Page 70 of Book Bae

I groaned. “Please tell me that it doesn’t involve hiking. My body is sore.”

He laughed and sat up, rolling me off him. “No, baby. No extreme physical exertion. Now move your ass and let’s hit the showers,” he declared and smacked me on the ass. I moved slowly and headed to the shower where he was waiting.

Our shower turned into another oral session that allowed both of us to be fulfilled sexually before we finished cleaning ourselves and got dressed to leave.

“This night is so perfect, Micaiah,” I declared in a breathless tone after we boarded the small yacht for the sunset cruise on the Amalfi Coast again.

We had started the sunset cruise an hour earlier and taken photos, swam when the crew dropped anchor for us, and returned to the cruise to enjoy prosecco, fresh fruit, and appetizers. Now we were being treated to a beautiful sunset as radiant hues of reds, golds, and oranges spread across the horizon and dazzled the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Micaiah had surprised me with a birthday vacation to the Amalfi Coast in Italy. We had spent a few days in Amalfi, and we were spending our last few days in Positano.

We had returned home with our baby girl seven weeks ago, and we had showered her with love and affection during that time, as had Malachi, Mai, and the rest of our family and friends. I hadn’t left the house at all, not even to work. I often logged on during the day to take care of business that had to be taken care of, but I left most of the business administration and management to Jade and Evangeline. They hadn’t let me down.

I planned to go back to work in January, and Micaiah told me that he wanted us to have a getaway to preserve the wonderful time we had alone as a family before I returned. We brought Mai and her boyfriend on vacation with us, as they were helping out with the kids on nights like tonight, where we wanted romance over parenthood.

We had fun during the day touring, shopping, and visiting restaurants with the kids, but some of the evenings and nights, we reserved for ourselves. We made sure that Mai and her boyfriend, Nero, got time together as well.

I rested against Micaiah’s chest, and his arms wrapped around me as we listened to a violinist play a beautiful rendition of Dean Martin’s “Volare (Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu),” sung by a rather handsome, older Italian man.

“I’ve never seen a more beautiful sunrise than the one I experienced the day that we met, and now I’ve never seen a more beautiful sunset than the one we just watched.”

“Me either,” I replied and reached up and touched his cheek. “Thank you for this.”

He turned me around to face him. “Myraj, I knew that I loved you, but I never realized just how much until I almost lost you. You know I had given up on the idea of anyone loving me the way I needed them to or being able to accept how whole and fully I loved until I met you. When we first met, I was disappointed when you said all you wanted was one night.”

“Then why did you give me all of you knowing that I would walk away?”

“Because you deserved to have your heart’s desire. You asked me to give you the best night of your life, and I did. But it didn’t end there. Myraj, I want to spend the rest of my life making every night magical and beautiful for you. Will you marry me?” he asked, kneeling before me and opening a ring box that I hadn’t seen him remove from his pocket.

“Ohmigosh, Micaiah! Are you serious?”

“Yes, baby.”

“Yes, I will marry you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

He took my hand and slid the platinum marquise-cut diamond ring on my finger before he stood and wrapped me in his arms. We kissed as others applauded us and cheered. I pulled back slightly and looked into his eyes. “You really are book bae.”

He laughed and shook his head at me before he joined my mouth with his again. We had spent the day with our kids, celebrating my birthday, and we had a birthday dinner with them, but I couldn’t imagine anything making this birthday more perfect than the man of my dreams proposing to me.

He blew my mind away with how intentional he always was about me. It wasn’t an easy road finding him, but it was a journey worth traveling, and I was so thankful for him.

ONE YEAR LATER

“This is what I have lived my whole life for, this one moment, this opportunity to pledge my life, my soul, my heart to you, Sam.” –Love You Hard, MJ Stone

“To the love of my life. This book is given to you with the remembrance of every stolen moment we had in Cali, and every stolen kiss and moment since and in the future. May our stolen Georgia nights be just as sweet as those written about in this book. Love, Myr.”

Those were the words written on a linen card that had been slipped between the pages of a long coveted hardback book that I had sought since my youth. Since learning that I was MJ Stone, Myraj had been in love with the idea of how thoughtful it was that I wrote my readers love letters. Now she had given me the same.

In an envelope that rested in the middle of the pages of Stolen Georgia Nights was a letter from Myraj that I read as my eyes danced to the bottle of bourbon tied in a beautiful satin midnight blue ribbon, another gift from my precious bride.

Dear Micaiah,

It was a pleasure to put focus and dedication into hunting down this rare copy of Stolen Georgia Nights. I know that you have wanted this book for a long time. I pray that when you sit down to read it, you pair it with a glass of this fine bourbon that I know you will enjoy, while sitting in your library. I pray that your thoughts are full of me and the love we share, and the peace that you find in our home.

I pray that in the characters written between these pages, you find inspiration for greater works than those you have created, inspiration to create the beautiful art that you do, and inspiration to care for the hearts of those who love you most. More importantly, I pray that you find inspiration to keep living, keep thriving, and keep shining.

I cannot wait to meet you at the end of the aisle this afternoon. I cannot wait to exchange vows with you in front of God and our family, friends, and our children. I cannot wait to take on your last name and begin our journey to forever.