That look of surprise was chased away by something else. Another emotion that made my heart stop. “Again,” he whispered.
I lifted onto my toes so I was closer to his eye level. “I love you.” I pressed my lips to his.
His eyes were still closed from our kiss, his hands drawing me closer. “Again.”
I leaned in, dropping my mouth outside of his ear. “I love you.”
His chest moved against mine, our breaths coming into sync. “Don’t stop saying that. Ever.”
My eyebrow lifted when he opened his eyes. “That might present a challenge.”
“One I’m sure you’ll find a way to overcome.” He winked, his fingers brushing across the seam of my lips. “Those words, coming from your mouth, when your eyes are on mine, that’s the reason. Right there, those three words, that’s the answer.”
My head tipped as I gently touched his swollen lip. “The answer to what?”
He stared at me like it should have been obvious. “My question for existence. My reason for living. My explanation for twenty years of waiting.”
“Oh yeah. That little reason.”
He prodded at my sides, making me laugh. When I squirmed against him, he just picked me up, tying my legs behind him.
“You’re broken. Everywhere,” I added when he grimaced after adjusting his footing. “You need a doctor—one other than yourself—and a good night of sleep before you start tossing me around.”
“First things first.”
“Pain meds, then doctor?” I guessed, fastening my hands above his shoulders.
He sighed, then his face got serious. Really serious. My throat instantly went dry.
“I know this might seem like I’m rushing things, but I’ve been waiting two decades to ask you this question.” He didn’t pause, didn’t clear his throat, didn’t look away. He didn’t um and er and stall the hell out of it. There was only confidence in his voice, matching the look on his face.
“Matt,” I whispered, not sure anymore if the drops running down my face were rain.
“I’m going to keep it simple and sweet because if you haven’t figured out why I’m asking you this question, I haven’t done my job.” He tipped his head back up at me, his eyes waiting for mine. The moment my eyes met his, he smiled. “Will you marry me?”
Definitely not raindrops. Nope. At least not all of them. My hands moved from his shoulders to his face as I lowered my face above his. “Technically, I already married you.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Will you marry me again? This time with my name on the actual marriage certificate?”
My lips met his. Then again. He tasted like sweat and rain and even a bit of blood. He tasted like the fight of my life. The fight I’d won. “Yes.”
“Are you sure?” He started to spin slow circles on the beach, grinning at me like he had so many times before—like I was his reason. His answer. “It’s a big commitment, a lifelong one from what I’ve heard. Don’t you want to take a few minutes to think about it?”
My hand found his left hand and knitted our fingers together while he managed to hold me with one arm. He’d taken off his ring like I had. We’d both let go of what was keeping us apart so we could hold on to what had kept us together. Each other.
“I don’t need another minute to think,” I said. “I’ve been waiting twenty years to give you your answer.”
“That answer being?” He turned his ear toward me, waiting.
“No. Absolutely not.” I managed to keep a straight face right up until Matt turned his mock-wounded face toward me. “Yes. The answer is yes. The answer is always yes.”
He kissed me again, this one not coming to a foreseeable end. He stood there in the rain, holding me while we kissed until both of us were gasping for breath. The moment I sucked in a deep breath, I wanted to kiss him all over again.
“Can you believe this is how it went?” he asked, his chest moving fast against mine. “What it took for us to be together?”
I thought about that for a moment. Condensing the countless years we’d spent together into a few moments, I thought about everything we’d been through to get us to this perfect moment in time. After all that, I’d believe anything. After all this, I knew anything was possible.
“I married the wrong brother,” I said, dropping my forehead to his. Matt was the one. He always had been. He always would be. He was my Mister Right. “But he turned out to be the right one.”
THE END