Chapter 71

The next two days flew by in a haze of passion, shopping and getting to know one another. Summer took Matt to the mall for sheets and towels. He treated her to ice cream cones on the beach. They swam and made love and occasionally came up for air.
Monday, they waited at Matt's house while things were delivered, and Summer fell in love with the twenties-era jewel. Looking around, she could see how well their tastes coincided. They even tried out the pool - without swimsuits.
Now it was Monday night and the idyll was over. Summer's family would arrive in the morning. Shortly before sunset, she put on her blue and white sundress and grabbed her turquoise beach blanket.
"Come on. I want to talk to you down at the beach." She took Matt by the hand, delighted that he was still wearing a pair of cutoffs, like her, mimicking their dreams.
He came along willingly, taking the blanket and spreading it out on the sand. Both of them brushed off their feet before sitting down cross-legged in the middle of it, face-to-face.
"I had fun today," she told him first. "I love the house. You were right to buy it when you had the chance."
"I'll happily put it right back on the market if you want to stay in your condo." She'd taken him by there on their way to the mall - they'd even tried out her queen-sized bed.
Summer gazed into Matt's midnight-blue eyes and saw her future. She took both of his hands in hers. "I don't want you to sell the house."
He lifted one eyebrow. "You don't?"
She shook her head. "It has spare bedrooms. My condo only has one, and we'll need one for a home office."
"And the others?" She could feel him tremble between their linked hands.
She took a deep, fortifying breath. "Well, I turn thirty-three tomorrow. I don't want to wait too long to have those two or three kids I mentioned."
"Say it, sugar." His entire body had gone taut.
Summer looked right at him and said, "I love you, Matt. Your humor, your protective streak, even your stubbornness. I love you for real and for always."
"Thank heavens." He crushed her to his chest, squeezing her almost until she couldn't breathe. "I hoped, prayed, wished... But, holy shit, I was never sure. Thank you, thank you, thank you." He peppered kisses on the top of her head and rocked her back and forth on his lap. "I love you so much. I always will."
"So you ready to meet my family tomorrow or are you running back to your place first thing in the morning?" Teasing him was fun, especially when she was safe in the circle of his arms.
"I'm not going anywhere without you, darlin'. I can't wait to meet your folks and get their blessing." He eased her off his lap and pulled something from his pocket.
"Blessing?" she asked, tipping her head.
"Summer Holiday, will you marry me? Make me the happiest man alive? Live with me in my house or yours - or wherever the hell you want?" His earnest expression melted away any lingering trace of doubt she might have had.
She reached up and cupped his cheek. "Matthew Warren, I would love to marry you. And live in your nice, big house. But thank you for letting me choose."
"All that matters is you," he said with a shrug. "Home is wherever you are." He flipped open the velvet box and held it out. "Now if you don't care for this, we can exchange it too. But I'd like you to wear my ring."
A diamond set in a golden flower. It was stunning. "I love it." She held out her hand, and Matt fumbled the ring as far as the knuckle on her finger. He was shaking so hard she had to push it the rest of the way into place.
She held up her hand, letting the diamond catch the last rays of the sun. "Thank you. For loving me, for believing in us, for giving me time. I love you."
He kissed her then, bearing her down onto the blanket. "It occurs to me, sugar, that we never actually did act out the dreams and make love here on the beach. Though there might be a little sand."
She spared a moment to be glad this was a very isolated beach, and that they'd hear anyone coming from around the spit or the house before they could be seen. Then she grinned up at him. "Who cares? I'm wearing the sundress, but not the bikini. "Just undo your shorts and we're good to go."
Matt swallowed hard. "I didn't bring any condoms down from the house."
Summer winked. "I told you I didn't want to wait to have kids. You up for that?"
His laugh was pure joy. "Hell yes. When it comes to you, Summer, I'm up for damn near anything." He proved his point by grinding his impressive erection against her mound.
She reached down and eased up the skirt of her sundress while he very cautiously unzipped his jeans. He groaned when he sprang free and gazed down at her. An instant later, he covered her, and slid his hot, naked cock into her core.
"Oh Lord. Nothing has ever felt this good." He pushed down the stretchy top of her dress and pulled one of her breasts into his mouth.
"Never," she agreed, her legs coming up to wrap his waist.
Then there was nothing else but the crashing surf and their surging bodies.
Damn, she'd never think of the sound of waves during sex as cliché again, not as long as she lived.
Finally, her world exploded into bursts of colored light, and she cried out Matt's name. He bellowed hers, and she felt him empty himself into her, filling her with warm, thick semen.
After a while, they adjusted their clothes and lay there, fingers entwined.
"I'm rethinking the whole sand thing," she said. "I've got just a little bit in some very uncomfortable places."
"Me too," he admitted. "But I don't care. I have you. Anything else, we can fix."
"Yep." She let him help her to her feet and they hauled each other up the steps and then into the shower. "But I think I've had my fill of sex on the beach."
Matt laughed. "That's why I bought that king-sized bed."
"I knew you were smart."
They helped each other with sand removal and made love against the shower wall before finally curling up together on the sofa, watching the stars out the window.
"Here's to us," she said, holding up her wineglass. "To dreams coming true."
He tapped her glass with the neck of his beer bottle. "To dreams coming true. May this be just the beginning."

End Part 4