Page 171 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

~ ~ ~

Bea slid her hands up around the back of his neck and pulled him down into a kiss, laughing against his mouth when Sifis let out an indignant bark and jumped down from the bench as Blane curled his arms around her and held her close.

When he finally leaned back, he frowned down at the little dog. “See what I mean about him? He’s ruining our first kiss as a married couple.”

“Our first kiss as an engaged couple, Blane,” she corrected, laughing.

His eyebrows drew together. “Yeah, you’re right. Gonna have to see what we can do about that.”

“Oh no. You’re not going to treat the wedding as logistics, are you?”

She loved the way he laughed. “Now there’s an idea. You wanna let me arrange the wedding? I’ll take care of it. No hassle, no problem for you.”

She slapped his arm. “We can talk about all of that later. Let’s just enjoy this for a moment.”

His arms came around her again, and she thoroughly enjoyed the next few moments. She still couldn’t quite believe this was happening. She really hadn’t imagined that marriage would ever be something she wanted again and, until Blane, it had never occurred to her that the question might even arise. Yet, when he’d asked her, the answer had been so simple.

When they eventually came up for air, she held her hand out in front of her and admired the ring. “I love it, Blane. It’s beautiful, and it fits perfectly. How did you—”

“Ah. Yeah. I might have some explaining to do there, but is it all right if I explain in a little while?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Why? What else are you up to?”

“Can’t tell you yet. But will you trust me for about half an hour?”

“I think I’ve just agreed to trust you for the rest of my life, Blane, so yes, I can probably manage half an hour.”

He laughed and pulled his phone from his back pocket.

“But what are you up to?”

“Arranging for some champagne to come over.”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to complain about that.”

“Got some of your good red wine coming too. Didn’t figure you’d want champagne all night.”

While he tapped at his phone, Bea got up and wandered to the edge of the terrace. The sun was beginning to dip toward the horizon, and she lifted her hand to let the ring catch the light. It really was beautiful. She didn’t want to go and choose another one, but she loved Blane even more for understanding that she should have the choice.

Her gaze drifted toward the little stone house at the far side of the field. Nikos’s place. Not officially yet, and he certainly wasn’t moving into it, but the lawyers had started working out how to transfer the title back to him. Blane still wasn’t convinced she’d done the right thing, but he respected that she believed she had, and that mattered more to her than she could ever properly explain.

She turned at the sound of a vehicle coming up the lane and frowned when she spotted a large, shiny black SUV approaching the gate. She looked at the dusty, dented white Vitara and smiled—she much preferred theirs. When she looked back, there were two black SUVs, both slowing as they approached the gate.

Blane was shaking his head. “Damn. Didn’t think they’d be that quick.”

“Blane? What’s going on? I wouldn’t have thought it took two Mercedes SUVs to deliver champagne and wine.”

A huge smile spread across his face. “I invited a few people over to help us celebrate.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You did? Who?”

He came to stand behind her and rested his hands at her waist just as the SUVs stopped outside. The back door of the first one opened, and Bea stared as Meg climbed out, followed by David.

She whipped around to look at Blane. “What…?”

He chuckled and slid an arm around her waist, pulling her back against his chest. “Figured it had been too long since you’d seen your friend. And I figured no matter what you said to my proposal, you might want to see her afterward.”

“Oh, Blane.” Her voice cracked, and before she could recover, the other doors opened and people started climbing out.