“Well, actually we’ve known each other longer than a week. It’s been over a month since we first met.”

She was considering bopping him in the head for Well, actually–ing her, when he continued.

“But your point is valid.” He grinned, eyes crinkling in the corners the way she loved.

Julia thought of those crinkles deepening with age, laugh lines from years of happiness together … She shook her head, laughing. “Now you’ve got me thinking about it.”

“When I came here today, I only knew two things.”

“Only two?” she teased.

“Two very important things.” His gaze was intense now, the gray of his eyes piercingly bright, like the sky over Lake Michigan on a December morning. “I knew that, one, I love you. And, two, I want to be with you.”

“Luke.” Julia sucked in a breath.

“I had to find you and tell you. I want to be with you. Like I said, forever. Though I admit, until this conversation, proposing marriage never occurred to me.” He ran a hand through his hair, gathering steam. “Why would it? It’s preposterous. Of course, I’ve just concluded the idea is not without merit. But I don’t have a ring. Perhaps the hypothetical is enough for now?”

As he rambled, Julia bit her lip, affection bubbling up. “Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t need a ring to know our love is real, okay?”

“Okay,” he echoed. As the word left his lips, he paused, a knowing gleam sparkling in his gaze, and she knew the memory of their night together was washing over him, too. “Okay,” he repeated, voice raspy and raw.

“And we don’t have to get married.” She tilted her chin, equal parts playful and hopeful as she considered him, “Not yet, anyway. Is that okay?”

“More than okay.” Luke gently brushed the hair away from her face before he bent down and pressed his mouth to hers. Like that first time when he’d kissed her, in the woods after a rainstorm, it was soft, and slow, and sweet. And even though there was no tender power ballad rising to an emotional crescendo as they drew closer together, no fireworks exploding in the night sky the moment their lips touched, not even a magical sunset, it still felt perfect.

“I’m having a Pinch me moment,” she whispered.

“Huh?”

“What’s happening right now…” She stared up at him. “Us. This is for real, right?”

“For real,” he confirmed, voice barely more than breath, featherlight but heavy with purpose. He lowered his head to kiss her again, promising, “For real and forever.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS