“I’m pretty sure it was over by the ottoman. It’s…” he paused. “Blue. Like your robe. Look down.”
Ugh, he was torturing her. She pulled the robe in mention about her more tightly and looked down at her feet. “What is it, Brad? What am I looking for?”
“Aw hell, I’m no good at this.” Frustration filled his voice.
She pulled the phone away from her ear and squinted at it, puzzled. Lifting it once more to her ear, she asked, “Are you okay? You sound…off.”
“It’s you, Cassie. Look out the window.”
Cassie blinked. What the…
Drawn by a force greater than herself, she moved closer to the glass and set a hand on the cold pane. A gasp broke loose. In the next heartbeat, her eyes filled with tears. Tiny tea lights lit up her snow-covered lawn in the shape of a heart. He’d positioned them so she couldn’t see the soft glow from her old bedroom. Their delicate flames danced in the stirring breeze and illuminated words he’d written into the fresh snow. Be Mine. Brad stood beside the romantic display, one hand lifted as he held his phone to his ear.
She clutched her cell tightly as tears spilled over. “Oh, Brad.”
“The brownie. Do you remember?”
Smiling, she nodded. “From our dessert. I remember.” Her voice broke, and she gave into a choked sob.
“Can I come in, sweetheart?”
Crying freely now, Cassie dropped onto the edge of the bed. A hoarse laugh escaped. “I can’t make it down the stairs.”
“I’ll come to you.”
Chapter Thirty-one
He’d been standing in the snow for close to an hour, but as Brad bounded up Cassie’s stairs, taking them two at a time, the chill fell away from his shoulders. His hair was wet, his clothes were soaked, but he was…home. Yeah, home.
He slowed his frantic steps at the door and entered. She huddled on the edge of the bed, her knees drawn to her chest, quiet sobs shaking her shoulders. She lifted her head with a smile that stole his breath away. “Cassie…” Everything else he’d planned to say vanished.
With slow steps, he crossed to her, a long-stemmed red rose in his outstretched hand. “This one has far more meaning.”
She accepted it with a watery sniffle. Long lashes veiled her tears as she closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet fragrance. When she looked at him once more, love radiated in those gorgeous chestnut depths.
Brad set his hands on her thighs and eased to his knees in front of her. He held her gaze, willing her to hear the sincerity that made his heart swell to twice its normal size. “I want you. I’m here, Cassie. Tell me you’ll have me.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a muffled squeak. Another fresh set of tears coursed down her cheeks. Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, she nodded emphatically. Her fingers tightened around the fragile thornless stem.
Smiling, he gently plucked the rose from her hands and laid it on the bed. “Before you break it in half.”
Cassie nodded again, though she still couldn’t seem to make her throat work.
“Oh, sweetheart, come here.” Brad stretched out his arms, and she flew off the bed into his embrace. He crushed her close, cradled her head against his shoulder. Inside, the shaking stopped. All the mixed-up feeling, the uncertainty, the fear, locked into place and contentment rolled through his veins. “I love you.”
Sniffling, she pushed against his arms until she could look him in the eye. “What about the partnership?”
“I quit.”
Cassie’s eyes went wide.
Brad gave into a chuckle. “Why would I stay there, when the better partnership is here?”
“So you mean it? This isn’t just a temporary truce?”
“Oh, no, beautiful.” He tucked his fingers beneath the wide cuffs at her wrists and slid his hands up her arms. “This is the real deal. I want you to marry me.” Shit, that wasn’t supposed to slip out yet. Hastening to correct his blunder, Brad released her, and with his hands between them, pulled hard at the dainty diamond ring he’d shoved onto his pinkie. It gave, but he almost elbowed her in the gut. Heat filtered into his cheeks.