Page 132 of Always Been Write
“Impeccable timing,” I say.
“Truly,” she teases me.
“Do you know what would make it even better?”
“Better?” she asks with a laugh. “You’ve got the cover and center of L-Mag, your first book in years comes out in two months, and you’re on a beach drinking fruity drinks with your best friend who doubles as your girlfriend.” She turns to me with a giant smile. “What more could you want?”
“Well,” I start, reaching into the only zipped compartment of our beach bag. I grab the small black box and slide off my lounger to my knee. “If that best-friend-turned-girlfriend wants to turn into my wife, that would be better.”
Her eyes grow wider, and her hand covers her heart.
“Tobias,” she whispers.
“I meant what I said. I will fight to keep you in my life until my dying day, but it would be a lot easier if you were my wife.”
She bites her lip, and I let out a small groan.
“My life is not a life I want to live unless you are in it, Natalie Miller. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she shouts and then tackles me to the sand. I barely snap the ring box closed before I fall backward, and she smothers me with kisses.
The faint clapping of an audience behind us steals her attention.
“Oh, people are—OH MY GOD!”
I chuckle as she smacks my chest. “You invited everyone!”
I glance back at the group: Hero and Nora, Zane and Willa, Beck and Calla, Graham and Paige, and finally, Simon and Greer.
“I love everything about this,” she says, kissing me again.
“Good. Now, let’s put this ring on your finger and make it official.”
She sits back on her heels and holds her left hand out for me. I slide the ring on just as everyone reaches us on the sand.
“Let me see!” The girls huddle around her as all the guys pat my back or shake my hand.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Stunning.”
“It’s so shiny!”
“He did a great job.”
“Yeah.” Nat looks over at me, and my eyes meet hers. “He did realnice.”
I let out a throaty laugh and then swoop her into my arms.
“What did I tell you about calling me nice?”
She shrugs playfully in the way she always does.
“I guess you better remind me.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
And later that night, I did.
Twice.
