I stripped off my sweater and boots and reclined on the bed. My silk camisole was slipping off my shoulder as I crossed my legs in my tight jeans, waiting for Stefan to pounce.
“Now that I’m lying here, I kind of feel like ordering room service and just staying in our room,” I said, giving him a suggestive wink.
But he was staring out the window at the ocean.
“I really don’t want to miss that sunset,” he said, a wistful tone to his voice that I didn’t hear often.
“There will be plenty more,” I pointed out, hoping to sway him.
He turned around and smiled. “I know. But I want to start this vacation off right. This is the first day of the rest of our lives, and…I guess I’m feeling sentimental. If you really don’t want to, though…”
My heart melted. This man.
“You win,” I said, walking over to him to pull him into a tight hug. “Let’s go.”
I pulled a pair of sandals out of my bag and quickly changed into a light sundress. It was hot enough that the thought of wearing jeans for any longer was a minor torture. When I emerged from the bathroom, Stefan was down to his tight black T-shirt and he’d rolled up the cuffs of his jeans. I didn’t bother hiding my stare. I couldn’t wait to see him in a pair of swim trunks, emerging from the ocean, his body glistening with drops of water.
“You’re sure you don’t want to stay here?” I tried one last time, wanting desperately to start our vacation horizontal and in bed.
“Don’t you worry, kitty cat. We’ll be back in bed soon enough,” he said with a wink, taking my hand and leading me out of the bungalow.
We walked down the private path to the beach and I took a moment to soak it all in. My disappointment over Stefan not jumping my bones the moment we were alone faded quickly. We were in one of the most beautiful places I’d ever been and I had the man I loved at my side. We had all the time in the world to be alone and naked together.
When we reached the beach, however, my jaw dropped—as it became immediately clear why Stefan had been in such a rush to get here.
Standing on the sand was a group of our closest friends and family, arranged in what looked like a ceremony tableau. Anja and Max. Emzee and Luka. Michelle. Grace. They were all here, their faces lighting up when they saw us.
“Surprise!” they shouted at once.
My hand flew to my heart.
“What is this?” I asked Stefan.
But when I turned to face him, I found that he had sunk down to one knee. And he was holding out a ring. My engagement ring.
“You didn’t choose this for yourself the first time, and I didn’t choose it for the right reasons,” he began. “But I’ve learned one thing, Tori. And it’s that I love you. I want us to spend our lives together, and you’ll make me the happiest man in the world if you want the same.”
My eyes were filling up with tears.
“Tori,” he said, his voice gone husky, “will you marry me again?”
“Yes,” I choked out. “I will.”
“Then let’s do this and mean it.”
He stood and swept me into his arms, kissing me fiercely.
I held out my hand for my ring, but before he slipped it back onto my finger where it belonged, he showed me the inscription he’d had engraved on the inside of the band. It read, “the deal of a lifetime.”
Tori
Chapter 30
As the sun set over the Caribbean in swaths of pink and gold, Stefan and I stood in front of our closest family and friends to renew our vows in an intimate, perfect ceremony. It felt nothing like our first wedding. That experience had passed in a complete blur, a performance that Stefan and I had been actors in, not participants. We’d had no control over anything.
This time was different. Like Stefan had said when he got down on one knee, this time we had the chance to truly choose each other. And we had.
I held his hands as the officiant he had hired spoke the words that were music to my ears.
