Reese couldn’t contain his smile. He should’ve known Travis had an ulterior motive for stopping by, and it hadn’t been to check on Ava’s status. Not entirely, anyway.
“It’s all figured,” Brantley responded with a smirk.
“Good. Why don’t y’all stop by my folks’ house for dinner on Sunday? They’d like to catch up.”
“We can do that,” Brantley answered before Reese had a chance to comment.
Travis nodded, his mood somber, as had been the case for some time now. He looked at Reese, over at Brantley, then tapped two fingers on the tabletop before sauntering off.
An hour and a half later, they were back at the house. Reese got Tesha’s dinner served, refilled her water, and then joined Brantley on the back porch, where he sat drinking a beer and staring up at the stars. Reese pulled up a chair, dropped down into it.
“Somethin’ on your mind?”
Brantley glanced over. “For the first time in a while, no.”
Reese took that as a good sign.
As he settled back in the chair, letting the comforts of home quiet his nerves, he thought about their first date. The one that had started at a fancy steakhouse and ended up takeout right here on this very deck. It hadn’t ended well that night because Reese had been overwhelmed by the fact he’d gone on a date with a man. At the time, he hadn’t imagined his life could take such a drastic turn. Now here he was, more comfortable than he’d been in his entire life.
The dog door slapped, and he glanced over to see Tesha joining them. She looked their way as though assessing the situation before sauntering down into the yard. Reese couldn’t help but smile. Her life had changed drastically in the past year and a half, too. She’d gone from being chained up in someone’s backyard to leading the charge on the task force. She was no longer skinny and afraid of her own shadow, and Reese took pride in knowing he’d played some part in that.
“You know that thing you mentioned the other day?”
Reese swung his head toward Brantley. “I remember.”
“Were you serious?”
He didn’t respond immediately, but he smiled to himself. His hand went to his pocket, patting the ring he’d been carrying around with him for the past couple of months.
“If you weren’t, that’s all right, too,” Brantley said after a minute or two.
Reese looked up at the stars, back to the table where they’d had that first date, then over to Brantley.
For months, he’d fantasized about this moment, sometimes wondering whether or not he’d ever get the opportunity. Like everything else, he’d obsessed over how he would do it, what he would say, but he’d never come up with the ideal scenario. Now, as he listened to Brantley breathing, to Tesha sniffing at the bottom of the steps, he figured he wouldn’t get a more perfect moment than this one right here.
Reese pushed to his feet, sliding his hand in his pocket as he turned to face Brantley directly. He stepped closer, then eased down to one knee directly in front of him. He stared at Brantley’s ridiculously handsome face, let his gaze drag over the hard line of his jaw, the firm set of his mouth, then up to the blue-gray eyes he’d spent months dreaming about.
“My life hasn’t turned out quite like I’d envisioned,” he said softly, holding Brantley’s gaze. “In more ways than one. I never imagined I would find someone who would captivate me simply by breathing, someone who would hold my heart in the palm of their hand. I never took it for granted, Brantley; I promise you that. However, I did fuck it up by not being straight with you. You’ve been nothing but patient with me since the beginning, letting me lead, although it went against your nature to do so.”
Reese swallowed, his chest churning, his stomach flipping. He took a deep breath, continued. “I thought I knew what love was at one point, but then you came along and pulled the blinders off, made me see exactly what I’d been missing. It took me screwing up to see exactly what I have.”
Brantley remained stone still, his gaze boring into him, hands gripping the arms of the chair as though he was holding himself back.
“I love you. I love you with every breath I take, with every beat of my heart.” Reese inched closer, still on one knee, leaning toward Brantley as he lifted the ring and reached for Brantley’s hand. Part of him expected Brantley to pull away, but he didn’t, and Reese felt a tidal wave of relief that propelled him forward. “I don’t want to spend another day without you. If you’ll have me, that is.”
Still, Brantley didn’t say a word.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Reese drew in a deep breath, released it slowly, and smiled at the man he loved more than life itself. “Brantley Walker, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
Even in the dim light from the house, Reese saw the glitter in Brantley’s eyes as he sat up, leaned forward, and said the single most wonderful word in the history of words:
“Yes.”
*
BRANTLEY WASN’T THE SORT OF MAN WHOhad ever fantasized about proposals or marriage, but he could honestly say, if ever there were a perfect one, Reese had just nailed it.
“I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to do this with a ring,” Reese rambled. “So I decided I would since it felt right. It’s nothin’ fancy, but it symbolizes my commitment to you.”
