“At the beach I do. They’re awesome.”
“Would you like some dessert?”
“I always, always have room for dessert, babe.”
Nate chuckles as he climbs around me to the table and returns with two small individual chocolate cheesecakes.
“Oh, my. Even here you manage to feed me chocolate cheesecake.”
“Of course. It’s your favorite.”
“What’s your favorite?” I ask and dig into the decedent dessert. “Oh sweet Jesus, that’s good.”
“You.” He responds, his eyes on fire as he watches me lick chocolate off my lips.
“You are romantic tonight.” I take another bite and moan.
“Does it really bother you?” he asks with a grin.
“No. It’s nice. Don’t tell Natalie.” Nate laughs and offers me a bite of cheesecake from his own plate, which I happily accept and offer him some of mine.
We finish our desserts this way, feeding each other, and then settle back against the cushions, drinking another glass of champagne.
“I have something for you. I’ve been trying to give it to you all day, but you kept distracting me.” He smiles ruefully at me and digs into his jeans pocket.
“You don’t have to give me anything, Nate. This whole weekend is amazing.”
“Well, this is special to me, and I want you to have it. It’s why we stopped at my dad’s this morning.” He pulls his hand out of his pocket, but holds whatever it is in his fist.
“Okay,” I murmur, encouraging him to keep talking.
“I already told you that my mom passed when I was very young. I don’t remember a lot about her, just mostly what my dad has told me, but I remember that she was really pretty, and she was very affectionate.”
“I’m sure she was gorgeous, Nate. One look at you, and no one would doubt that.”
He smiles at me and runs the backs of his fingers down my face.
“The year she passed, I gave her this for her birthday, which was today.” He opens his fist, and inside is a silver chain with a pretty silver heart-shaped pendant.
He looks up to me, still smiling. “I’d like to give it to you.”
I feel my jaw drop and I watch as he takes the heart in his fingers with one hand, cups my hand in the other, and places the warm metal in my palm.
“Nate…”
“She would have loved you,” he continues. “I wish she could have known you. I want you to have this.”
My eyes are searching his, and I’m just so touched. He’s giving me something of his mother’s. If that doesn’t scream commitment, I don’t know what does.
“Turn it over,” he whispers.
Engraved on the back is Love, Nate.
Tears spring to my eyes as I rub the sweet words with the pad of my finger. I am overcome with emotion.
“I know it’s not diamonds, or wildly expensive…”
Before he can finish the words, I climb onto his lap and wrap my arms around his shoulders, bury my face in his neck, and hold on tight, letting the tears come.
“Hey, it’s okay baby.” His hands are moving up and down my back, soothing and caressing me.
“Thank you so much,” I whisper into his neck, unable to look him in the eye and let him see my tears. “This is the most beautiful gift anyone has ever given me.”
“Hey.” He pushes back on my shoulders so I have to look at him and he grins at me as he wipes the tears off my cheeks with his thumbs. “Can I put it on you?”
“Yes, please.” I offer him a wet smile, pull my hair up off my neck, and wait patiently as he clasps it. It falls a few inches below my collarbones, and shines in the soft firelight.
“It’s beautiful, Nate, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
There’s suddenly thunder in the distance, and we both look out to the water as lightning strikes through the dark clouds moving closer to us.
“Looks like we’re going to get that storm,” I murmur.
“Well, as much as I wanted to make love to you here, looks like it’s going to be plan B.” Nate stands and holds his hand out to me, helping me up. He passes me our champagne glasses and the champagne bottle, then lifts me in his arms and climbs the stairs.
“Seriously, Nate, I can walk.”
“You don’t have any shoes.”
He’s not even breathing hard with the effort.
Holy fuck.
“What about the food and the fire?” I ask.
“The catering company is coming back in a few hours to clean up.”
“Oh.”
He sets me down at the top of the stairs and kisses my cheek, takes his glass and the bottle out of my hands and leads me inside and up the stairs to the master suite. We walk into the bathroom, and Nate turns on the water to fill the tub, and lights some candles throughout the spacious room, then turns off the lights so the space is bathed in soft candles.
He pulls a remote out of his back pocket – I didn’t know he had that! – and turns on the sound system, and Jason Mraz’s song I Won’t Give Up is again coming through the speakers.
“Did you do that on purpose?” I ask.
“No, it’s just a coincidence,” he murmurs.
He lowers our glasses and the champagne to the floor next to the tub, and when everything is ready, he turns back to me, slowly walks toward me, in time with the song. Nate starts to sing along, softly, “I won’t give up on us, even if the skies get rough, I’ve given you all my love, I’m still looking up…”
He pulls me against him, one arm wrapped around the small of my back, and takes my hand in his, and begins to sway with the music, dancing me across the spacious, beautiful bathroom in the candlelight, while the sky explodes in lightning outside. He lowers his face next to mine, and just barely touches me with his cheek, turns his face, and brushes my cheek with his nose, sending shivers down my spine and out my arms and legs.