Sweet (True Believers #2)(62)
Author: Erin McCarthy

I wasn’t sure I knew how, but I was going to try.

He came over and held his hand out for me. I took it, and we strolled up the stairs, the night air blissfully lacking in humidity, a warm breeze rising off the river. My thighs started to burn by the twentieth or so step, but I didn’t care.

“This is such a cool view,” I said, hair blowing across my face. The air smelled like summer, like trees and a faint tinge of something sweet that I couldn’t identify.

“It’s even better at the top.”

It was. When we finally reached the last step, me panting a little from the effort, the lights of the city were spread out in front of us, reflecting off the river. “Wow, it’s amazing.”

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” Riley took me onto the platform in front of the church and we leaned against the railings. “When I’m up here, it’s a whole different perspective on the world. Down there.” He pointed in the direction of his neighborhood. “It’s not a pretty place on the ground. Life gets a little ugly in the details, but up here, taken as a whole, you realize the world can be pretty awesome. When I need to remember that, I come here and climb these steps.”

“I can see that,” I said, my fingers gripping the railing, eyes following the curve of the river, the water shimmering and softly lapping against the shore.

“I’m not a deep guy,” he told me. “I have my GED and I’d rather talk about music than politics, and I have a temper that I try to control, but sometimes it gets the best of me. I’m not really a good catch for a girl like you, I know that. But . . .”

“No, don’t say that.” I put my hand over his mouth to stop those words, knowing they weren’t true, but Riley caught my hand in his and pulled it down.

His brow furrowed with the serious determination of his words. “I may not have a college degree or a six-figure income, but I will love and respect and cherish you with everything inside me, and when I f**k up, I will apologize. So what I’m saying is that I was wrong, and I have no right to be jealous. What happened before me is none of my business. I acknowledge that, I understand that.”

“Thank you. And for a guy who claims to not be very deep, you have an amazing way with words.” Something was happening in me. With each word he spoke, he removed a brick from the wall I’d built over my heart. I was breathing hard, sucking air in and out of my lungs almost like I was having a panic attack, but it wasn’t that.

I realized that I knew exactly what it was. I was in love. I had gone and fallen completely in love with Riley and the swelling inside me, the tidal wave of emotion that was overwhelming me, was the single most profound experience of my life. It felt . . . epic.

“Riley . . .” I took his face in my hands and I stared up at him, wanting to memorize this moment, to take in every tiny detail of his face, his mouth, his eyes. “I love you.”

I had never told anyone that. Sure, I said “love you!” to my besties and on very rare occasions to my parents. But never to a guy. Not once. It felt like I just delivered myself into his care with those words. Like I had given him everything of value that I owned.

“Jessica,” he breathed, taking my mouth in a soft kiss. “I love you, too. Will you marry me?”

I’m not sure who was more shocked—me or him. I gasped and he started. Riley Mann wanted to marry me. He wanted to be with me forever. He thought I was worthy of being his. It made me feel like everything in me was rising and swelling with pure joy.

“I didn’t actually know I was going to say that,” he said, with a little laugh.

I started laughing, too, my heart beating fast in a way that couldn’t be healthy. I was giddy, and I asked, “Are you taking it back?” It didn’t matter to me if he did. I was just glad that he’d said it. He loved me, that was totally obvious.

“No, absolutely not! We should get married. It’s the best idea I’ve ever had, besides letting you stay in the house when the boys were gone.”

“That wasn’t your idea.”

“Shh.” He kissed the corners of my mouth. “Don’t ruin the romance.”

“Me? Please!”

Riley grinned at me. “Come here, sit down.” He dropped to the ground, dangling his feet over the edge, patting the spot next to him. “It’s a perfect night.”

“It is a perfect night.” I sank down beside him, awed by what was happening between us. “The best.” This was the night that was going to change my life. Because I already knew. “Riley, I will marry you.”

For someone who had never thought much about marriage and who had never been in love, the moment it was there in front of me, it was so obvious, there was no denying what had to happen.

The smile fell off his face. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

His response was to kiss me deeply, his tongue sliding across mine, his hand burying in the back of my hair. When he finally pulled back we were both breathing hard and my fingers were curled in the front of his T-shirt.

“Luckiest. Guy. Ever,” he said, then cocked his finger. “Write that down.”

I laughed. “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy in love. And I’m going to permanently ditch the princess nickname. It’s not you. A princess wouldn’t do the Warrior Dash or tear up carpet or give up everything in that big house your parents own on principle. I’m sorry I ever misjudged you.”

He was right. I wasn’t a princess. I never had been. “Thank you.”

He cleared his throat. “Hey, I have a confession to make.”

Needing to lighten the intensity of the moment, I couldn’t resist teasing him. “You’re really a woman?”

He laughed. “Kiss my ass, Jess. No, the thing is my number is actually slightly higher than yours.”

His number. He meant sex partners. I smacked him. “Are you kidding me? All that and your number is higher? I thought you’d been with like two girls and were madly in love with both.”

“Well. I didn’t mean to give that impression. I mean, that would be true for the last five years, you know, once I settled down a little.” I swear his ears were actually turning pink. “But I got an early start.”

“How early?”

“Thirteen.”

Holy crap. I tried not to show any sort of reaction.

“And you know, that number racks up quicker than you’d think.”