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As with all things, Sasha worked swiftly. Like with the bakery, he had crews painting and repairing the beach apartment building amazingly fast. He had his IT guys wiring the building for things that made no sense to Kallie, but she trusted Sasha and didn’t ask.
Locals took walks by the apartments just to get an eyeful of the rapid restoration. They offered their take on the building’s history, and even asked to rent it. Sasha and Kallie’s apartment building became the talk of the beach town. She felt a certain pride as she stepped back on the walkway and watched as men power-washed the building.
“What do you think?” Sasha asked, admiring the progress.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” Kallie replied. “It’s a cute little place to live.”
Now that everything was settled between them, and they had gotten word that Jeremy and Sean were charged with enough things that Kallie and Sasha wouldn’t be hearing from them for a while, Kallie felt nothing but relief.
“Do you really want to stick around here while this is being done?” Sasha asked after they’d watched for a while.
“I’m not sure,” she said, kidding. “This is a pretty old building. It hasn’t been washed in forever. No telling what they’re washing off of those walls.”
Black stuff ran down the sides of the building as the power-wash hit the walls.
“It’s settled,” he said, snaking his arms around her. “Just down the road is a sweet little hotel. We can get a room, and we can actually enjoy the beach. We’ll play vacation.”
Kallie grinned from ear to ear. She relaxed into the solidness of his body. “I think that sounds wonderful,” she said. “But you know you don’t have to make up an excuse to take me to a hotel.”
“Oh good,” he said, kissing her noisily. “I was hoping you would say that, because I made reservations.”
Kallie laughed out loud. “Let me guess, you’ve packed my stuff and it’s awaiting me,” she teased.
“Oh, that doesn’t sound like me at all.” He laughed. “But I did get you something to wear for the occasion. And as for the excuse, I think I have a really good one.”
“You do, do you? Better than the ‘remodeling the building I just bought’ excuse?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.
“I think you’ll agree,” he said, his voice slightly trembling. He swept her hair to one side and raised his arms up and over her.
She saw a pendant, just like the one she’d lost in the water, dangling in front of her.
Is that...?
No, it couldn’t be. But he’d been so incredibly thoughtful... and somehow even found the time to replace her pendant with one that was an almost perfect duplicate of the necklace she’d lost in the ocean.
Tears welled up in her eyes. She turned around before he clasped it so she could kiss him. She didn’t care if they had an audience. She loved him.
Sasha laughed. “Hold still, silly,” he said. “I’m not done yet.” He pressed his lips to hers, and as if he were giving her a hug he clipped the necklace together.
“I love it,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you back,” he said, but reached into his pocket for something else. Another box, only smaller. “I’ve got something else for you to wear. Kind of goes with the necklace, but it goes with me more.”
Matching earrings? Delighted, she tucked her hair behind her ear and tilted her face towards him, so he could put them in.
Sasha gave her a quick, smacking kiss and took hold of her hand instead. It was then she got a good look at the little box as he dropped to one knee.
Kallie gasped. No... he couldn’t possibly be...
Stunned, her gaze dropped to his beautiful face.
“Kallie, my love, will you be my wife?” he asked.
Barely aware of what she was doing, Kallie splayed her hand so he could slip the ring onto her finger. Her hands trembled, but his were steady. The ring fit perfectly, of course. Her head spun, and for a moment she thought she might faint until she remembered to breathe again. She focused and saw that all the people who’d been watching the power-washing of the apartment building were now watching her.
They were waiting for an answer, and so was Sasha.
“Yes,” she said, because there quite simply was no other answer to give.
Her bad boy gazed up at her from his kneeling position and gave her that dazzling smile that she loved so much.
THE END
