“Not usually, but in that case, yeah, seriously cocky.” She linked their hands and looked up at him. “Every time I’ve thought about that weekend since then, I’ve been annoyed with him for trying to sabotage my relationship with Mitch, but now I know he was one hundred percent right. Now I know exactly what he meant, and I’m indeed thanking him.”

“Yeah?” he said, his brows raised in question.

She nodded and took the plunge. “My Toby was telling me to wait for you, and as usual, he was right. I love you, Tobias Fitzgerald Jackson Junior.”

He blinked a couple of times, as if trying not to cry, before he reached for her, bringing her close enough to kiss. “Marry me,” he whispered gruffly against her lips.

Erin gasped. “What?”

“You heard me. Marry. Me. Erin. Please, marry me. Be my wife, my love, my everything. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. Will you please, please, please marry me and let me teach you how to fly in every possible way?”

She was so stunned that she could barely think.

“We could have it all, baby. Winters in Florida, summers on Gansett. Together every day. Maybe even a little Slim or Erin tossed in there, too, if we get really lucky. You’re the only thing I need to be happy. You’re it for me. Say yes.”

She loved him, her parents loved him, her friends loved him, and she had no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, that her beloved brother would’ve loved him, too. What was left to think about? Absolutely nothing. “Yes.”

“Really?” he asked, his expression priceless.

“Really.”

“Oh my God,” he said on a deep exhale. “You’re really going to marry me?”

“I really am, and I’ll let you teach me how to fly, too.”

“I’d love to.” He kissed her then with a kind of desperation he’d rarely shown her, and she returned the desperation, the intensity, the desire. “I need to get up for a second, but I’ll come right back.”

Erin reluctantly released him, and true to his word, he returned a minute later and put a stunning diamond ring on her left hand. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “W-what? When… When did you get this?”

“The day before I left West Palm. I hadn’t planned to blurt out a proposal the second you arrived, but after what you just told me about Toby… It was the perfect time, the perfect woman.” He kissed the back of the hand where his ring now resided. “If you don’t like it, we can return it.”