Mac’s hands trembled as he strode toward Brewed Awakening on Valentine’s Day. Two dozen pink roses wrapped in kraft paper were nestled in the crook of his arm. It was a Monday afternoon, and he was there under the pretense of picking Kaylee up from work. She’d gotten her driver’s license a week after her birthday, but a winter storm had shut everything down for days, and they’d both agreed she should wait until the weather improved to drive by herself. None of that mattered at the moment.
He was ready to propose to Bridget. What if she turned him down?
Peering through the front window, he smiled as he watched Bridget laugh at something Kaylee said. Then Joe came through the doorway from the back room and motioned for Bridget to come back there.
That was Mac’s cue.
As soon as Bridget went to the back room, Mac hurried inside, and Kaylee began setting the table up front. When she finished with the drinks and dessert, she ran up to him with sparkling eyes. “Did you get it? Are you ready?”
“Got it. Ready.” He patted his pants pocket for the ring. Yep. Still there.
“Okay, I have everything else all set. Joe and I will go to the Barking Squirrel for thirty minutes. Not one minute longer, though!” She hugged him, took the flowers and shoved them behind the counter, then practically sprinted to the back.
Muffled voices distracted him for a moment. He’d mentally rehearsed this moment no less than five hundred times. The guys had tried to help this weekend, but his friends were simply not good at proposal ideas.
Randy was still on his fishing-pole-and-reeling-her-in idea, even though the man had personally proposed in a non-moronic way to Hannah. Blaine told him to throw the ring in a jar of coffee beans and have her find it. Dumb. Then Jet had mentioned taking her on a horseback ride, which wouldn’t have been bad except for the fact Bridget had never been on a horse and the temperature outside was in the teens. Even Sawyer, who should have known better, had told him to just ask her. To keep it simple.
This was Bridget. She deserved better than simple.
Why did his throat feel scratchy all of a sudden?
“Well, hello, handsome.” Bridget beamed when she saw him. “Kaylee should be right out.”
He went straight to her and kissed her cheek. The music from the speakers switched to romantic songs from yesteryear. The lights dimmed. Then Joe and Kaylee came out of the back room, waving to them both. “We’ll be back in a bit.”
Bridget squinted, wrinkling her nose. “Where are they going? That’s weird. They didn’t say anything to me. And Kaylee didn’t even clear the front table. What is going on with her? The chocolates Tanner brought by must have messed with her head.”
She let out a huff and took a step forward, but Mac stopped her. He took her by the hand and led her to the table. Strands of white lights twinkled overhead. Two mugs of cappuccino with hearts drawn in the steamed milk sat there with an elegant chocolate torte in the middle of the table.
“Ooh, is this a Valentine’s Day thing?” Her eyes shimmered as he pulled out a chair for her.
“Yes.” He went behind the counter and brought out the flowers, handing them to her. She promptly brought them up to her nose and inhaled their sweet aroma before setting them on the table. “It’s a Valentine’s Day thing. And...” His palms were sweaty, his mouth as dry as day-old toast. The fancy speech he’d planned flew out of his mind.
“And?” She looked puzzled.
“And more.”
There. He could do this.
He blinked twice and gulped. “Bridget, my love, you are everything I could want in a woman and more. Much more than I deserve. This is going to sound dumb, but your simple style does something to me. And sometimes I come in just to watch you make lattes. There’s a precision to what you do that I find mesmerizing.”
“You think me making a latte is mesmerizing?” Her lashes fluttered as she watched him.
“Yeah, I do. In fact, everything about you captivates me. The way you laugh. The way you know someone’s having a rough time but you sit there and listen and always have the right thing to say to make them feel better. I even like the way you drive, but then, I’m probably biased since I taught you.”
Her lips twitched with laughter.
“I guess what I’m saying is you’re the cream to my coffee, the espresso to my latte. I love you.” He got down on one knee and pulled out the black box. Almost dropped it as he fumbled to open it. “Bridget Renna, will you marry me?”
Tears dropped one by one to her cheeks as her hands clasped over her chest. She was nodding and smiling, though, so he took that as a good thing.
“Yes, oh Mac, yes!”
He rose, pulling her up with him, and hugged her tightly until she placed her hands on his cheeks and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.
He tasted coffee, love and forever in her kiss.
“You mean it? You’ll really marry me?” he asked huskily, keeping her close.
“Yes.” She grinned. “I’ll marry you. When?”
“Tomorrow?” He held her by the waist.
“That might be too soon.” She slid her arms around his neck and tilted her head to gaze into his eyes. “How about later this summer? I’ve always had a thing for September.”
“September it is, then.”
“We were meant for each other, Mac.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
If you enjoyed this Wyoming Ranchers story
by Jill Kemerer, be sure to pick up
the previous books in the series:
The Prodigal’s Holiday Hope
A Cowboy to Rely On
Guarding His Secret
Available now from Love Inspired!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Her Secret Son by Linda Goodnight.