Sabrina

“Mmm, you are so sweet,” Dan murmured as he nipped and licked his way across my back.

“You’re much better than an alarm clock.”

Dan’s big hands moved to my waist and rolled me over to face him. His green eyes glowed in the moonlight streaming through my window. “I aim to please,” he said, just before his mouth lowered and devoured mine.

And please me he did, for the next hour. With his hands and mouth and body, Dan took me to paradise and back again.

As I lay sated and content in his arms, I realized that my heart is fully thawed. If I’m being honest, it had thawed a while ago, but I haven’t wanted to admit it, to myself or him. But I know, without a doubt, that I’m truly, madly in love with him. And more importantly, I trust him enough to share the knowledge.

Tilting my head, I placed a series of light pecks on the underside of Dan’s jaw. As I’d hoped, he turned his head so our mouths could meet. My kiss must have conveyed my newly admitted feelings, because when it ended, he looked at me with slightly dazed, questioning eyes.

Placing my hand on his face, I met his gaze and smiled. “I love you, Dan,” I said, for the first time in ten years.

Dan closed his eyes and placed his hand over mine. I watched his Adams apple bob up and down twice. He turned his head and placed a kiss in the center of my palm before opening his eyes and facing me once again.

“God, Bri.” His voice cracked. “You have no idea how much those words mean to me.” He slowly drew a breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth. “I feel like I’ve been sucker punched.” His crooked smile was shy and disarming and oh so endearing.

“And that’s a good thing?” I asked, knowing very well that it was.

Dan rolled over and slid between my legs, aligning our bodies perfectly. “That’s a very good thing.”

His mouth took mine in a powerful, loving, and eminently sexual kiss. Dan’s erection brushed against me and I raised my hips to rub against him. I swallowed his moan.

I dragged my hands over his powerful shoulders to his muscled back, finally reaching his taut ass, where my fingers flexed, pulling him closer.

Dan’s own hands moved over my body, stroking and loving. Everywhere he touched burned for more. He tore his lips from mine and moved them along the path his hands had just traveled. His hot mouth reached the juncture of my thighs, and I clenched in anticipation. Dan felt it too, I knew, and he looked up and met my gaze as his tongue reached out and flicked at the hard nub that had emerged, eagerly awaiting his touch.

Grinding my head into the pillow, I fought to restrain the moan that was dying to get out. Dan continued to torture me with little nibbles and flicks, putting me on edge, but not quite giving me what I wanted—what, at that moment, I needed—to have.

“Dan, please,” I gasped.

His gaze met mine over the length of my body. With our eyes locked, he opened his mouth and settled it over my very core and sucked. My eyes widened as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through my body and Dan’s gaze held me captive, not allowing me to look away.

Never in my life have I experienced anything like that. Not just the orgasm—though God knows, it was amazing—but the connection I felt to him as he watched me achieve it.

Dan looked as awestruck as I felt and as he moved up my body and put his arms around me, I felt like I’d come home. A peace I’d never known settled over me like a comfortable blanket. And, instead of questioning the feeling, or trying to fight it, I let myself embrace it. I opened my mouth to try and convey my feelings, but a light rap on my door stopped me.

My startled eyes looked to Dan, who simply shrugged. “Who is it?” I asked.

“Sabrina, it’s me, Lexi.”

Those four words set both Dan and me into action, hopping off the bed in order to retrieve our scattered clothing. Hastily slipping into his, Dan pointed to the closet and stepped inside.

“Uh, just a second, Lex.” I slid into my robe, quickly tied the sash and opened the door.

“What’s wrong honey?”

“I had a bad dream.”

Her green eyes were wide and her bottom lip quivered. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay. You’re okay,” I reassured her.

I felt her nod against my waist. “I’m sorry I woke you up, but I just had to make sure you were still here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She tipped her head back and looked at me, her eyes swimming with tears. “That’s what happened in my dream. I came to find you and you were gone.” She sniffed. “And you didn’t even say good-bye.”

The despair in her expression nearly tore my heart out. “Oh honey, that would never happen.”

“Promise you won’t leave, Sabrina,” she pleaded.

It amazed me that such a small child could make such a big request. I felt her anguish and my heart squeezed with her every sob. But I also knew I couldn’t promise her anything, because while Dan and I have certainly made a breakthrough in our relationship, no firm commitments have been made. So I promised her the only thing I knew to be true.

“I’ll be here whenever you need me.”

That seemed to satisfy her. The tension drained from her body and the arms that had been wrapped around my waist in a vice-like grip loosened.

“Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

I walked her across the hall and tucked her in. I sat with her until her eyes drifted shut and her breathing became slow and even.

“We need to talk.”

Dan stood in the middle of my room, his hands braced on his hips. During my conversation with Lexi, I’d forgotten he was in the room, so his presence startled me.

I closed the door behind me and moved over to the bed, perching on its edge.

Dan’s posture relaxed a bit and I knew he’d been expecting me to give him a hard time. If just the two of were involved, I may have, but with Lexi in the picture, I knew we had to come to some kind of agreement.

He walked across the room and sat facing me. “I love you, Sabrina.” He took my hand in his and laced our fingers together then studied them. “And I think we belong together.”

He looked to me then, as though he expected me to comment. What could I say? Dan is everything I’ve always dreamed of, everything I’ve ever wanted. Even when I hated him, I loved him.

Dan smiled and inched closer, placing his hand on my cheek. “Marry me,” he said softly.

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I tried again, but still nothing. Dan chuckled.

“I’ll take it as a good sign that you’re not screaming no.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “I’m just not sure what to say.”

“I think you do, you’re just too afraid to say it.”

His words were true, so I didn’t even attempt to deny them.

“Okay,” he said. “It’s not very romantic, but let’s look at this logically.”

“Logically?”

He nodded. “Do you love me?” he asked.

“Yes, I love you, Dan,” I answered without hesitation, which seemed to please him immensely.

“Do you trust me?”

If the look in his eyes was anything to go by, the answer to that question was more important than that of the previous one.

“Yes,” I said. “I trust you.”

“Thank you.” He leaned forward and placed a light kiss on my lips.

He cleared his throat. “Do you think we have a future together?”

“I do, but…”

He placed his index finger across my lips, preventing my words from coming out. “No buts. We’ll get to them in a minute.”

“Okay.”

“I want you with me all the time. I want us to be a family…you, Lexi, me, and whoever else comes along.” His gentle smile punctuated his words. “The thought of making a baby with you makes me feel…” He broke off and looked away for a moment before meeting my gaze again. The emotion in his eyes tugged at my heart. “I can’t even imagine how amazing it would be watching our baby grow inside you. But if you didn’t want any children, that’d be okay too. We could raise Lexi then concentrate on each other.”

“I do want children,” I surprised us both by saying.

“Yeah?” I nodded. “How many?

“I don’t know,” I said around a laugh. “I just realized that I wanted any.”

“How about if we just wing it?”

“Sounds good.”

“Does that mean that you’ll marry me?”

“I…y—” Before I could answer, Dan jumped of the bed and held up a halting hand.

“Wait! Don’t say anything yet.” He grabbed my waist and pulled me to my feet. “Come with me.” Pulling the door open, he led me out of my room and down the hall to his. “Have a seat,” he said, directing me to the bed.

I watched as he opened the top drawer in his nightstand and rummaged through it. I wanted to ask what was going on, but he seemed so intent on his task, I didn’t want to disturb him.

“Yes,” I heard him say, half under his breath. He straightened and turned around. My breath hitched when he dropped to his right knee directly in front of me.

“Sabrina Rose Kelly, will you marry me?”

My eyes widened as Dan held up a jeweler’s box. Nestled inside was an exquisite emerald cut diamond ring.

“Please.”

“Yes, Daniel Patrick McMullen, I will marry you.”

Dan let out a breath, as though he’d been holding it. As though he hadn’t been one hundred percent sure of my answer. He removed the ring from its confines and slipped it onto my finger.

“It’s beautiful,” I said as I moved my hand from side to side, watching the play of the light on the diamond. “Just the style I’ve always wanted.”

Dan sat down next to me. “Do you recognize it?” I frowned then my eyes widened. “Remember? We picked it out together.”

Just before he graduated, we’d gone shopping and stopped at a jewelry store. He prodded me into trying on engagement rings, and asked me all kinds of questions about my likes and dislikes. I told him my grandmother had an emerald cut diamond in a simple setting and I’d always loved it. The jeweler sent his assistant into the back room and when he emerged, he was holding the ring I had just described with a one and a half carat stone. Obviously more than a soon-to-be college graduate could afford, even with a professional baseball contract in his pocket.

“How? When?” I wasn’t sure what, exactly, I wanted to ask.

Dan answered anyway. “The day after you picked out this ring, I went back and put money down and set up a payment plan. I continued making payments until I started earning a real paycheck and could buy it outright.”

“Why?”

“Because I loved the look in your eyes when you saw it.”

“But we weren’t even together then.”

He shrugged. “I always had hope.”

“And you kept it all these years?”

He nodded.

“What if we never…”

“It wasn’t something I was willing to think about.”

“You’re either extremely hopeful or just plain crazy.”

“I guess a little of both.”

“Thank God,” I said before I tackled him and kissed him senseless.

Dan

Sabrina left my room at the crack of dawn. I hated letting her go, but we agreed that we wanted to tell Lexi about our engagement before she comes bounding in on us in bed together.

After shaving, I took a quick shower and threw on gym shorts and a T-shirt, then headed to the kitchen to start breakfast. It seems like a good day to make Lexi’s favorite breakfast, which also happens to be one of my favorites, and one of the few things I cook well.

I grabbed all the supplies from the refrigerator and placed them on the counter, then rummaged around for a cookie sheet, a bowl, and the griddle. After whisking together milk, eggs, and cinnamon, I set a few slices of bread into the batter. While that was soaking, I set the bacon on the cookie sheet and placed it in the oven.

The first batch looked good and soaked, so one by one, I moved it from the bowl onto the griddle, then added more bread to the batter.

My cell rang and I saw “mom” pop up on the screen.

“Hey, Mom.”

“I’m sorry I missed your call, honey. I went for a walk and forgot to take my phone.”

“Mom.” I rubbed my brow. “Please remember to bring your phone when you go out. What if something happened and you couldn’t call for help?”

“I was with the girls, so I’m sure someone had a phone on them.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Daniel, I’ve survived most of my life without having a phone on me every minute of the day.”

“I just worry about you.”

She sighed. “I know you do, but I’m fine. Really.” Before I could reply to that, she said, “But something must be up with you since you called me so early. Is Lexi okay?”

I flipped the French toast, then checked on the bacon in the oven.

“Lexi is fine,” I said. “And everything else is good. Great actually.”

“Oh?”

“I uh, I asked Sabrina to marry me last night.”

“Oh my God,” she screamed. “Oh honey, I’m so happy for you.” I heard her gasp through the phone. “She did say yes, right?”

“She did.”

“Oh honey,” she said again, then I heard a telltale sniff and knew she had started crying. “I’m so happy for you. Have you made any plans yet?”

I chuckled. “No, I just asked her a few hours ago.”

I pulled the bacon out of the oven and set it on the counter next to the plate of French toast I was compiling.

“We need to celebrate,” she said. “Can we set something up for this weekend?”

“Would I be able to stop you?”

“If it was just me maybe, but not once your sisters find out,” she said. “Speaking of your sisters, are you calling them today?”

I placed a few more slices of French toast on the growing stack.

“Give me a couple hours. I want to tell Lexi first.”

“When are you doing that?”

“As soon as she wakes up,” I said. “And, of course, today is the day she sleeps later than usual.”

The words were still hanging in the air when the topic of conversation entered the kitchen, followed by Sabrina. I couldn’t help the goofy smile that made its way across my face when I spotted her. I still can’t believe I asked her to marry me, or that she actually said yes. It’s like a dream.

“And here she is.”

“Can I talk to her a minute?”

“Sure.” I held the phone out. “Lex, grandma wants to talk to you.” She ran over and took the phone from me and ran out of the room. “Did you two plan your entrance?” I asked Sabrina, who had settled at the island.

“We met in the hallway,” she said, then looked over at my handiwork. “It smells good in here.”

I put the last of the French toast on the rest of the stack, shut off the stove, and made my way over the island opposite Sabrina.

“I figured a celebration breakfast was in order,” I said. “Unless last night was a dream.”

“No, it just feels like a dream.” She ducked her head, but not before I saw the blush spread across her face.

Reaching out, I ran my thumb down her jaw, bringing her gaze back to mine. “It does feel like a dream. Thank you.” I leaned forward and kissed her, but pulled back before things could get of hand.

“Did you tell your mom?” she asked.

I nodded. “She wants to have a party this weekend to celebrate. Do you think your family would be able to come?”

“I’m sure they’ll make themselves available,” she said. “They’re thrilled.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “My mother said she’d always hoped we’d find our way back to each other.”

Before I could respond, Lexi came back into the kitchen and handed me my phone.

“You made French toast!” she said and hugged me, then looked at Sabrina. “He usually only makes it on my birthday or for holidays.”

“If I made it all the time, it wouldn’t be special,” I said.

“So why are we having it today?” she asked and settled onto the chair beside Sabrina.

“Because we’re celebrating,” I said.

“Celebrating what?”

I looked at my fiancé and smiled. “I asked Sabrina to marry me.”

Lexi’s eyes widened and she looked at Sabrina, who held her hand up, exposing her ring. “And I said yes.”

“So you’re getting married?” She looked back at me and I nodded. Then she screamed…loudly…and launched herself at Sabrina, who reacted just in time to keep her seat. “I’m so happy you’re staying,” she said.

I figured I better save Sabrina from my daughter’s death grip.

“Why don’t you grab some dishes, Lex, and we can get this celebration started?”