“Thank God.” He kissed the top of her head. “If it happened, I wouldn’t be mad about it,” he added. “But I agree, when the time is right and we both agree, then we talk about it.”
“Okay.”
He tipped her chin up and kissed her softly. “Come to dinner with me tonight?”
“In the mountains?”
“Yeah, our place.”
She loved that he knew exactly where she’d meant, and it was adorable that he too thought of it as their place. “Yes.” His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at it, and tossed it on the bathroom vanity. “You should answer that.”
“It’s Remi. He can wait until I know you are okay.”
She did an internal check, and surprisingly, she was okay. More than okay. “I promise I am. What time do you want me ready to leave?”
“We have to be there at eight, so does seven or seven-thirty work?”
“Perfect.”
He picked up his phone, brushed her hair back, and left the bathroom whistling.
* * *
Jorja leaned against Gunnar’s chest and sipped on her wine as they watched the sun setting over La Spezia bay. “If we keep coming here, I’m going to have to start running or something, because I think I put on ten pounds just from the dessert alone.”
“Hah.” He shifted behind her. “I don’t care if you put on fifty pounds. You’ll still be mine, and I’ll still be yours.” He wrapped his second arm around her and nuzzled into her neck. “I’d offer to let you walk home, but you might lose this if you did, and if you cried about it, it would piss me off.”
“Lose what?” She looked over her shoulder and up at him and frowned. “Why are you so tense all of a sudden?”
He got to his feet and helped her to stand. “I…”
Her eyes widened when Gunnar dropped to one knee in front of her. “Loving a man like me isn’t easy…”
Is this really happening?
Oh my God.
Happy tears leaked out the corner of her eyes, and she pinched herself as she listened to what he was saying.
“There will be more trouble than either one of us can handle alone at times. But together we can handle anything. You are the fire in my soul…” He trailed off and peered up at her with a serious expression on his face. “Jorja?”
“Yes?”
“Will you do me the honor of being my wife? Mine forever, just as I am already yours.”
She dropped to her knees in front of him, launching herself into his arms. “Yes.” It was then she realized he was shaking as much as she was. He slid a gorgeous, blue-stoned ring onto her finger and claimed her lips for the sweetest kiss of all.
Jorja’s heart was beating so fast, it could probably jump right out of her chest and make it home and back before she’d even realized it was gone. She smiled up at Gunnar as he tipped his head back and yelled, “She said YES!”
EPILOGUE
Something different filteredover the sounds of the thumping music through his headset. Remi lifted one of the earpieces and slid it behind his ear. The corners of his lips curved upward when he recognized the voices. Jorja was still giving Gunnar a run for his money. It shouldn’t be so hilarious to see his badass brother brought to his knees by a five-foot-five pain in the ass… but it was.
He went to the door to see what shit she’d put him up to now and guffawed out loud. There wasn’t a hope in hell that rose trellis was going to hold up under Gunnar’s weight. He scanned upward to see why his brother was playing Tarzan and snorted. “I should have known.” Peering over the edge of the trellis and swatting at Gunnar’s hand was the kitten Jorja had rescued off the streets a couple of days ago. Still half wild and hating most men, Loki was a freaking menace.
Hearing Gunnar swear as the kitten caught him with another claw, Remi decided he would forgive the cat for chewing up four charger wires in the last two days.
“Go left, Gunnar,” Jorja directed. “He’s to the left.”
