Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
On the white couches, there were faux fur throws, and the coffee table looked almost like a sliver of wood from a giant tree that had been varnished and stained and fitted with two industrial-looking metal legs. The comforter on the massive bed was a beautiful southwestern pattern that reminded me of the one my parents had, and there was a glass-covered gas fireplace lining the far wall, nestled beneath three gorgeous photos of the Rocky Mountains.
It was like the interior designer had taken 1920’s New York City and married it with 1980’s Colorado — all with a modern flair, of course.
I touched the screen with my fingertips, shaking my head in awe. “It’s so… us.”
“I thought so. And,” Theo said, unwrapping his arm from where it held me long enough to dig into his briefcase on the floor. “I saved a special spot on the bookshelf for this.”
He pulled out an elegantly framed photograph, but not just any photograph.
Mine.
The first one published on the cover of TIME Magazine.
My eyes watered as I looked from the frame to Theo and back again.
“I told you, didn’t I? That day you found me sitting by the sun deck pool. I told you you’d be published in TIME, and that I’d have it framed when you did. And what was it that you’d said back to me?”
“That even if I ever did, you wouldn’t remember who I was.”
“And how did that theory turn out?”
I shoved him playfully just as his eyes snapped to the screen. “Oh! Okay, watch. This is the best part.”
The same drone video that I’d seen time and time again showed us the wide shot of the yacht then, and the way the navy blue water glistened around the fresh teak was just as magical as the first time I’d seen it. But then, the camera cut to a view from the starboard side, and I saw what Theo was so excited about.
Written in elegant white script with gold embellishments was the name of the boat.
Dawn’s Light.
I smiled, glancing up at where Theo was watching me rather than the screen. “Dawn’s Light?”
He nodded. “Do you remember that night in San Marco, when I told you how you have this light about you?”
It clicked together then, and I hid my blushing face in his chest. “Theo…”
He lifted my chin until my eyes met his. “I told you people either want to bathe in it or dim it so it doesn’t outshine their own.” He smiled. “But what I didn’t say was that it was your light that saved me, that woke me up from merely existing day in and day out. I am living now. Truly living. And it’s all because of you.”
I shook my head, peppering him with kisses before I held his gaze, my eyes flicking back and forth between his. In that moment, all that we’d been through, all that we’d accomplished together, and all that we’d shared flooded me like a warm ray of sunshine. The feeling was sweeping, so much so that I felt compelled to pull Theo into me even more and say two words.
“Marry me.”
Theo laughed, kissing my nose. “Hey, don’t steal my line.”
“I mean it. Marry me. Today.”
“Today?”
“Today. On our new boat,” I said, glancing at the screen. “I know we’ll have a big ceremony — I mean, my family would kill me otherwise, and I know your parents would, too. But… let’s get married today, just me and you. No one needs to know. It can be our little secret.”
Theo smirked. “I like the sound of that, but there is one little problem…”
“And that is?”
“Well, we won’t exactly be alone.”
I frowned, not understanding. Sure, I knew the architect team would be there, and maybe the interior designer, but wouldn’t it be relatively easy to ask them to leave for a while?
Before I could press further, we pulled up to the marina, and Theo took my hand in his, helping me out of the car and guiding me down the dock.
We passed sailboat after sailboat, yacht after yacht, each one of them grandiose in their own unique ways. But nothing compared to the sight at the end of the dock where Dawn’s Light rested in all her three-hundred-forty-eight-feet glory, shining in the mid-afternoon sun.
And when we made it onboard, I understood what Theo meant when he said we wouldn’t be alone.
I saw Emma first, standing on the main deck with the same warm smile she’d offered me when I met her last year. My jaw dropped at the sight of her, and then I tore off in a sprint and crashed into her with a fierce hug I didn’t want to release.
“Nice to see you, too,” she said with a laugh.
“Emma! What in the world?” I pulled back, holding her in my hands as I looked her up and down. “What are you doing here?!”