Donovan took a deep breath. “I love you, Lani Breslin.”
Joy, pure and bright, bubbled through her. “How handy. Since I love you, too.”
He ran the back of his hand down her cheek. “I don’t want to give up investigative work.”
“We have policemen on Orchid Island, too, Donovan,” she reminded him.
“I know. But I don’t want my life to be so regimented anymore. I want to be able to slow down. Live on island time with you. Which is why I decided to open up my own detective agency.”
“Like Magnum P.I?”
“But without the Ferrari. And no short shorts. And I wouldn’t expect to be living in a gated mansion anytime soon.”
“I’ve never wanted to live in a mansion. But maybe you could wear those short shorts around home? Just for me? Because I think you’d look amazingly hot in them.”
“For you… anything. There’s something else.”
“What’s that?”
“I know you have your library work, and your handywoman work, but I thought, just maybe, you’d like to help with research.”
“You want us to be partners?”
“Only if you want to,” he said.
“Quinn and Quinn Island Investigations.” She said it out loud. “I love it.”
“Then you’ll marry me?”
“Since my entire family would disown me if I didn’t,” she said, “I think I’ll let you talk me into it.”
Her smile was dazzling, rivaling the brilliant radiance of the Orchid Island sun as it gifted the early morning sky with shafts of purest gold.
Lani held out her arms. “ Aloha nui , Donovan. Welcome home.”