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Graham’s bare chest had been distracting, and his accent had been devastating, but Alice was utterly unprepared for the beauty that was Graham in a suit.
It was hard to watch the wedding, even harder to watch Tony’s speech, and the emotional reveal to Scarlet that they had colluded to save the resort. Alice wanted to gaze at Graham only, to see the smiles that he kept trying to bury, to see the joy in his eyes, and his satisfaction at Scarlet’s surprise and tearful delight.
“You know you could have kept the resort in your name,” Alice told him, trying not to stare at the way his suit spread over his muscular shoulders as he stood to help move tables and chairs back from the dance floor. “It would be like being a landed lord again.”
“I don’t want to be a lord, and I don’t want to own a resort,” Graham said with a shudder. “I just want to grow tomatoes and strawberries and let Scarlet deal with the rest of the nonsense.”
Then he looked at Alice, his deep blue eyes intense. “And you,” he added. “I want to be with you.”
Alice’s breath caught in her chest.
She couldn’t deny the connection they had any longer, but they hadn’t talked about what came next. “Let’s go for a walk,” she suggested, as the music struck up. This wasn’t a conversation to try to have during the wedding chicken dance. Mary was too busy with Neal to even notice her skipping out on the reception.
Graham nodded, and he offered Alice one of his starched arms.
She took it, barely keeping herself from rubbing herself against it inappropriately, and they walked out along the side of the dance floor. Scarlet was circulating among the guests and staff, thanking each of them sincerely for their part, and she caught them at the door.
“My lord,” she said to Graham, and Alice didn’t think that she said it in the slightest bit ironically, certainly not in the mocking fashion that Breck said it. For a moment, Alice thought Scarlet was going to bow or curtsy, but she only tipped her head respectfully. “There aren’t words for what you’ve done for me.”
Graham cleared his throat in embarrassment. “Scarlet, you’ve done more for my family... for this family... more for me... than I could ever repay. But it’s not about debt or duty. This is your island. It’s always been your island.”
Scarlet looked between Graham and Alice, her face grave and grateful. “Thank you,” she said simply, and she shook both of their hands in turn. Alice wondered afterwards if she imagined the tingling sensation that tickled up her arm.
She wasn’t a shifter, Alice reminded herself, and she briefly wondered why someone who wasn’t a shifter would invest themselves so deeply in a place made for them.
Graham and Alice escaped out the side door, leaving Scarlet to continue her rounds.
They made their way out onto the sprawling lawn, still littered with chairs and flower chains. The dais from the wedding was pale in the moonlight.
Without conferring, they walked towards it and stood looking through the archway at the sparkling ocean beyond.
“Alice,” Graham growled, just as Alice cleared her throat and said, “Graham...”
“You first,” he insisted.
Alice sighed, not even sure how to say what was bubbling up in her chest. She closed her eyes, and let the sound of the ocean on the rocks wash over her. “Graham, I love you.”
Once it was said, it seemed the simplest, most obvious thing in the world. “I love you,” she repeated. “I am a part of you, and you are a part of me I can’t imagine being without.”
Graham let his breath out as if he’d been holding it. “Alice...” he said achingly.
“I’m not done yet,” Alice said quickly as she opened her eyes. “Graham, I want to be with you forever. It doesn’t matter where, or what else happens.”
Graham in a suit was breathtaking, but Graham in a suit sinking to his knees at her feet to gaze up at her in the moonlight was the most romantic thing that Alice had ever seen.
“I love you,” he said, and Alice smiled to remember that they were the first words he had said to her. “I pledge myself to you,” he went on. “Marry me, or don’t, I am yours for all time, in all ways, all places.”
She wasn’t afraid of the words this time; happiness filled her so completely that there was no room for fear or doubt. “I am yours,” she replied simply, and then Graham was flowing to his feet and pulling her into his amazing arms and kissing her with his amazing mouth.
It was several moments before coherent thought was possible. “Graham,” she said, pulling away at last. “Graham.”
“I will come to Lakefield with you,” he said.
“I don’t want to ask you to,” Alice said. “I want to come here.”
“Your job,” Graham said reluctantly. “Your wrestling team.”
Alice stroked his jaw, enchantingly clean-shaven for the occasion. “Do you remember when I told you that it’s easy to be confused about the difference between loving what you do and loving to be good at what you do? That’s the truth, and it’s my truth, as well as yours. There are things I love about being a gym teacher, and being good at it is right up at the top of that list. But there’s a lot I hate, like the administration, and the pay, and watching good students wash out, the parents...” She could have gone on for a while.
“But I’m a millionaire now,” she said with a grin. “Or I was for a few minutes anyway. I don’t have to teach middle school again if I don’t want to. I’m not going to say there won’t be parts I’ll miss, but there are a lot of parts I won’t miss, too... and this is an amazing tropical paradise. I’m sure I can find work to do here. Work that I’ll love, even. Scarlet won’t kick me out, and... you belong here just as much as she does. This is my home, now.”
She wondered how to explain how much the resort was under her skin... she felt like it was the place her feet belonged, like she could do good here, like there was something about the island that called to something inside of her.
Something good inside of her.
Graham was smiling, that rare, beautiful, slow smile that he shared only with her.
“This is our home,” he agreed, and he kissed her again until she was panting and clinging to him desperately.
“I can think of something I love to do,” he growled in her ear as she started to work loosening the tie.
Alice chuckled. “Do you love it, or do you love that you’re good at it?” she teased.
“Let’s find out,” he suggested.
“Your bed... or a strawberry bed?”
Graham didn’t answer, but took her by the hand, and then they were laughing and running over the lawn in the direction of The Den... and the gardens beyond.