I screeched and squealed and screamed while kicking my feet, but he held me too tightly and laughed the entire time.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I kicked at him hard again but didn’t make contact. “Put me down.”
Damn it. Why did he have to be so full of muscles?
Riley splashed into the water. “I want to put you down,” he said and then he dropped me in the middle of the water as soon as the waves were up to his knees.
I fell hard and fast, so much so that my butt hit the sandy bottom of the ocean. The water was freezing. Actually freezing, not like when we were in Florida where it was hot on the beach, so the water felt cold. The ocean never quite got warm in Maine. Not warm like you needed. Getting dumped into the ocean in Maine was an experience you needed to prep for. A warning.
I rolled around the water trying to get to my feet, but I was so angry it took longer than it should have. By the time I popped up and spat water at Riley, he was still laughing, and then he took my hands and walked me out further into the surf as I worked to push my hair out of my eyes.
“Babe,” he said when I tried to pull away. “Do you really think I give a shit how many cookies you eat? I just said that to get you riled up enough. That way I had an excuse to dunk you in the ocean like I promised I would if you went crazy.” He laughed through his brief speech and I saw red.
Riley was proud of how close he’d come to death.
I sputtered again and got the last piece of hair out of my eyes. “Are you kidding? You’ve been an ass all day so you could dunk me?” Was I dating a six-year-old?
If he thought admitting it and then laughing at me made the situation better, Riley was highly confused. This was the shit that happened when you didn’t have any sisters to learn from.
I spun, ready to storm back to the beach and towel off. I wouldn’t kill him today, but he still had a lot of making up to do.
Except Riley had a hold of my hands so hard he wouldn’t let me get away. “Cass, Cass, wait.”
I turned around and glared at him, trying to cross my arms except it looked ridiculous because his hand came with me and then I tucked his palm next to my boob. The man did not get a free squeeze when he had been a jerk.
“If I let go of your hand, are you going to run away?”
I nodded. “Obviously, yes.”
How was such a smart man so dumb?
“Okay, then I guess I better do this fast,” he said, and slid down to one knee in the water. The waves crashed against his naked stomach.
I tried to backpedal, but he still had my hand. A sizeable wave hit Riley, and I lost my footing against a rock. “What are you doing? Stand up.” If he was joking, I really would kill him.
Riley snorted as if he read the thoughts in my brain. “I worked hard all day to tick you off, Cassandra, because I wanted to get you in the ocean right here for this part. This is our place. Every time we have problems, I’ll bring you to the ocean to work it out.”
If Riley seriously thought dunking me helped get himself out of trouble, we really had something to talk about in our relationship.
“Do you know how hard I worked to piss you off? You are one of the calmest, nicest people I’ve ever met. I had to practically call you fat before it happened.”
My eyes widened, and I pointed a finger at him. “So you did call me fat?”
Riley shook his head. “Babe, you are not fat.”
His free hand splashed under the water and he fiddled with his shorts for a minute before bringing his hand up with a solitaire round diamond attached to a white gold band pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
“Cassandra Cable, will you do me the honor of becoming a member of the Jefferson family?”
“Are you serious?”
He shook his head. “Babe, I’m in the water, on one knee, and I’ve got a ring. Yes, I’m serious.”
“Yes!” I yelled and then jump on him. The sudden movement caught Riley off guard and we both fell into the water, the waves crashing against us.
I wasn’t positive how I felt about the dunking me part he considered helpful in our relationship, but I didn’t want any man as much as Riley Jefferson. Life with him would always be an adventure.
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
