Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“You better,” Ben growled, which set the dog off again, and they both laughed.
Maddox flipped the front sign to Closed and locked up with record speed.
“Let me drive?” Ben asked. “I’ll bring you to work in the morning, promise.”
“You look ready to fall over,” Maddox protested.
“Please.” Ben gave him the pointed look that never failed to get Maddox to comply, all big eyes and soft lips.
“Okay, okay.” Maddox followed him to the car, getting the dog situated in the backseat. He was distracted by Ben’s sheer proximity after a long absence, and he almost didn’t notice when Ben missed the turn for home and headed for Coronado Beach instead. “What are you doing?”
Ben didn’t reply, finding a parking spot on a side street near the beach. “Walk with me?”
“You need to sleep for week—”
“Buddy wants a walk first. Humor me.”
Maddox couldn’t deny that the dog would let them sleep better with some exercise. But something else was up. “What are we really doing here?” he asked as they made their way to the beach. His pulse sped up and he had no idea why.
* * *
Ben’s heart was about to beat right out of his chest. It was twilight on the beach, not many people around, which was how he’d wanted it, but it still felt like all eyes were on him, like everyone other than Maddox knew what he was up to.
“I couldn’t get you on base without a hassle,” he said to Maddox with a rueful grin. Still stung a bit, not having Maddox there. But the longer things went on, the more this felt right. Maddox was so happy with his bakery and his life, and Ben was so proud of him and his success. “But I figured this was close enough, seeing as how we ran here enough.”
“Close enough to what?” Maddox pulled up short near an outcropping of rocks.
“To where it all started. Us. You and me.” His words were failing him already, which wasn’t a great sign that he’d be able to pull this off. But he hadn’t gotten where he was by backing down when things got tough. “I did a lot of thinking on this mission.”
“Yeah?” Maddox sounded breathless. “Like what?”
“See, before this, I was always head down, go out, do the job, come home, party it off, and repeat. Didn’t have a whole lot of balance.”
“You weren’t so bad.” That was Maddox, loyal to the end. “And you were happy—”
“Actually, no, I wasn’t,” Ben corrected him. “I maybe thought I was. But I wasn’t. Not really. And this time on the mission, things were different. I kept thinking about places we could take Buddy when I got back or people from church we should have over. Even spent a night with McGinnis brainstorming absurd ideas for specials for the bakery.”
“I don’t want you distracted—” Maddox frowned.
“That’s not what I’m saying. I was plenty focused. Trust me. But I had a life to come back to. For the first time, really, I had more than the mission to keep me going. And you’ve given me that. I didn’t even know that I needed balance like that, but you gave it to me anyway. And I’m grateful.”
“I’m glad.” Maddox took his hand, squeezed it tight. The dog danced circles around them like he’d already figured out what Ben was on about.
“But I realized something else when I was out there. I want even more to come home to.”
“More?” Maddox’s head tilted at exactly the same angle as the dog’s.
“I want to come home to a promise that we’re both always going to have each other’s backs—”
“We will,” Maddox said quickly. “You know that.”
“Yeah, but this would help me know it.” Ben managed a sly smile as he pulled the little box he’d stashed away in his pocket. He’d ordered it before the mission, but they’d deployed before he’d gotten a chance to do this. He wasn’t risking time running out again. That was why he was doing this right here tonight. No more waiting. For either of them. “I want to look down on my finger and know that you’re there with me too. Right in my heart.”
“You want to get married?” Maddox whispered, peering down at the box with matching gold rings. “I thought you were never—”
“I thought a lot of things wrong. But I want this for you. With you. I want to ship out next time knowing that my husband—” oh God, his eyes stung just saying the words “—is waiting for me at home. That our life, the one we’ve built together, is waiting. Turns out that I want that more than anything.”
“For real?” Maddox ran a finger across the rings, deep voice all breathy.
“No, for always,” Ben said and kissed him right there on the Coronado sand where they’d once been boys together, then men, now lovers. “Now say yes.”