She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow. “You’re looking at me like I just grew a second head.”
He cleared his throat and gave her a crooked smile. “Just wondering if we might be welcoming a third crewmember soon.”
Her brow furrowed. “Is that your way of suggesting we adopt a cat?”
He barked a laugh. “God, no. I enjoy breathing—and remaining in one piece. Cats hate me.”
She smiled but tilted her head, watching him with curious eyes. “Then what?”
He hesitated. Should he bring it up now? Or wait until tonight?
Dani leaned forward, studying his face. “You’re fidgeting.”
“I do not fidget.”
“You fidget when you’re nervous.”
“I’m not—” He paused. Sighed. “Okay. Maybe I am a little nervous.”
She set the bowl of oranges aside and shifted closer. “Talk to me.”
He drew in a breath and reached for her hand. “Dani, these last few weeks… they’ve been the best of my life. I don’t say that lightly. You know me. I don’t—romanticize—or I didn’t until I met you. Now, it seems to be all I do.”
She giggled and nodded. A tiny smile curved her lips as she studied his face.
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone. And I’ve never wanted a future with someone the way I want one with you,” he continued.
Her eyes widened slightly. Her lips parted.
“So, I need to ask you something. Two things, actually.”
She didn’t speak, but her grip on his hand tightened.
He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a small velvet box. “First,” he said, opening it to reveal a delicate diamond and emerald eternity ring nestled in the folds. “Will you marry me?”
Her breath caught. Her eyes filled with tears.
“And second,” he said gently, “do you think you might be pregnant?”
Her silence stretched into stunned stillness… then broke with a laugh that was half-sob, half-disbelief.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “You really don’t waste time.”
He smiled. “I’ve wasted enough. I want you, Dani. All of you. For the rest of my life. And if there’s a little heartbeat joining us soon…” He touched her flat belly with reverence. “…that just makes this moment even more perfect.”
Her cheeks flushed with a delicate pink. “Yes,” she whispered. “To the first. And… maybe to the second. I was going to get a pregnancy test the next time we stopped.”
He leaned in, kissed her lips that tasted of tangy orange, and wrapped his arms around her.
“We’ll do even better, I’ll make an appointment for you to see a doctor—after we are married. I don’t want to wait until spring,” he groaned, kissing her neck and sliding his hand under her top to cup her breast.
“Anchor. We need to put the anchors out,” she breathed, twisting the steering wheel and pulling back on the throttle.
Seventeen
The aluminum dinghy scraped gently against the dock. Dani jumped out to tie it off before Alexandros could. She still hummed with a pleasant buzz from their brief detour—because that man could melt her bones with a single touch.
Demetrius waited for them at the boathouse. The rhythmic lapping of water against the wooden pilings was a steady counterpoint to his restless pacing as they idled closer. His face was unreadable until his gaze locked onto hers—then shifted as he caught the flash of the diamond and emerald ring. A slow smile spread across his face, his eyes crinkling at the corners with approval.
