He nodded. “I told Michael to run the shop without me.”
“Where’s your dog?”
“Colin has him.”
“When did you plan this?”
He looked at his watch. “It’s six-thirty now, so, about two hours ago.”
She shook her head in amazement. “And you bought a ticket, and took care of all that, and figured out what flight I was on in two hours?”
“There was only one flight to Frankfurt at seven in the morning, so I took a chance. Oh, and don’t forget I showered, too,” he said with a grin.
“I like when you take chances for me.”
“I’ve spent eighteen years living with uncertainty. There are only a few things in my life that I know for sure right now. I love my brothers and my sister and my grandparents and my dog.” He stopped to take a beat and hold her gaze. “And I love you. I’m not going to sit around and wait and wonder and question it. I’m just going to feel it. I don’t want to stop taking chances with you, Sophie,” he said, brushing his lips to hers once more. He tasted so good. She wanted the kiss to turn into so much more.
But not right here. Not as the flight attendants began their announcements.
Pressing a hand to his chest, she asked, “So that’s it? You’re mine for the next week and a half? All mine in Europe? You, me, and my emerald-green Bugatti?”
“Yeah,” he said with a casual shrug. “If you’ll have me for that long.”
“I want you all to myself,” she said, dancing her fingers up his chest. “I’m greedy like that.”
“Be greedy with me. I want your greed,” he said, then fingered a lock of her hair, turning more serious. “Sometimes I retreat when things get crazy, but I want to keep coming back to you. I know I’m just figuring this relationship stuff out, and I’m sure I’m not an easy man to be involved with, but I’ll do everything I can for you.” He kissed her cheek, murmuring her name. “Sophie Winston.” Then another time. Softer. Barely audible. “Sophie Sloan.”
She wrenched back, and widened her eyes. “What did you just say?”
* * *
What had he just said?
“Um…” he started. “Your name?”
She shook her head and pointed to herself. “My name is Winston. Not Sloan.”
He shrugged, trying to cover up his unexpected gaffe. “It was a slipup.” Then he thought, Fuck it. He was on a plane with her, headed to Europe. He might as well tell her the truth. “I was trying it on for size.”
Her lips quirked up. “You were? How did it sound?”
“Hot. Sexy. Perfect. Beautiful. Like you,” he said, keeping his gaze pinned on his gorgeous woman. “Did you like how it sounded?”
Her eyes sparkled. “I think I did.”
“Someday,” he said, threading his hands in her hair and pressing his forehead to hers. “Someday, I want to make you Sophie Sloan. Someday soon. Is that too much? Have I said too much?”
“Oh God, Ryan. You’re crazy. You’re here on a plane with me, and I have never been happier in my life. All I’ve ever wanted is a love like this and you’re here. With me. Don’t you get it? You’re all my fantasies come true.”
He kissed her nose. “Look what you’ve done to me. You’re everything I never knew I wanted, and now I can’t live without you. Hell, I couldn’t even let you leave the country without me.”
Then, the flight attendant told them to fasten their seat belts.
* * *
The dress, the woman, the car.
Any one of them would be amazing. Together, they were a triumvirate of beauty.
He snapped a photo because he wanted to look at this image again and again—Sophie Winston wearing a sapphire-blue pin-up dress and fire-engine red lips as she stretched out her lush body on the shining, emerald-green hood of her sleek, stylish, million-dollar car. They were parked on the side of a road somewhere outside of Rüsselsheim. Trees canopied them from the hillside.
“You like how she drives?”
“I love how she drives,” he said, putting his phone away and wedging himself between her legs. “I love everything about her.”
“And me, too?” she asked with a wink.
“Yes, you too,” he said, laughing. “Now let’s put this vehicle to the true test.”
It would the first time in her Bugatti, but he was certain it wouldn’t be the last. That it would be the start of a countless number of times.
He tugged her up off the hood, and they slid inside the car. God, this car should be classified a sacred space. Everything from the leather seats to the gleaming dashboard to the gorgeous hum of the engine was a dream. But better, because it was real. Sitting in the passenger seat, he lowered it with her in his lap, and kissed the hell out of her, sealing his mouth to hers. She ran her hands through his hair, and sighed sexily as he kissed her harder. Soon, they were swallowing each other’s moans and groans, and she was rocking her hips into him.
He broke the kiss, hiked up her skirt, and tugged her panties to the side, giving him access.
“Take me, Ryan,” she whispered.
He unzipped his jeans, pinned her wrists behind her back, and gave her what she wanted.
It was what he wanted, too. Her. And him. Together.
Like this.
Like bliss.
Like everlasting love.
Later that evening, they’d be together in other ways. Eating dinner at a cafe. Making love in their hotel after the lights fell in the town and only stars winked in the sky. Then the next day, too, cruising along the autobahn in a sleek new car, living life to the fullest, loving without limits.
Epilogue
Johnny Cash bounded over to him, barreling across Colin’s front lawn and into Ryan’s outstretched arms on the sidewalk. “Hey, buddy,” he said, kneeling down to say hi to his pooch at last.
The Border Collie licked Ryan’s face, and whimpered happily as he thumped his tail. Ryan wrapped his arms around the dog’s furry neck. He hadn’t seen Johnny Cash in more than a week, and even though the time with Sophie had been the best days of his life, he did miss his canine friend.
Colin walked down the steps from his house and joined them on the sidewalk. “Looks like someone missed you,” Colin said.
Ryan stood up and gave his brother a quick hug. “Thanks for watching him. I really appreciate it.”
“He’s easy. Welcome back. How was it?”
Ryan briefly considered the question. He could answer it with patent honesty and say out of this world, amazing, incredible, fantastic, or a dream come true. Instead, he answered with another truth. “I’m going to ask her to marry me next week.”
Colin’s dark eyes lit up and his mouth fell open. “Holy shit. Guess you had a great time.” He extended a hand and then clapped Ryan on the back.
“Yeah, we did,” he said, still grinning over what he had planned for Sophie.
“Congratulations in advance. Couldn’t be happier for you. It all happened so quickly.”
Ryan nodded. “It did. The whole thing happened so damn fast. But I guess when you’re certain of something, you have to go for it.”
Colin knocked fists with him. “Couldn’t agree more. How did you decide?”
As he pet a happy Johnny Cash, he told Colin the story of how he’d said her name on the plane, illustrating with his hand over his mouth, as if words were spilling out of their own volition.
His brother cracked up. “Awesome. So you just let it slip on the plane that you wanted her to be Mrs. Sloan?”
“I hadn’t even thought that far. It just came out, and then I realized I wanted that. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“She is, and don’t ever forget it.”
“I won’t,” Ryan said, then walked to his car, and opened the front door to let his dog jump in. A nearby engine rattled, then stopped quickly. He turned in the direction of the car.