Trent
I’d hoped. Heck, I’d even prayed that one day Lacy and I would find our way back together. And now, lying in bed next to her, watching her sleep, I know that I’ll do everything in my power to make her happy.
I’ve missed this. The intimacy of being with her, but not just this. I’ve missed laughing with and talking to her. We were best friends and I screwed it up. But never again. No, from now on I’m going to do what’s best for Lacy. She’s my first priority.
She stretches, her arms going over her head, and she blinks. When they finally open, her brown eyes soften even more when she looks at me. “Trent?”
Not wanting to freak her out, because I have in fact been watching her for the last few hours, just enjoying her in my arms and being next to me, I smile at her. “I guess it’s weird that I was watching you sleep.”
She smiles lazily, not the least bit freaked out. “Sort of, but we always knew you were a little weird.”
“Har, har,” I tell her before trailing my hand up her naked stomach and cupping her breast. It was hard watching her, her body bare for me to look at but not touch. But I knew she needed her rest. But now that she’s up, all bets are off.
“I have guests”—she turns her head to look at the bedside table—“that will be arriving in about an hour.”
I pull her over top of me. “An hour is plenty of time.”
She pushes on my chest. “Yeah, but I also promised this guest that breakfast would be ready when they got here. They’re regulars.”
I tilt my head to the side. “Fine. Give me twenty minutes.”
Her hands trail around my waist and then up my back, her short nails trailing across my skin before she moves to my chest again. “What do I get out of it?”
I laugh, loving her playful side. “Fine, you give me twenty minutes, I give you two orgasms and I fix breakfast while you shower.”
She trails her hands up my chest and around my neck. “Well, two orgasms and breakfast, I don’t think I can turn that down.”
I lean down and kiss her softly. “Is that a yes?”
She’s rolling her eyes as I pull back to look at her. “Don’t you know? Anything you ask, it’s going to be a yes,” she says, cupping my jaw.
I search her eyes for meaning, and when she doesn’t blink, I tell her, “That’s good to know.”
And then I do just as I promised. Two orgasms in twenty minutes and breakfast was ready when she came down the stairs.
Epilogue
Trent
A Few Days Later
“Oh, Trent, this looks great!” Lacy tells me as she walks into the bathroom.
I stand up to eye my handiwork and have to admit it looks good.
“You were right. The accent pieces work really well,” she gushes, admiring my work.
When we had no luck finding matching flooring at the big box store over in Knox, I had to get creative. I created a mosaic of tiles to surround the bathtub, and Lacy’s right: it does look good.
I’m nodding my head, lost in thought when Lacy touches me on the shoulder. “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet today.”
The look of concern on her face bothers me. I promised myself that I was going to do everything I can to make her happy and now, because I’m nervous and a little wound up, I’m throwing her off a little.
“Can we talk?” I ask her.
She blinks twice, and even though she looks unsure, she still says, “Yeah, sure.”
I walk over to the sink and wash my hands before turning back to her. “Not in here,” I say, grabbing onto her hand, kissing her quickly on the lips, and pulling her into the guest bedroom.
“So—” I start and stop.
She pulls her hands from mine. “Just say it, Trent. What is it? You’re making me crazy.”
I know I have got to get it out. I’ve practiced it over and over in front of the mirror all week, but I’m still nervous. I tell myself even if she says no, I can still ask again later.
I take a deep breath and drop to one knee.
She gasps, her hands flying up to her mouth, shocked.
I pull the tiny box from my front pocket and open it, holding it out to her. “Lacy—”
“That’s your mother’s ring!” she exclaims.
I nod. “Yeah, after my parents passed, my brothers thought it was only right that I have it. They knew how much Mom loved you, and we thought you should be the one to have it.”
Her big brown eyes look down at me. “But we were broken up…”
I reach up and wipe a lone tear off her cheek before shrugging my shoulders. “I knew—and my brothers did too—a love like ours… it had to work out, right?”
“Oh, Trent,” she sobs.
So far this is not going as planned.
I stare at her, perplexed. “So, uh, will you marry me?”
Lacy
The man I’ve loved since grade school is on bended knee in front of me, asking me to marry him. I know what a leap of faith this is, for both of us, but I also know what life is like without him. I love Trent Keller, and I want to be his wife.
“Yes!” I scream, sure to alarm all the guests in the house. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He slides the ring on my finger and stands up, pulling me into his arms. We kiss, hug, laugh, and I even cry some more looking at the ring on my finger.
I’m standing with his chin on the top of my head. “I talked to your dad.”
I pull back a little, enough to be able to look up into his face. “You talked to my dad?”
“Yeah, well, I know he wasn’t really happy with me after everything, and I felt that I needed to smooth things over with him—and I also needed to ask for his blessing.”
I shake my head, my mouth forming a perfect “o.” “You asked for my dad’s blessing?”
“Of course I did. I wanted to do this right. I know how much your dad means to you, and I didn’t want anything to stand in the way of our happiness.”
My heart flutters wildly. Oh how I love this man! “So, uh, what did Dad say?”
He clears his throat. “Well, we had a long talk, and after he understood why I did what I did, he was fine with it.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Fine with it?”
He laughs then. “Well, yeah, after he threatened me a few times. Told me I’d better never hurt you again and a few other choice words. But you don’t have to worry, Lacy. I’m never going to do something stupid like that again. I’ll never jeopardize us.”
I snake my arms around his waist, leaning in to him, resting my head on his chest and letting out a content sigh.
Trent strokes his hands down my back. “I talked to your mom too.”
With my eyes closed, I murmur, “Oh yeah? What’d she say?”
“She wants to know when we’re going to give her grandbabies.”
I catch my breath. “Babies?” I wait for him to tense up talking about babies. “What do you think about that?”