“It means, Sarah Parsons, that I want to be in your life, for real, because you are my favourite person in the world—and I never thought I would say this—to anyone—but, I love you.”

Well, that shut me up.

He reached for my face, cupping it in his hands, and kissed me while I sobbed into his mouth. I know, but I couldn’t help it. He didn’t seem to mind, though, and I finally pulled myself together enough to kiss him back. When we pulled apart, we were both grinning like idiots.

I love Josh. I love Josh. I love Josh.

And he loves me.

I wiped tears from my face with my napkin. “You know I love you too, right?”

“I had hoped.” We shared another smile, and I couldn’t believe it was possible to feel that happy—or that desperate to get a man naked.

“So, is now a good time to tell you that I packed a toothbrush in there?” I gestured towards my clutch.

“Oh yeah?” he replied, his eyes playful. God, he was sexy.

“Yep, and a clean pair of knickers.”

He grinned, then stood and reached for my hand. “Well then, let’s get outta here.”

Eight months later …

“Hellooo,” I call out.

We’re standing on the dock, each of us with our shoes in one hand and a backpack in the other.

A head pops up from below deck and I squeal, dropping everything on the dock. I scamper over the railing and climb onto the boat clumsily, almost slipping over as Siobhan and I throw our arms around each other and bounce up and down.

“Oh, my god! I can’t believe we’re here!” I exclaim.

She makes a noise that sounds a lot like, “Eeee,” but with an Irish accent. We pull apart and grin at each other.

“I know. I’ve been counting down the days for so long now. I actually started at a hundred and fifty. It drove my family mental” I laugh. God, I adore this woman.

“Josh!” she cries.

“Hey!” he calls back.

I realise I’ve abandoned him with the luggage, and carefully step back to the railing, taking first my backpack from him and then his. He climbs onto the boat, dropping our shoes on the deck.

“Hi Siobhan.” He envelops her in a big hug. “Great to see you.”

“You too! Joshivarah, back together again!” She lets him go just as Duncan climbs up on deck.

“Hey you two,” he says.

“Duncan! Hi!” I am grinning like an idiot.

Duncan and Josh do that man thing where they sort of shake hands and half hug, slapping each other on the back. Then Duncan grabs me in a bear hug and lifts me up, shaking me from side to side.

“Hey! She’s taken, you know,” jokes Josh.

Duncan puts me down. “Hah! Yeah, mate, so am I!” He holds up his left hand and a gold band glints in the bright sunlight.

“What?” I smack him playfully on the arm. “All those frigging emails and you didn’t tell us?”