Page 92 of Shut Up and Drive

“Serafina. Paloma. De la Rosa. Spencer,” he accentuates every word with a kiss, “will you make my childhood dream come true and marry me?” he whispers between kisses, then comes right back for more.

“I think this majorly romantic moment has gone to your head, Donnelly,” I whisper back against his lips.

He smiles against my mouth and I’d swoon if I were standing on my own two feet. “Can you blame me? Look atyou: you have red lipstick smeared on your chin, and mascara dripping down your cheeks—and I can’t take my eyes off you. You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, anytime, anywhere.”

I throw my head back and laugh, and he moves his lips to my neck, taking my breath away. “Did you hit your head when you dove in, T?”

He chuckles. “We may be laughing, but I’m serious, Fina. I’ve lived life without you once. I don’t want to go another day without being your first good morning and your last goodnight.”

I pull back to look into his eyes. “You’re serious,” I say, but it comes out more as a statement than a question.

“As a heart attack,” he says softly, and plants another row of kisses across my jawline. “I even got a ring.Hada ring…” he frowns, looking down toward the water.

“Please don’t tell me it was your grandmother’s, or I’ll come out with scuba gear tomorrow and look for it,” I say, as that vintage sapphire flashes through my mind.

He laughs. “No. It was just a cheap silver band I got in town as a placeholder until we could get back home.”

A sigh of relief escapes me.

“You never answered, Fina.”

“Well, a girl needs a ring in order to accept a proposal,” I tease.

He sets me down on my feet and grabs a piece of long grass from my hair. “How ‘bout this?” he asks, tying it onto my ring finger. “Now, this here is rare Lake Amethyst grass,” he says in a faux southern accent. “It’s hard to come by, and any woman with a ring made of it is a real prize to her man.”

“Is that so?” I smile as he completes the knot and bites off the long ends.

“I’d kneel if…” he looks down at the water and shrugs, then takes my hands. “The truth is, I’ve loved you since I was fifteen. My mind isn’t going to change—no matter how much time passes, or how far apart we are. My heart knows what it wants. The question is,” he pauses and a grin crosses his beautiful mouth, “what are you going to do about it?”

Right on cue, my eyes flutter shut and my chin tips up toward him.

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” he says softly.

This time, when I kiss him, it’s fueled from deeper within—from a place of wanting and waiting for years—knowing our time has finally come. He wraps his strong arms around my body and holds me so tightly, I have no doubt at all that he’ll never let me go again.

So I whisper, “Yes.”

Chapter 40

EPILOGUE

Thane: Ten Years Later

Phones ringing and email notifications are the soundtrack of my workday. When one thing gets crossed off my list, two more pop up in its place. Most days I drown at the office, or barely keep my head above water. It’s a high-traffic firm, but I’m grateful that I get to work alongside my dad everyday. Before everyone else meanders in at nine, dad and I make a fresh pot of coffee in his office and sit in the sunlight against the windows. It keeps me grounded, focused, and in line with what matters in this life: family.

But therealjoy in my life comes from what happens outside the high-rise. When I leave the parking garage, I slough off the stress of the day and listen to my favorite podcast on my way home. I want to be in tip-top shape by the time I pull into the garage, becausehomeis where I do my most important work. I leave my CFO title in the city, because my most important roles arehusbandanddaddy.

I pull into our neighborhood, and my home with the basketball hoop in the driveway and bikes tossed carelessly on the lawn, sits in the distance. It’s just as I dreamed it would be; perfectly imperfect. As a young man, I tried to convince myself that nice things, money, and travel would be enough to fulfill me for life. That providing those things was my duty as a man. But I was wrong.Sheis what fulfills me. Anything I give to her, she multiplies and makes it better. I give her a house, and she makes it a home. I give her groceries, and she makes a meal. I give her love, and she gives me a family. I could work a million hours at the office, and give her riches beyond her wildest dreams, and it still wouldn’t come close to what she gives back to me. I am beyond grateful when I watch her work her beautiful magic in our little life. She shapes our home, our children, and our marriage so beautifully, I just stand back and watch her glow. The truth is, I will never overcome the belief that I’m not good enough for her. I’m not. But I will go to my grave trying to be the man she deserves. The man my children deserve. And I live each day with that goal in mind; to be a better man than I was the day before.

As I pull into the cul-de-sac, a little girl with long, dark pigtails meets me at the corner like she does every day to race me home. I pull up to my make-believe starting line, and she crouches—her face painted with the determination that today she’s going to win. I grip the steering wheel and rev the engine. She looks over at me and flashes me her toothless grin. She is her mother through and through, and my heart swells at how much I love her. I roll down the window.

“I’m gonna win this time!” I yell to her on the sidewalk.

“No you won’t!” she yells back, with Sera’s inextinguishable fire in her eyes.

“On your mark, get set, go!” I shout, and she takes off like a rocket.

I go fast enough to challenge her, but slow enough let her win. She dances like a football player after a touchdown on the lawn, and I laugh.