Page 109 of Last Resort

“Ledge. What . . .” I open the box and stare. Nestled within the cushioned insides is an oval cut solitaire set in place by an intricate band. Our mother’s engagement ring. I look up at my brother and then back to the ring. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say.” His smile is as kind as the hand he pats on my back with before walking out and leaving me staring at something that was so incredibly special to my mom.

Just as Sutton is to me.

The sun is slowly rising over the Atlantic. Its warm rays fill the room we’re staying in at the Sag Harbor house. I stare at the ceiling and take in everything that has happened in the last forty-eight hours.

The ring. The picture. I mean . . . I feel like my dad is here, speaking to me, getting the last laugh out of everything.

Maybe one day you’ll fall in love and bring her to this place too, Callahan. Your mother would love that.

If he only knew.

Then again, I have a feeling he does. And a part of me wonders if he’s had a hand in all of this somehow—the reconciliation with my brothers, finding my place in the company and making it my own. And in finding Sutton.

With a soft smile on my lips, I turn on my side. She’s lying beside me, her dark hair fanned out on the white sheets and her unmistakable natural beauty on display.

How did I get so fucking lucky?

Two years ago, I was a man drowning in misdirection, one who was pissed off at the world. And now . . . now, there’s the woman beside me.

Sutton’s eyes flutter open and a slow, sleepy smile lights up her beautiful face. “Morning.”

“Hi.”

“You’re staring at me,” she says and when she brings a hand up to cover her face, I reach out to stop her.

“Don’t. You’re beautiful.”

Yes. I’m that sap now. The ones I used to make fun of, but I’m perfectly fucking okay with it, because look what I get out of it. Her.

“Why do you look so intense this early in the morning?” she asks.

“I’m just thinking.”

“About all the stuff yesterday?” She reaches out and runs a hand over my bicep before letting it rest there.

“That and some other things.”

“Like?”

“You.”

“Me?” she says through a laugh.

I nod, nerves suddenly rattling around. “Mm-hmm. About how you deserve a big fancy proposal. One filled with a million flowers and balloons and the fanciest of everything from our bluff in the Virgin Islands.” There is shock on her face, but rest assured, I’m just as surprised by my own words. “But to be honest, I don’t want to wait for that. I’m an impatient man, and while I could take the time to set that all up with some fancy coordinator, I don’t want to waste another day. I want to ask you now. In the house I spent summers in, down the hall from the room I last saw my mother in, in a place I’ve only ever known happiness.”

“You do, do you?” she says calmly, her eyes owning mine, as I too, try to wrap my head around what the fuck I’m doing.

But I know.

I think deep down I’ve always known.

Collins is the one. She always has been.

“I do. It’s as simple as that. I want to marry you, Sutton Pierce. And I will give you a lifetime of the luxuries you deserve, of all the sexy panties you want, but all I have to offer you in return is me. The me who’s stubborn and defiant and sometimes a little unyielding. The same me who promises to love you with all my heart.” I chuckle. “Not that I ever had an option when it came to you.”

“You’re being serious, aren’t you?” she asks, suddenly realizing that I’m not playing around.

I shift and sit up in bed. “It’s funny how that happens—how we happened. One day you weren’t a thought on my radar, and the next thing you were the only thing I could think about. And you still are, Collins.” I reach behind me to the nightstand drawer and pull out the box Ledger handed me yesterday. “So yes, you deserve to be in a fancy dress instead of naked under covers. Yes, you deserve to be wined and dined before being asked instead of on an empty stomach. Yes, you deserve the world instead of sitting in a bed at seven in the morning, staring wide-eyed at me.”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” She presses a kiss to my lips. “This—you—us—is all I’ve ever wanted. All I’ve ever needed. All the fancy stuff doesn’t matter, Callahan, because at the end of the day, it comes down to you and me and the naked truth that I love you with all my heart and would be honored to be your wife and share your family with you.”

“You will? You would?” I stutter the questions out like a nervous schoolboy because, while I didn’t worry about what her answer would be, I still needed to hear it. Still needed to know.

“I will and I would,” she says shifting in the bed to sit up, her cross-legged knees hitting mine as the sun lights up her face.

I open the box and pull the ring out. “I’ve only ever loved two women in my life, Sutton, you and my mother. It’s only fitting that you wear what was once hers. What was once a symbol of an unbreakable love across time, beyond sickness, and even after death.”

“It’s beautiful,” she says, the first tear sliding over and down her cheek.

“Will you marry me?”

She leans forward and kisses me tenderly, her hands framing my face before leaning back and looking in my eyes. “Yes. A million times . . . yes.”