I felt something land on my thigh, both of his hands fumbling with it.
I pried my lips from his and glanced down to see his hands digging in his wallet.
Then out came a ring.
Only he slid it onto his own finger.
“Uh…” I dodged his lips as he attempted to catch my mouth again. “Did you just give yourself a ring?”
“No. I just put the ring you gave me back on,” he said, moving in for another kiss, but I turned my head, so his lips landed on my cheek instead.
“You keep your wedding ring in your wallet?” I had no idea why that was the part that had surprised me most.
“I only took it off to get people at the office to stop asking questions. But you gave me that ring. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to hide it away in some box at the top of my closet. Why? Where’s yours?”
I bit my lip and looked away sheepishly. “In a box at the top of my closet.”
Chuckling, he pressed his lips to my temple. “I’ll send Devon to go get it. You need to at least be wearing your engagement ring when my parents get here. Considering I already told them we were getting remarried.”
I swung my head to face him, my eyes bulging in disbelief. “You did not!”
He shrugged.
“You didn’t even ask me yet. I have the right to refuse.”
He twisted his lips and gave me a teasing side-eye. “You were gonna say yes.”
“You don’t know! I could totally say no.”
This time, he laughed, throwing his head back and everything.
“Roman, I’m serious,” I scolded.
Still laughing, he looked back at me and said, “I have no doubt that you are, Lissy. But I also know you would have said yes at the police station if I’d asked.”
“I would not!”
“You would.”
“I would not.”
“You would.”
“I would not!”
He leaned in close. “You would.”
“Roman…” I was preparing to let him know exactly what I thought of his proposal assumptions when he suddenly produced a huge diamond ring out of thin air and lifted it into my line of sight.
Any further objections died in my mouth.
“Like I said.” He smirked, taking my hand and sliding the ring on my finger. “You should probably put on your engagement ring before my parents get here.”
My vision swam, and my lungs seized.
He’d proposed—kinda.
He wanted to be my husband again.
And I wanted to be his wife more than I’d ever wanted anything.
It might have taken us some time to figure it out.
But we’d fallen in love in less than a day.
Not even utter devastation and two years apart could erase that.
A love like ours wasn’t measured in years, distance, or time apart.
It was never-ending.
An electrical current traveled through me, prickling the hairs on the back of my neck the same way it had the first time I’d laid eyes on him and then again that day at the police station.
Only, this time, I realized that it was the overwhelming sensation of right.
The diamond was gorgeous, but that feeling had less to do with the stone and more to do with the man who had given it to me.
He was right.
We were right.
We’d always been right.
So, with absolute certainty—and despite the fact that he hadn’t asked—I laughed a throaty, “Yes.”
His smile grew exponentially. Then he pressed his smiling mouth to mine and taunted, “See? I told you you’d say yes.”
I slapped his arms and wiped a stray tear on my shoulder. “Don’t be an ass right now. I’m too happy to give you any attitude.”
“Okay, Elisabeth Leblanc—with an S and a lowercase B—I won’t be an ass right now while you’re feeling happy.”
The familiar words turned the waterworks on full force. “God, don’t be sweet, either. Just stand there and tell me you love me.”
“I love you.”
He did. I had not one single doubt about that.
I threw my arms around his neck, buried my face in his neck, and mumbled, “Never mind. That just made it worse.”
His shoulders shook as he laughed, and he smoothed his hands up and down my back, his lips peppering kisses anywhere his mouth could reach.
It was then that I understood what he’d meant when he’d said that his lungs had inflated for the first time since he’d found me sitting on the couch the night I left.
Because, for the first time since I’d made the decision to leave, I took my first real breath. I clung to his shoulders and basked in the beauty of it all.
After a few minutes, he murmured, “Baby, you gotta let me go if I still need to go dig up some sweet potatoes.”
I sniffled and sat up, staring down at my ring. “Nah. I think this will be enough to distract them from the lack of carbohydrates on the table.”
“Probably.” He grinned just as the front door swung wide open and Kristen sauntered in with Devon on her heels, carrying a huge tray of pies.