Chapter Twenty-Three

Jenna

Between my father getting the green light to be released from the hospital, just that he needed to take it easy and adjust his diet, and my mother ending her crusade against Deacon, I didn't know how things could get any better.

I tapped my foot as I waited outside for Deacon. "You coming?" I yelled, as he locked up after running back in for something.

He laughed as he shook his head. "I'm telling you, you're one impatient woman."

I scrunched my nose. "I don't want to wait anymore." Then I hopped on the balls of my feet and smiled. "Come on, you said you wanted to take me somewhere, but wouldn't tell me where. I'm on pins and needles over here."

He leaned down to give me a kiss. "I don't think I've ever been happier. I got my girl, my bike. Maybe we should just sit here for a few minutes and talk about that."

I pointed a finger to his chest. "No way! We're going now."

"If you insist," he said, slipping his helmet on as he threw a leg over the bike, and revved the engine. "Hop on."

I grabbed my helmet and got on behind him, my arms finding comfort wrapped around him. He pulled out with the ease of someone riding for years and I let everything slip away, the wind carrying it all away.

By the time we got where we were going, I took my helmet off and slipped off the bike. "What are we doing here?" I asked, fixing my hair and looking around.

We were in the parking lot of his old high school, the place where we first met. "What made you want to take us here?"

Deacon shrugged. "I wanted to take us back to where it all started."

"Why?" I hated to admit it, but he usually wasn't overly nostalgic.

"I haven't been back here since I graduated," he confessed. "Could never seem to do it."

"Being a teenager is never easy. But, then again, neither is being an adult," I admitted.

He smiled. "True, but being together is the easiest thing in the world."

"That's the one thing I am very much sure of."

He leaned against the bike now and took my hand in his. "Do you remember the first time you came here to pick me up from school?"

"How could I forget?" I returned. "I saw those girls drooling over you and I wanted to claw their eyes out."

"If you thought that was bad, how about all those guys I went to school with? They couldn't keep their eyes off of you. I hated the way they looked at you, like you were theirs for the taking. They thought you were perfection, though. Who could blame them?"

"If they only knew." I rolled my eyes.

He shook his head. "You were a brilliant cheerleader, you were just about as close to perfect as perfect got."

"Please," I said, trying to put him off, feeling my cheeks turn flush at his generosity.

"You were perfect, are perfect—perfect to me, perfect for me."

Smiling, I brushed my hair behind my ears and confessed, "I knew I was going to fall in love with you whether I wanted to or not."

"You were so scared to take the leap, though."

"You had all the makings of a bad boy. I was afraid you'd break my heart."

He chuckled. "Never. I would have never done that to you, princess."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and peered up in to those icy-blue eyes I loved so much. "So why are we here?"

He looked everywhere but at me. "I don't know how to do this."

"Do what?" Now I was worried. "You're starting to scare me, Deke."

"What?" He furrowed his brows. "It's nothing bad." He chuckled. "I'm just not doing this right because if I was, you wouldn't look so frightened. I don't think so anyway."

I could tell he was nervous, but I had no idea why. Around me, he had nothing to be nervous about.

He walked out of my embrace and began rubbing the back of his neck. "All right, well, here goes." He turned around and looked at me. Then he smiled as if he couldn't help it and I loved that. "When I first met you I knew you were so far out of my league. I didn't deserve a girl as good, as sweet, as wonderful as you. I would corrupt you, at least that was what I thought. But the idea of anyone else touching you, being with you, made me sick. So, whether or not I liked it, I had no choice. I had to make you mine."

"I'm so glad you did."

He grinned and came to stand next to me and thumbed the bottom of my chin. "You're everything to me, princess. Always have been. Always will be. I don't think I could exist without you. When we weren't together it was pure agony." He searched my eyes before going on. "I don't want that. I don't want us to ever be apart again." He waited a beat before getting down on one knee and asking, "Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Deacon took his mother's engagement ring out of his pocket and presented it to me. "I promised you that one day I would slip this ring on your finger and we would get engaged. I'd like to make good on that promise today."

I immediately brought my hands to my mouth and squealed with delight. "Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times over again, yes!"

He couldn't seem to get the ring on fast enough and then I jumped into his arms and wrapped my legs around him, burying my face in his neck, kissing every inch of him. "You have no idea how happy you make me."

Next thing I knew he was kissing me with such unabashed need, like he needed me to survive. I gave just as much as I got, though, matching him beat for beat. His one arm was still holding me against him, but the other was running up and down my back, then cupping my behind until finally both of his hands remained right under my butt, holding me.

"We should probably take this celebration somewhere else," he said against my lips.

I shook my head and brought his lips back to mine. "Too bad we didn't drive my car. I've always wanted to have sex in the back of a car."

"Really?" He groaned. "I think that could be arranged one day."

I licked my lips. "For now, how about we get on that motorcycle of yours and drive home so I can show you just how happy I am?"