CHAPTER TEN

Mia

The past, a year and three months ago…

The sky and the ocean are the same blue today, I think, my hands resting on the ledge of the cutout inside the lighthouse that sits a couple of miles down from Grayson’s family home. So blue, so perfect that despite the sky and the ocean starting at different places, they meld together as one. The way I do with Grayson. I rotate and rest my elbows on the ledge, my gaze landing on Grayson where he sits in one of the cozy chairs we picked out recently for our many hours spent here. His gaze is downturned, focused on his MacBook as he goes over numbers on the newest of his nationwide expansion of his father’s law firm, this one opening in Washington. He’s so damn good looking, so unassuming in faded jeans and a black snug t-shirt that hugs his impressive chest, his dark wavy hair rumpled and not from the wind. Because I can’t ever keep my fingers out of it.

He glances up and his green eyes meet mine, and even after nine months and almost every day since with him, I feel the punch of that connection. I feel him in every part of me. He winks the way he does often like we’re sharing a private secret, which we often do, and I smile, reaching for my wine glass on the table beside him. He catches my hand and pulls me to him, kissing me before he scowls into the phone. “Negative, Eric,” and releases me. “I do not like the numbers on that building. Tell Davis if he can’t negotiate better than that, I’ll do it myself.”

My lips curve because Davis, like Eric, is one of Grayson’s closest friends, but Grayson doesn’t pull any punches with them. When it comes to business, he’s smart, savvy, and if need be, brutal but he’s always honest. The honest part is probably the thing that makes me love him beyond all else, and there is plenty of else.

“That’s it,” Grayson says behind me. “I’m done for the day.”

I rotate to find him standing up and walking toward me with his wine glass in hand. Instantly, my stomach flutters like a schoolgirl who is about to stand next to her crush. That’s what this man does to me and has since that day I ran into him. “Did you notice which wine this is?” he asks, both of us facing each other, our elbows on the railing.

“That cheap but good one that I fell in love with in Sonoma last weekend after I learned there are wines to taste and wines to drink. And that the expensive ones are barely tolerable. Yes. I did. Thank you. I still love it.”

“It’s a good choice,” he says. “And I like that you look beyond the price tag.”

Because so many people in his life see his money before they ever, if they ever, see the man. “We should go to that Italian place you love tonight.” He leans over and kisses me. “Or we could order in and eat in bed in between fucking and fucking some more.”

My cheeks heat and do so despite the fact that I’ve done about every naughty thing possible with this man. “I do love our nights in bed.”

He sets his glass on the ledge next to us and then takes mine and does the same. “Then bed it is.” His fingers tangle in my hair, and he drags my mouth to his. “I love you, Mia. You know that, right?”

“I love you, too.”

“I mean I really love you.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask, pulling back to look at him, sensing his suddenly darker mood.

“Nothing is wrong. Nothing has been wrong since the day I met you.” His mouth closes down on mine, and his tongue strokes deep, his hand settling between my shoulder blades, molding me close. It’s a passionate kiss, a hungry kiss. A kiss that is all about emotion and not sex. A kiss that screams “I need you” and says so much more than even words.

It ends with me breathless and his thumb strokes away the dampness on my lips. “I have something for you.” He kisses me and then walks to his chair. “Come here.”

His mood is hard to read and I tilt my head to study him. “What are you up to, Grayson Bennett?”

“Come find out.” His green eyes light with challenge. “If you dare.” With those words, the edge I’ve sensed in him seems to soften.

My lips curve and I join him. “I dared,” I say, stepping between him and the chair, my hands settling on his chest. “Now what?”

“Sit and close your eyes.”

“Now you’re making me curious.”

“Good. Sit, baby. You’ll like this, I promise.”

“Of that, I have no doubt,” I assure him because this is him and he gives me no reason to do anything but like and love each day and moment.

I sit.

“Shut your eyes,” he orders.

“Eyes shut,” I say, doing as commanded.

He kneels beside me or I believe he does. My eyes are, of course, shut. “What if I was to blindfold you?”

My eyes open and meet his sea-green stare. “Is that what you’re going to do?”

“Would it be a problem?”

“Of course not. I trust you. Is that what you’re going to do?”

“Not until later.” He sets an envelope in my lap. “Open it.”

My teeth sink into my bottom lip and my curiosity is ripe. I unseal the flap and pull out a contract. “You bought the lighthouse from the man who retired it?”

“I did,” he says. “Look at the name on the deed.”

I scan and note the extreme price this place cost, and I know he did this for us, for me. “There’s no name. I don’t understand.”

“I want you to fill in your name.”

I shove at his chest. “No. No, I won’t take this. No.” I stand up and he sets the paperwork on the chair and joins me, his hands shackling my waist and pulling me to him. “I want you to have it.”

“I want to be here with you. I don’t want a present like this. I’m not with you for this.”

“What’s mine is yours, Mia.”

“No. No, that is not true and all I want is you, Grayson. I don’t care about the rest.”

He cups my face. “I left it blank for a reason. I want your name on that deed, but I want it to be my name.”

I blink. “I don’t understand.”

“Marry me, Mia. I need you forever.”

I suck in a breath. “What?”

“I love you. I need you with me forever. Say yes.”

“I—I have to sign a prenup. I don’t want you to ever think-”

He kisses me, a deep slide of tongue before he says, “Is that a yes?”

“Yes. Yes, you know it is. You know I love you. You know I need you, too. Forever.”

His lips, those perfect lips, curve. “Then I have something else for you.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a satin pouch. “It was easier to carry this in this than in a box today.” He removes the stunning, incredible, giant ring inside. “If you don’t like it-”

“My God,” I say eyeing the emerald diamond that sparkles with hints of blue. “It’s gorgeous, but I think I need a security guard to wear it.”

He laughs. “I’ll be your security guard.” He slips it on my finger. “It’s a rare blue diamond. I special ordered it. I wanted you to have something no one else would have.”

I look at it and then him. “Thank you.”

“Thank me by spending the rest of your life with me.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I swallow hard. “I hate that my mother isn’t alive to know you.”

“As do I of mine, Mia.”

It’s one of the things we’ve bonded on. The love of our parents. The loss of our mothers. Mine to cancer two years ago and his to a car accident five years ago. “Does your father know?”

“Not yet, but he loves you. He’ll be happy, but Mia, he’ll be harder on you at work. You need to be ready for that.”

“I want to prove myself. You know I do. I can handle it.”

He cups my face. “It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. Just the opposite. He’s hard on me. He always has been.”

I can’t think about his father right now. I smile. “We’re getting married.”

He smiles. “Yeah, baby. We’re getting married.”