My breath caught in my throat and I tried to choke out his name, but hardly any sound came out. Tears filled my eyes and I pressed my forehead against his chest next to our hands.
“So I’m gonna make our own memory, baby.”
I slowly nodded my head against his chest and a few tears fell onto his shirt when his husky voice began singing in my ear along with Brantley Gilbert. Flashes of my dad singing “I’ll Be” to my mom danced through my head for a few seconds before I let go and cherished this gift. Kash was taking my favorite memory of my parents and giving me our own version of it, and I somehow—impossibly—fell more in love with him as he sang “Fall into Me.”
“I’ll be the love song, and I’ll love you right off your feet . . . Until you fall into me.”
Even after the song was over and other songs had begun playing . . . Kash didn’t let me go, we didn’t speak, and we didn’t stop dancing. There was nothing to say; what he’d given me was beyond beautiful. It was a perfect way to end this day. And I knew if my dad were alive, Logan Hendricks would have his stamp of approval.
“Y’ALL NEED ANY help closing up?” Tina asked as she slung her purse over her shoulder.
“No, we’re good, we’re almost done anyway. Go home, I know you’re exhausted.”
“I swear, college kids are the worst. No offense, hon. But they’re rowdy and the worst tippers.”
“None taken.” I smiled wide at her and walked her over to the door so I could lock it behind her. “See you later, drive safe!”
With an awkward wave of her hand, she ran to her car and I watched as she drove off. Bryce and Kash were closing up the restaurant, and I didn’t need to be there, but I’d gotten a ride with Kash tonight and I usually waited until he was off anyway, so it didn’t bother me to help them out. He was talking to Rod about something and pointing at papers in Rod’s hand, and when he glanced up at me, he sent a wink my way without a pause in his sentence.
I walked over to Bryce and helped him put away some glasses before running to the back and grabbing another rack of glasses that had just been cleaned. When I walked back into the restaurant, Kash and Rod were both gone and Bryce was standing there waiting for me to come back. We were putting everything away when a guitar started coming through the speakers.
Figuring one of the guys had turned on the music, we thought nothing of it and I kept talking to Bryce until I heard a husky voice join in. I abruptly stopped talking and stood there with two glasses in my hands just staring at the wall that separated us from the area that held the stage. I bit my lip to contain my smile as I heard the first few lines of “Your Guardian Angel.” It didn’t matter what type of song it was; Kash could sing it. And in his deep voice? Lord, it was a treat.
He’d just started the second verse of the song by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus when I rounded the corner and leaned up against the wall to watch him. His lips curled up when he saw me enter the dim room, and other than the few times he’d look down when he was only playing the guitar, he kept his gray eyes trained on me.
I took in the words like I was hearing them for the first time, because Kash had told me last week after dancing with me in my kitchen that he would only sing me songs that meant something for us. My heart beat wildly as I felt every word go straight to my soul, and I subconsciously grabbed at my warming chest. When his words trailed off and his hand stopped strumming the guitar, I was still leaning against the wall, hoping it would keep me standing as he set the guitar down and stepped off the stage. Much like the first night he sang to me in the bar, his stride was purposeful as he made his way toward me. Only this time, I didn’t turn and run.
His smile grew when he got closer to me, but he didn’t pull me into his arms like he normally would. Just as I started to push myself off the wall, he spoke, his voice gruff. “I didn’t do this right the first time.” Dropping slowly to one knee, he grabbed my left hand and brought a diamond solitaire up to my ring finger. “Rachel Masters, I promise to love you and take care of you . . . no matter the cost, every day for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I whispered, and bounced on my toes when he slid the ring onto my finger. Grabbing his face, I pulled him up and kissed him with every bit of passion in my body.
“Do you trust me to always protect you?”
Uh . . . Awkward question to follow up a proposal. I jerked back and smiled self-consciously. “Of course I do, why?”
“I just needed to make sure.”
What on earth? Before I could ask where that deep and random question came from, he hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me toward the front of the restaurant.
“Come on, let’s go home. I plan on keeping you up all night.”
Random question officially forgotten.
Kash
“THAT BETTER HAVE been a Cracker Jack ring and this better just be some sick joke you’re playing to get back at me for the honeymoon bullshit!” Mason slammed the door to my bedroom shut and began stalking back and forth.
“Did it look like a Cracker Jack ring?”
“What the f**k were you thinking?!”
That I’m in love with Rachel and I want to spend every f**king second of the rest of my life with her? I didn’t say anything, I just continued getting ready. Once my badge and gun were on my belt, I pulled a shirt on and grabbed another button-up one to put over it, leaving the buttons undone. We’d learned early on that trying to hide your gun didn’t work well if it bulged beneath your shirt.