“’Cause I want to talk now,” he said, stopping and then sitting down. “Sit.”

“Ugh,” she complained and he wanted to strangle her, but he couldn’t help but chuckle.

When she sat down beside him, he took her hand in his, lacing his fingers with hers before kissing the back of her hand. “I love you,” he whispered, and her little scowl flattened some as she smiled.

“I love you too,” she promised as he leaned his head to hers. “But you could have told me that later.”

He rolled his eyes. “I wanted to tell you something more,” he started, his heart jumping in and out of his throat. “Do you remember the first time we met?”

She smiled. “It was only a little over three months ago, so, yeah.”

He glared. “Okay, brat. I meant do you remember what you thought when you saw me?”

She laughed. “Not something nice.”

He closed his eyes. He was going to kill her before he could even ask. “Well, when I first saw you, you were looking down at Angie, panic in your eyes as you searched for how to dress a seven-year-old for hockey on YouTube. Your brow was furrowed and your lips were pursed, and I was stunned. I just stood there, staring at you and thinking how in the world could someone so beautiful walk this earth and I didn’t know about her.”

Her lips curved as she leaned into him. “Well, that’s nicer than my thinking you were a creep.”

“I’d say so,” he laughed and she grinned, giggling against him. He cleared his throat. “I remember the first time you touched me. It was just a simple touch to my arm when you laughed about my collectibles, but it seriously rocked my soul. I think that’s when I knew this was different, when I knew I was falling in love with you.”

She eyed him. “You brought me out here to talk about this? I thought we were good. Did I do something?”

He made a face. “What are you talking about? I’m sharing my damn soul with you.”

“Yeah, but why?”

He just looked at her, stunned. “Lucy, shut up for a minute,” he said, and she snapped her mouth shut, her eyes bright as she tried not to smile. “Now, as I was saying… When I slept with you for the first time, I swore I would never feel like that again—”

“Wait, are you asking me to marry you?”

“Jesus Christ, Lucy!”

She eyed him skeptically when, thankfully, Mekena came over. “Can I get a picture of you two like this?”

“Yeah,” he groaned, shaking his head as Lucy watched him, her brows pulled together. He leaned his head to hers as they had planned, but he was sure that was the only thing that would go as planned because nothing ever went right when it came to Lucy Sinclair.

“Wait, are you?” she asked once more.

“Smile, Lucy,” he demanded and she did, but when Mekena gave them the thumbs-up, Lucy was back to eyeing him.

“Are you?”

Benji looked to Mekena for help and she spoke. “I’m going to go from behind and get one of the ocean, can you lean together again?”

But Lucy didn’t move, she watched him. “Why aren’t you answering me?”

“Because I’m trying to pose for a damn picture,” he spat back.

He heard the camera clicking and all he could think was how these pictures would be a great thing to explain to their kids when they were older.

And this is Mom and Dad, fighting before he popped the question.

“Can you guys kiss?”

He leaned to her and she shook her head ruefully, letting out a breath before pressing her lips to his, the camera going off behind him. “You better not be asking me,” she warned as they parted, and he let out a long breath.

When he pulled back, he held her gaze. “Do you know you drive me crazy?”

She laughed. “I thought you liked that about me.”

“I do.”

“Okay, guys, look back at me,” Mekena called, but Benji didn’t move. His eyes stayed on Lucy as she looked over her shoulder where he knew Angie was standing with a sign that said, “Will you marry Benji?”

As he wanted, she took in a deep breath as her eyes widened.

The tears filled his eyes at her shocked expression, her jaw dropping as she covered her mouth. He pulled the ring out of his pocket before holding it up. When she looked to him, tears were glistening in her eyes as she gazed deep into his, shaking her head.

“You.”

“Me.”

A tear rolled down her face, though her gaze didn’t leave his, her lips moving as she whispered, “What happened to a year?”

“Couldn’t wait that long.”

Glancing down at the ring, she came undone as the tears rolled down her face faster. She sucked in a breath as she shook her head. “It’s beautiful.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” he said, his voice breaking. “Before you decided to ruin my whole speech, I had planned to tell you that I’m glad we had that week of me being gone after we first got together to get to know each other. To fall in love. I fell in love with you, not just with the way you made me feel, and I will always be thankful for that.”

Her lips trembled as she held his gaze. Reaching up, she wiped away one of his tears as her lips curved. He started to speak again. “I don’t look forward to tomorrow as another day; I look forward to it because I get to wake up to you. I get to feel your lips against mine and I get to hear Angie’s laugh. My life is nothing without you two, and I can’t go on another second without knowing you are going to marry me. That Angie will be my stepdaughter, and that we will fight every single battle that comes our way, together. Because, together, nothing can come close to bringing us down.”