“Is this what it was? Revenge?”
I sigh in frustration and stand to pace the deck. “No. That’s not what I was thinking when I left. I was honest when I said that I was just avoiding the awkward goodbyes later.”
“But I didn’t want to say goodbye,” he says, surprising me. “That was never my intention.”
“You’re going back to Chile, Mason. And then somewhere else after that. Egypt? China? Freaking Peru? I don’t know, but you’ll be gone.”
“No.” He hurries to me and takes my hands in his. “Damn it, we could have avoided all of this if you had just stayed. Aunt Claudia’s letter hit me like a punch across the face. I read the letters that Charles sent her before he died, right before we left on our trip, and it made me start thinking. Her letter only reinforced what I had already been thinking.”
“And what is that?”
“That I want to be with you. I want to spend every damn day of my life with you, Lena. I love you so much I can’t see straight, and I know now that I never stopped loving you. I told you that you knocked everything out of focus for me before, and it wasn’t until I was finally with you again that everything came back into focus.
“You make me laugh. You make me think. You make me fucking crazy. I can’t keep my hands off of you. There are a million reasons that I love you, and I plan to spend the rest of my life listing all of them for you.”
“Wow.” He cups my face in his hands, and wipes away a tear that I didn’t even realize was on my cheek. “I spent a really long time trying to get over you, Mason, and I never could. I thought that I knew the score this time, and that when it was over I could go back to my life.”
“But?”
“But I can’t,” I whisper. He leans his forehead against mine. “I love you, too.”
He wraps his arms around me, lifting me off the ground and twirling me in a circle, and then kisses me in that sweet way he does that makes my toes curl.
“Wait.” I press my hand to his chest. “We love each other, but it doesn’t change your job.”
“Last year, I was offered a job at Tulane, teaching archeology in the graduate program.” He smiles and brushes my hair off my cheek. “I called and they said the job is still mine if I want it.”
“Do you want it?” I whisper.
“You’re looking at the newest professor at Tulane. I want to be wherever you are, Lena. There may be times that I’ll want us to go on an adventure, but I’m done being gone for months or sometimes years. Aunt Claudia was right, the most important thing is being with the person you love.”
He reaches in his pocket and pulls out the most beautiful sapphire and diamond ring I’ve ever seen.
“Is that—?”
“Aunt Claudia’s? Yes.” He’s staring into my eyes as he takes my hand. “Lena, I love you. I can’t wait to start our adventure together. Will you marry me?”
I don’t even hesitate. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He slips the ring on my finger and kisses me.
“Can we change our names to Jones?”
“Just call me Indie.”
Don’t forget! The Boudreaux Series continues on June 27th with Easy Nights, available for preorder now! Here’s a sneak peek at Savannah and Ben’s story:
Prologue
Fifteen Years Ago…
Savannah
“You cut your hair,” Ben says as he comes into the dining room. He stops short when he sees me, a frown covering his handsome face.
He noticed!
I weave my fingertips through my dark brown hair and give him a tentative smile. “Just yesterday.”
“Why?”
I frown at his harsh tone.
“Because I wanted to.”
He sits next to me, like he does every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, and I can’t help but take a deep breath, absorbing his smell.
Ben always smells amazing. Like sunshine and hard work and… sexy.
“Van?” he says, getting my attention.
“I’m sorry, what?”
He shakes his head, a smile tickling his lips now. “You’re such a daydreamer.”
Only when you’re around.
I would never blatantly say anything like that. Flirting with my older brother’s best friend isn’t the smart thing to do. Eli and Beau might make Ben stay away from me, and that just can’t happen.
I love him so much it hurts.
“What do you think of my hair?”
He shrugs one shoulder and grabs my math textbook, opening to the chapter we’re currently working on. I am horrific at math, but Ben is a genius at it, and he’s been helping me with my math homework for the past three months.
It’s heaven.
“It’s fine.”
“You don’t like it.”
He shrugs again. “I liked it long.”
For half a second, I regret chopping it off, taking it from almost reaching my butt to just barely reaching my shoulders.
It’s so much lighter!
But then I let it roll off of me because I do like it. I have to live with it. No man is ever going to tell me how I should wear my hair. This isn’t the dark ages.
“Did you do your homework from last night?” he asks, and I nod, handing him my notebook so he can look over my work.
I’ve never loved math so much in my life.
He’s biting the inside of his cheek as he looks over my paper and when he’s finished, he turns those blue eyes to me with a smile. “You’re picking it up really well. You won’t even need me once I leave next month.”
And just like that, my happy mood crumbles like a sandcastle under the tide.
Ben’s leaving. He’s going away to college, and the closer the time comes, the more panicked I am. I don’t want him to go.
Ben nudges me with his elbow.
“I’ll still need you,” I mumble, not able to look him in the eyes because I’m afraid that he’ll see right through me, and he’ll be repulsed at the idea of his best friend’s little sister having the hots for him.
Or, far worse, he’ll feel sorry for me, and the thought of that makes me want to throw up.
“I’ll check in on you when I’m home on my breaks,” he says and sets my notebook in front of me as he turns to this week’s chapter.
For the next two hours, he walks me through the steps that the teacher showed us in class, but Ben’s voice is so much easier to listen to, and he explains things thoroughly, making sure I understand before we move on.
He’s an excellent teacher. In fact, he’s going to college to be a teacher. He will rock it.
I just wish he didn’t have to go so far away to college. Beau’s been there for a year already, and Eli and Ben are going to the same one, and they’re all going to rent an apartment together.
I frown and try not to think about all of the college girls that will be around, hitting on Ben. Will he sleep with them? Date them?
Eventually marry one of them?
Jesus, I hope not.
“Why can’t you focus today?” Ben finally asks, bringing my attention back to the here and now.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
“What’s wrong, Vanny?”
I roll my eyes. “I hate it when you call me that.”
Easy Fortune: A Boudreaux Series Novella
Kristen Proby's books
- Safe With Me
- Easy Melody
- Saving Grace (Love Under the Big Sky, #2.5)
- Play with Me (With Me in Seattle, #3)
- Baby, It's Cold Outside
- Breathe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #7)
- Come Away with Me (With Me in Seattle, #1)
- Fight with Me (With Me in Seattle, #2)
- Forever with Me (With Me in Seattle, #8)
- Rock with Me (With Me in Seattle, #4)
- Tied with Me (With Me in Seattle, #6)
- Under the Mistletoe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #1.5)