“You’ll be okay, baby.”
And he was right. I would be okay. I hadn’t been for a while, but I’d pulled myself together over the last few months and tried to get to a normal place. I did most of the hard work, but I was helped by Riot so much. My success was his victory too. His support was invaluable to me. I should be planning surprises for him, leading him on romantic treasure hunts, not the other way around.
“I love you,” I said into his chest, trying to keep the tears under control.
“I know,” he said as I pulled back to look at his face, his brilliant smile just sparkling all the more. “I love you too.”
I looked past him to see the most gorgeous sunset. “Wow,” I said on a breath. He turned his head to see what I was looking at, then turned himself and brought his arm around my shoulders, pulling me to his side. I gladly went, wrapping my arms around his waist, resting my head against his chest.
We stood there for a while and watch the sun lower slowly, beautiful oranges and reds painting the sky.
When the sun was barely above the horizon, I looked back up at him. “I can’t believe you planned all this so we could watch a sunset together.”
He laughed. “You don’t like it?”
“No, I love it, I’m just surprised, I guess. All this for a view and a sunset.”
“It’s not just any view. It’s our view.” I heard his words and they didn’t strike me as unusual for a few moments, but as my mind processed them, I suddenly understood.
“Riot, what did you do?” My voice was wavering again, hands shaking.
“I bought you your very own viewpoint,” he said, his lips pressed against my temple.
I knew Riot Bentley was the perfect person for me, knew it to the depths of my being, but I learned right then, standing on the balcony of a house I’d never been to before, watching a sun descend into the ocean, that he might have been the most thoughtful and astounding person alive.
“You bought a house?” I asked, my lips quivering with emotion.
“I bought this house. For you. For us.”
“You bought this house?”
He laughed, then turned slightly, bringing his hand up to cup my cheek, which I promptly leaned into. “Yeah, I bought this house. Do you like it? If not, I can sell it again and we can pick one out together, but I couldn’t pass up this view,” he said, looking directly into my eyes, making them water and sting with happiness.
“I love this house.” Tears streamed down both cheeks. He wiped them away and then kissed me.
“You haven’t seen it all.”
“I don’t care. You bought me a viewpoint.”
“Yeah.” His thumb brushed down my cheek, his eyes blazing into mine. “I have to admit though, my intentions aren’t 100 percent selfless. I figured,” he said, looking at the land surrounding the house, which was clear as far as the eye could see, “if I was ever going to get to go all the way with you at a viewpoint, it would probably have to be privately owned.”
My heart melted at his sweeping romantic gesture, and also pounded at his naughty words. He had always tried to get lucky at viewpoints.
“You think because you bought me a viewpoint you automatically get lucky?” I said, my voice teasing and hopefully sexy.
“Yeah,” he replied, moving his hand to the back of my neck. “Was I wrong?”
“Not even a little bit.”
His eyes blazed at my words and his mouth parted slightly. I could feel the thumping of his heart underneath my hand at his chest. Then his mouth was on mine. He took everything I had to give, and I gave it to him happily.
Epilogue
Riot
I heard water lapping against the stilts our private cabana was raised up on. The rhythmic sound of the water crashing against the wood had put me to sleep not long ago, but now it was a soothing way to spend a few minutes with my arms still wrapped around Kalli as she slept.
We’d finally made it to Bora Bora, and it had only taken more than a year to get there. Kalli had purchased the tickets with a spring vacation in mind, but we bought the house and got caught up in life and never made it to the tropical paradise. Not to mention that just a few days after our first Christmas together we found out both our television shows were picked up for another season. And then again a few months ago. It was unlikely and rare, but we’d both managed to be hired on to two of the most successful shows in network television in the past two years.
The timing of our careers taking off couldn’t have been better; it allowed us to be together without our jobs forcing us apart. I woke up with Kalli every morning, starting our days looking out of the oversized picture window in our master bedroom that gave us a breathtaking view.