Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19458 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Behind the crowd, the sun begins to set in the distance.
Off on the beach to the side of the cove, I spot some more guys lounging around and notice the tables where catering has set up all the food.
Everything came together. It’s just right.
“Looks like we have a special surprise for you guys,” Miss Laurie Firebomb says as I spot Frankie by the dock, on a raft, a bright smile on his face when he looks just past me, and his eyes go wide, and he says, “Holy shit.”
I follow his gaze, turning around to see Travis hopping off the yacht directly across from Steven’s boat.
He’s dressed in a white tux, and as he starts toward me and Miss Laurie Firebomb, he adjusts his tie like he was putting it on right before he came out.
He hurries toward us when he finally sees me and stops in his tracks.
We just stare at each other.
“Don’t you boys look dapper?” Miss Laurie Firebomb says as she glances between us. “Okay, I’m assuming you lovebirds know what you’re doing, so take it away.” She passes me the mic, and I take it as Travis approaches, a stunned expression on his face.
As Miss Laurie Firebomb surrenders the stage, we’re both left looking at each other.
I’m just so thrown by all this that I decide it’s now or never and start to kneel, and Travis does the same thing. We stop and stand back upright, glaring at each other.
“Gary?” Travis says.
“Travis?”
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go down.
“Were you about to do what I was going to do?” I ask, and as I say it, I realize my mouth is close to the mic, and the audience erupts into laughter.
“Uh, that’s what it looks like.”
I’m not sure if it’s just nerves, but I chuckle and then it turns into a full-on laugh.
Travis, whose expression has probably been about the same up to this point, breaks into a laugh with me.
“This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” he says.
I chuckle. “Me either.”
He scans me up and down as though he can’t help himself. “You look really hot. Now I feel a little overdressed.”
We laugh together.
“This outfit is more you,” I tell him. “That’s why I thought it’d be fun to wear it. Thought you’d think it was cute.”
“It’s more than cute.”
I blush again like I did when he kissed me on the boat after rescuing our asses.
“I was thinking I was going to be proposing to you,” I explain.
“Yeah, well, I obviously was thinking I was going to be proposing to you.”
“Propose to each other!” A loud scream comes from the water, and I recognize the voice. I turn and see Derek in the water, straddling a noodle beside Jackson, who floats with a unicorn tube around him.
“That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea,” Trav says. He looks at his empty hands. “I…uh…lost the—”
“Hey, hey!” a loud shout comes from beside us, and we turn to the beach by the dock, where a guy waves his arms about. He races to us, holding a ring. He pants as he stops and hands it over to Travis. “Found this a while ago while I was on my way to the beach. Figured I’d report it after the party, but I guess this belongs to you.”
Travis takes the ring. “Thanks, man.”
“Now don’t mind me,” the guy says with a wink before jumping into the water off the dock.
Loud applause erupts from our audience before oohs and awws turn into silent anticipation, only adding to my uneasiness.
I turn to Travis, and without hesitation, drop to one knee.
The look in Travis’s eyes—he looks nearly as surprised as he did when he saw me in this getup.
It lacks that Travis-bravado or confidence that I’m used to seeing. There’s a vulnerability there. It’s that side of him he doesn’t show a lot of people, a side that I’ve gotten to see in the time that we’ve been together—a side I feel privileged to get to know.
The mic in one hand, the open box with the ring in the other, I raise the mic to my lips and say, “Travis Waller. I spent a lot of time thinking about this moment and trying to make sure it was perfect. I had a speech prepared, but…” I glance into the water, at Frankie, who gives me a thumbs-up. Then I turn back to my man. “…I had some sense kicked into me that I didn’t need to find just the right words to tell you that I love you. And I’ve loved you for a long time, even longer than I wanted to admit to myself because what happened between us happened so fast, and it was exciting and scary…and totally unexpected. You came into my life at a point where I was feeling probably the worst about myself that I ever had. You gave me a hard time about a lot of stuff, but it was always because you could see more to me than I could see in myself. And now I’m on my knee in front of you, in front of a group of people, most of whom will give me shit about this outfit for the rest of my life, because I want you to know how much you mean to me…and that I don’t want to go another day without you knowing I belong to you…totally.”