring would be an honor.

“So here’s the thing.” He cleared his throat. “When, um, my grandmother got sick and I came back to spend some time with her before she passed, you were away at school, finishing up your degree.”

“I remember.” She’d hated to miss the funeral, but she’d been cramming for exams. And she’d been afraid to face Wes again.

“I went to visit her in the hospital, and she gave me this ring.” He held it up, pursing his lips as though he was fighting back tears. “I’d never seen her take it off, so I was stunned.”

Sage couldn’t remember ever seeing her without it either. Her husband had died years earlier, yet she’d continued to wear the ring he gave her, vowing to wear it till the day she died.

“She told me that this ring carried good luck because it had seen them through a lot of tough times. She said they’d made it even though everyone said their relationship was doomed.”

Sage smiled, remembering how many people had said the same thing about them years ago.

“She wanted me to have it as a reminder that sometimes things work out even when we think they won’t.” He drew a shaky breath before kissing Sage’s hand. “She knew I’d never really gotten over losing you. I guess because every time she called me, I’d hang on every word she had to say about you.”

“Really?”

“She was the only one brave enough to mention your name to me.” He grinned. “You know she was fearless.”

“Yeah, she was.”

“She told me that it was never too late to make things right and maybe this ring would help guide me back to the woman who was meant to wear it.”

Sage felt a tear trickle onto her hand.

“And it did,” he said.

He held the ring up as she sat up, heedless of the fact that she was naked as the blanket slipped down around her waist.

“It led me back to you, back to the life we were supposed to have. Sage, will you give me another chance to give you the life you deserve?”

“Yes!” She threw her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him back into the coffee table. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

He laughed as he slipped the ring on her finger. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I believe we have a little unfinished business.”

Sage squealed when he picked her up, cradling her against his body. He carried her to her bedroom, his lips against hers.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Can you believe it? You’re finally going to be Mrs. Davis.”

“It’s about time.”

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