Page 20 of Irresistible

“I know I picked a good one. She picked me, too, though, Mom.” He looks at his parents and smiles lovingly at them. “I’ve never said this to you guys…but I admire your marriage so much. For so long, I thought I’d never have what you two have.”

Then he looks back at me. “But I was wrong. Icanhave it. Chloe, you’ve given it to me already. But I want to make this official.”

I clasp a hand over my mouth as Austin digs a ring box out of his pocket. As he lowers to one knee and opens it in front of me, I gasp.

His proposal is better than all the ways I’ve daydreamed it.

“Will you marry me, Chloe?”

“Yes,” I say. “Oh my God, Austin. Ofcourse.”

Behind us, Austin’s mom starts bawling happily, and his dad squeezes his wife’s shoulder.

“Give me your hand, Chloe,” Austin says softly.

I hold it out to him. It’s ever-so-slightly shaking.

He slides the ring on, and it’s a perfect fit.

Chapter Thirteen

Austin

1 Year Later

“Holy fuck,” I groan. “How much equipment do you have in this bag, Chloe?”

“Just the essentials,” she calls from ahead on the trail.

I grit my teeth and remind myself that I promised her I’d do this—that I’d doanythingfor her.

I just wish I’d known how goddamn heavy camera equipment could be.

We keep hiking for another ten or fifteen minutes before stopping at a clearing. I carefully set the bag of equipment down and wipe sweat off my forehead as I join Chloe to look at the view.

“Wow,” I say, looking out over the expansive rolling hills. “It’s gorgeous up here.”

“I know. Isn’t it? These photos are going to be unbelievable.”

“They will be withyoutaking them.”

I lean over and kiss my wife’s temple. Then I place a hand on her belly, thinking of the little one growing in there.

“You’re amazing for doing this hike, you know.”

Chloe smiles at me. “I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it a few weeks ago. But I’ve been feeling so good ever since I entered my second trimester. I feel like I’m a freakin’ superwoman.”

“Youarea superwoman.”

She leans over to kiss me. “You get any pings from the office yet?”

“I turned my phone off,” I say. “And put my email on auto-reply. They can survive without me for a few days.”

“Yeah, right,” she says. “They’re probably falling apart.”

We grin at each other. We kiss—a long, slow, loving kiss.

“Okay,” says Chloe, gently pulling back. “I’ve gotta take these photos.”

“Then more kissing?” I say.

“Thendefinitelymore kissing,” she says.

Craving more?