“Well, I mean, I know you want me to live with you.”

“Forever.” My heart pounds in my chest. It’s early on. But I know I want to spend the rest of my life with her, so I charge ahead. “Alexandria, I don’t want to ever wake up without you. I never thought I’d feel like this. But I do. And every day, that feeling grows stronger.”

“Likewise.” It’s when her posh accent comes out that I know I have most definitely thrown her for a loop.

I chuckle. It’s more of a full-on laugh.

“What?”

“You know, here in the States, we usually say ‘ditto.’”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“You do that.” We resume our stroll, carefully stepping over broken shell fragments. “Alex?”

“Hmmm?”

“You said you can read people. Tell me when I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Oh, well, I don’t know if—”

“Take your best guess.”

“I didn’t know it until just now.”

“Fair enough. But now you know it. Looking back, take your best guess.”

“Maybe when you thought I’d died?”

“No. That’s not it.” A paddleboarder paddles by. Alex waves at the person. She’s beginning to recognize some of the regular beachgoers. “Let’s see. My first thought when I saw you was that Jack was a lucky SOB, because I thought you were his. And then when I realized he wasn’t yours, you got under my skin. But I didn’t do relationships, and you looked like a relationship kind of woman. Obviously, I broke my relationship rule for you. I mean, after our first time, I knew it wouldn’t be a one-time thing. But I think I fell for you the moment you visited my sister and you showed me your compassion. And I think when I knew I wanted you in my life forever—”

“When I wanted to turn the tables on the kidnappers?” She loves figuring things out, but she’s wrong on this point.

“When you turned the tables on me. You turned my world upside down.”

“When?”

“When we found Sophia, and I couldn’t stay away.”

We slow to a stop, and she loops her arms around my neck. This time my back is to the sun, and the wind blows her hair behind her. She smiles the most beautiful smile.

“I remember. I remember how surprised I was that you kept coming around. I’d thought for sure I’d hear from you, but not for a couple of days.”

I drop to one knee, and her hands fly to her mouth.

“Alex, I don’t have a ring—yet. If I were a romantic man, I would have planned this out. Something spectacular. But I’m not a particularly romantic man. That’s not my strength. But I’ll love, honor, and protect you until the end of time. Will you marry me? If you say yes, we’ll go ring shopping first thing in the morning.”

“I don’t need a ring.” She drops down to the sand, on her knees, so she’s once again close to my height, and lifts my sunglasses off my face. “I don’t need a wedding.” I lift her sunglasses, uncertain where she’s going with this. “But I’ll take one of those. One day.” My chest eases. “For now, I’ll take you…always. This heart,” her palm flattens over my sternum, “is my heart. My Wolf.”