So Much More: An Alabama Summer Novella

I smile at her, looking down briefly before meeting her eyes again. “We were always meant for this, darlin’, and for everything that’s coming after this. And there’s a lot coming. I’m telling you—I want it all. Whatever it is. And I want it with you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she shouts, as if she’s been holding that one word in her entire life, just waiting on me so she can say it.
Clapping, cheering, and hollering, the crowd goes nuts around us as I slide the ring on her finger, letting the box fall to the floor. Standing, I pull Riley into my arms and lift her up, kissing her while my hands roam all that black leather.
“Jesus Christ. Please tell me this isn’t a rental,” I say against her smiling lips.
She giggles and kisses me. “It’s all mine. Bought and paid for.”
“Sweetest words I’ve ever heard, second to that yes you just gave me,” I say.
Riley leans back and cups my face, staring into my eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, darlin’.”
We share another slow, soft kiss before our friends come over to give well wishes, practically trampling us to do just that.
Riley shows off her ring to the girls, the group of them screaming, hugging, and crying. Arms around each other in their little squad—the one Riley couldn’t wait to be a part of.
I can’t stop looking at her. She’s so fucking happy.
The guys congratulate me with slaps on the back and handshakes. Reed tells me he captured it all on his phone, even my tears.
Feeling too good to fucking care, I let that one slide and thank him for doing that for us.

I close the door and slide Tessa’s legs closer to my hip so she’s facing me more, her weight sitting on my knees and her back against the dash. The silence in the truck is heavy around us and thick in the air. I can’t stand it.
And there’s not a damn thing she needs to say right now. This is all me.
“Good or bad, if this works out or if it doesn’t, tell me you know—I’m not going anywhere.” I pause, meeting her eyes when she lifts them off my shirt.
She blinks.
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “Tell me I’ve done my fuckin’ job as your man, Tessa, and made sure you aren’t doubting that. ’Cause if I haven’t and that’s what’s got you stuck in your head thinkin’ the worst the way you’re doing right fuckin’ now, the way I’ve watched you do the past five months, my life might as well end right here, ’cause I don’t deserve shit. Not you. Not anything more than this. Nothing.”
“Luke,” she whispers, lips trembling as those damn tears well up in her eyes again.
“I’m a fuckin’ asshole,” I continue on. “I know what I am. I know what I’ve done and all the bad I got coming to me. I haven’t exactly been a model son. More times than I can count, I’ve been a worthless friend. I’m basically a prick to everyone. And landing you? Fuck, that was . . . I don’t know. Crazy fuckin’ luck, or maybe the universe cutting me a break for once in my goddamned life. I’ve been shit on a lot, but that doesn’t mean I’m worth dick. I know that. And the good you give me, babe? The good I feel every fuckin’ day knowing I’m attached to you is more good than I ever fuckin’ deserve to feel. I know it is. I’m not stupid. Honest to God, I basically walk around waiting for you to figure it out and question what the fuck you’re even doing with me. So you gotta know, Tessa, if this is it? If we can’t have a kid for whatever reason and it’s just me and you for the rest of our lives? I’m good. Babe, I am so fuckin’ good. I might not walk around grinning like a fuckin’ idiot every second of the day like Reed does, or get that stupid, fuckin’ dopey look on my face like Ben when he talks about Mia, but I’m right there. I’m just as fucked over you, and nothing’s ever changing that. Kid or no kid. Ask me.”
Tessa goes to wipe the tears from her cheeks but I do it for her, then keep my hands on either side of her face, pulling her in so our foreheads are touching.
“Ask me,” I say again, watching her mouth twitch. “I don’t need anything else. I swear to God, I don’t.”
“But you want kids,” she whispers.
“I want you. Everything else is just bonus.”

“I love you,” I say into her hair.
“I love you more.”
“Not possible.”
She tilts her head back, gives me a long, adoring look, and softly kisses me. “Let me love you more today,” she requests against my lips. “Just today, Ben. Let me have that. Please?”
I look down at her and brush my thumb along her cheek. “Just today,” I tell her, knowing she needs this. Knowing Mia.
I can give her a day.