My gaze shot to his, confused.
“I want to get married. Here. Today. I don’t need a fiancée. I need a wife. More specifically, I needyouto be my wife because you’re the only person that fits me. You’re the only person made for me to spend the rest of my life with.”
I inhaled sharply, still unable to wrap my mind around what was happening. I glanced around the scenery, the yacht, at anything but Tyler. Because I knew if I looked into his eyes that clear thought wouldn’t even be possible. Hell, it was barely possible without staring directly into his heated gaze. And that’s when I heard it.
The smooth vocals of Pat Monahan as he sang Train’s “Marry Me”. My vision went blurry as the tears filled my eyes.
“Destiny,” Tyler’s voice beckoned me.
I turned to look at him and was nearly bowled over by the sharpness of his gaze.
“I only know how to live one of two ways. All in or not at all. There’s no point of half-assing anything, not especially when I know something is mine for the taking.”
“Tyler, we’ve barely been dating two months.”
“And?”
“I …” I searched for something that made sense. “You haven’t even met my mother yet.”
“I’ll meet her when we get home.”
“Y-your family’s not here.Myfamily’s not here. Resha will kill me for marrying without her here.”
“She’ll have to get through me first.”
My shoulders sagged. I opened my mouth but he beat me to the punch.
“I only know how to play the game one way.”
“What game?”
“Life. I only play it one way, and that means when I find something that’s mine, I don’t hem and haw and I don’t waste time wondering what anyone else is going to think. I’m not built that way. We’ve been dating for two months but I’ve known way before that, that you and I were in this thing for the long haul. It was you who needed time to get used to it. I play for keeps, Destiny. So I was patient. Now my patience has all but run out. Tell me you don’t want to marry me and we’ll call the whole thing off. I’ll never bother you again.”
My heart truly began racing at those words. The thought of Tyler walking away completely nearly caused my knees to buckle. Thank God I was sitting down.
My eyes closed, and I felt Tyler lift my left hand and slide the ring onto my finger. My eyes popped open when he grabbed me around the waist, moving me to straddle his long legs, facing him.
“Okay,” I said just above a whisper.
“Okay, what?”
“I’ll marry you … today.”
The majestic water behind us with the sun high in the blue sky couldn’t compare to the beaming smile that crossed Tyler’s face. My heart actually stopped at that moment. I was such a goner.
Burying his face into the crook of my neck, he nuzzled it. “Thank you.” He pulled back to look up at me. “Oh, even if you had said no, I wouldn’t have walked away. I was lying when I said that shit.”
I tossed my head back and laughed. “I know,” I responded.
“Ha!” he cheered, standing up and twirling around with me still locked around his waist.
“Mr. Townsend, are we ready?”
Tyler stopped and I had to press against his shoulder for him to put me back on my feet. Once he did, I spun around to see a tall, regal man, dressed in all white. I squinted. He was our ship’s captain.
“We are.” Tyler nodded.
“Tyler?”
