“Noelle,” I said.
Her eyes snapped open at my tone, the mood shifting. She rolled onto her back and sat up, blinking hard as she looked from the amethyst ring in my hand to my face.
It didn’t make sense; I got that. It barely made sense to me.
But then her lips parted…and I knew shegot it.
“I don’t have a speech,” I said, breath still ragged. “And I’m not askin’ for anything to change tomorrow. But I couldn’t sit on this and not tell you the truth. If you want me, I’m yours. Fully. Forever. No takebacks.”
She stared at me—naked and flushed and trembling—with something I could only call wonder.
Then she laughed—a wet, stunned little thing that caught in her throat. She covered her mouth, eyes like full moons.
“Beau,” she whispered.
“I mean it,” I said, quieter now. “I’ll build a life with you—whatever that looks like. I’ll wake up next to you and fix whatever needs fixin’.”
“You haven’t even fixed my car,” she laughed.
“Okay…maybe I won’t fix the things that take away an excuse to be with you,” I laughed. “But I’ll learn how to be a good man for you every damn day—if you want it. No pressure. No rush.”
She looked at the ring. Then back at me.
Then she reached out, cupped my face like she needed to hold the moment still, and said, “Put it on me.”
I did—hands shaking, heart thudding. It slid on easy, likeit had been waiting for her all along, and it suited her just as well—the purple bringing out the blue-grey of her eyes, the onyx tones in her short hair.
And those moonstones…they were like a cat’s eyes shining in the dark.
I didn’t mention that part.
She looked at the ring again, then at me. Her mouth twitched. “So are we, like…engaged engaged? Or just ‘you put a ring on me after sex in a tent’ engaged?”
I grinned. “Baby, I don’t think there’s a difference.”
She laughed—a little wild—and threw herself into my arms like she had to be sure this was all real.
And God, it was.
CHAPTER 23
Noelle
I woketo the sound of a low, threatening growl.
We’d both gotten dressed—at least a little—when we’d let Milo into the tent a couple hours after going to bed. Everyone had taken the opportunity to rib us for keeping them up with our sex noises, blah blah blah…but I kept my ring hidden.
This was secret…just for us, for now.
Nobody else had to know.
Well, except Milo.
Now, though, Milo was awake, growling in the middle of the night.
I sat up fast, heart thudding, the cool air biting at my arms where the blanket fell away. Milo was hunkered down by the tent flap, hackles up, eyes locked on the zipper.
“Shh,” I whispered, voice rough with sleep. “It’s okay, buddy.”
