Page 177 of Hometown Halftime

“You’re kinda cute,” I say with a grin.

“Just kinda?”

An embarrassingly girly giggle bursts out of me, warmth bubbling through me so intensely that I can’t contain it. Loving Riley still feels surreal sometimes because being with him feels safe in a way I never expected love to be. Exciting and peaceful at the same time.

Then Riley steps back.

He reaches into his jacket pocket, and he looks so nervous. His hands shake while he pulls out a small velvet box before dropping onto one knee beneath the twinkle lights.

I burst into tears. “Oh, my God.”

Riley laughs shakily. “That feels promising.”

I can barely breathe while he looks up at me holding the ring in trembling fingers.

“Kinsey Malone,” he says softly, emotion thick in his voice already. “The first time I saw you, you intimidated the hell out of me, and I know now that I fell in love at that very moment. You’re my best friend and my home. You’re the one person I can’t live without. And I want every next thing to be with you beside me.”

I’m sobbing now.

Riley smiles through watery eyes before asking quietly, “Will you marry me, Kinsey?”

The answer flies out of me. “Yes. Absolutely yes.”

Relief crashes across Riley’s face, then he’s standing again, sliding the ring onto my finger before kissing me beneath the lights while laughter shakes through both of us.

“Hi, fiancée,” he whispers against my mouth.

I smile through tears. “Hi.”

He takes my hand, and we keep dancing.

“I scared you that day in Coach Ramsey’s office?” I ask in amusement.

He blows out a breath. “Yeah, you did. You were scary as hell, and fuck, you were so hot, I was screwed from the word go.”

My laughter fills the air around us.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was an absolute mess about your sexy glasses and then there were the random dick run ins. It wasn’t easy to resist you, Riley Weston.”

He places a kiss on my forehead. “It’s the little things that brought us together, I guess.”

I glance down between us. “There’s nothing little about that thing, Rookie.”

He smirks and spins me again.

“You’re a menace, Kinsey Malone.”

We dance through two more songs beneath the lights after that, wrapped around each other while the future suddenly feels huge and filled with possibility. And later, when we finally walk back into Gordy’s hand in hand, everyone stops moving, and the music stops as silence fills the room.

Every single person turns toward us.

I blink. “Um…what?”

Then Brynn jumps in place, clapping her hands.

“Well?” she yells. “Did you say yes?”

A laugh bursts out of me while I hold up my left hand. “Hell yeah, I said yes!”