Page 136 of Reckless

Fuck it. I take her coffee cup and turn her around to face me.

“You okay?” she asks.

“Yeah. I’m more than okay," I set the cup on the floor and straighten back up.

She smiles and I could die happy knowing I put that smile on her face. I kiss her softly, then murmur against her mouth.

“Marry me?”

She takes a second, and I can’t blame her for that.

“What did you just say?”

Not exactly articulate for a man who is usually good with words. I hold up the ring between us. Her eyes widen and then fill with tears as she looks from me to the ring and back again.

“I want to watch every sunrise with you for the rest of our lives. I want to marry you. If you’ll have me. Shit, that was terrible. I had it all planned out, and I fucked it up.”

Her face breaks into a smile as tears spill over her lashes.

“Jude,” she takes my hand holding the ring and keeps it steady between us. “It was perfect.”

“You’re a pretty liar, Krista Benke.”

“I’m not lying. And I’d love to watch every sunrise with you, Jude Smallwood.”

She nudges my hand and I look down, then take her hand and slip the ring onto her finger. She stares at it for a long time. It’s a simple princess cut diamond set on a white gold band, with three small diamonds embedded on either side.

It reminded me of her, elegant but multifaceted, beautiful but understated.

“That’s a yes, right?”

A laugh-sob escapes her, and she wraps her arms around my neck. “That was most definitely a yes.”

I lean in to kiss her. Over the fucking moon, even if I did mess it up. She said yes anyway. Krista sinks into the kiss and I’m about to drag her back inside. The RV should be warm enough, since we started the fire before we came outside.

A voice interrupts us. I turn to see a couple in hiking boots and backpacks. The man is holding up a huge Nikon camera.

“Would you mind taking our picture?”

Krista laughs, making the man’s smile falter. Just when I think she is about to tell them to get lost and grab me, like she did the last time we were here, she gives me another quick kiss. She goes over and takes the camera from the man.

As I watch, they put their back to the Badlands and smile wide as Krista snaps a few pictures of them. I can read what is going through her head right now. One day, that will be us.

Because this place is intrinsically woven into who we are now.

This won’t be the last time we come back here.

I wasn’t wrong.

Just over a year later, we are back. And I’m marrying the woman of my dreams. The love of my life and keeper of my heart, with a group of our closest friends and family watching.

I can’t take my eyes off her, in a gorgeous sweeping dress, flowers tucked into her beautiful red hair. Krista holds my hand and promises to love me for the rest of her life, and I do the same in return.

We stand here with the beautiful backdrop of the sun setting over the South Dakota Badlands, and the RV where it all started, the back covered in bumper stickers, parked behind us.

I no longer hate being Jude Smallwood, because Krista Benke is my wife.