Jacquie ’Alessandro - Why Not Tonight?

She flung her arms around him and peppered his face, his jaw, with kisses, simultaneously laughing and crying. Then she leaned back and glared at him. “You scared me to death.”

“I scared you?” he asked, brushing his thumbs over her wet cheeks. “You have any idea how nerve-racking it is to propose?”

“None. So let me try. Will you marry me?”

He hiked up his brows. “I asked you first.”

“That means I can’t ask you?”

“No, it means you’re supposed to answer before you ask me.”

“What if I say yes and you say no?”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against him. “Not much chance of that, sweetheart.”

“Okay, then yes. I’ll marry you.”

“Okay, then yes, I’ll marry you, too.” Laughing, he lifted her off her feet and spun her around until she was giggling and dizzy. “Looks like our timing finally worked out perfectly.”

“Very perfectly.”

Setting her back on her feet, he lowered his head and laid a searing, deep kiss on her that did nothing to make her less dizzy.

When the kiss ended, he said, “I already know what I want you to give me for a wedding gift.”

“Gift? What makes you think you’re going to get a gift?” She heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Good grief, we’ve been engaged for two minutes and already you want stuff.”

“I want a set of boudoir photos of my beautiful, sexy wife.”

“Ah. And you’ll be the photographer?”

“Hell, yes. Like I’d let anyone else take the pictures.”

“Seems fitting, especially since it was my trip to Picture This that reunited us.” She smiled into his eyes and said, “How about we go buy a carton of Rocky Road and celebrate our engagement?”

He grinned and, lifting her off her feet, he started up the stairs. “And there’s that same-wavelength thing again.”