Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(94)

As far as proposals went, it was short and sweet, but everyone heard the sincerity and love in Gray’s voice.

“Of course I will,” Allye said. “I love you so much!”

They embraced and kissed until Meat called out, “Enough already!”

Everyone chuckled and congratulated the newly engaged couple.

Then Dave walked through the door to the back room, carrying a large cake with candles. “Congratulations!” he boomed in his deep southern accent.

He placed the cake down on a pool table, and everyone laughed at the inscription.

2 DOWN, 4 TO GO

Dave turned to look at Morgan and Arrow with one eyebrow raised.

Arrow held up his hands in his defense. “Hey, don’t look at me. I’d marry Morgan tomorrow if I had my way.”

“Yes,” Morgan said softly.

Arrow’s head whipped around to stare at the woman by his side. “What?”

“If that was a proposal, my answer is yes,” she said calmly.

“Oh, but . . . I don’t have a ring yet . . .” Arrow stammered.

Morgan stood up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around Arrow’s neck. He bent over and picked her up off her feet.

“I love you,” Morgan said.

Arrow’s grin was almost blinding as he looked down at the woman in his arms. “Did you seriously just agree to marry me?”

“Did you ask me?”

“Well, kind of.”

“Why don’t you try again then?”

“Morgan Byrd, will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?”

“Um, I don’t think that’s true,” Gray mumbled. “Can’t be when I’m the happiest man alive.”

“Yes. Yes! I’ll marry you,” Morgan told Arrow.

Dave had slipped out while Morgan and Arrow were having their moment, but he returned with a knife in one hand and a small squeeze bottle in the other. He immediately scraped off the 2 and the 4 on the cake, then leaned over and replaced both with 3s.

“There,” he said, standing up—then he turned to look at Harlow and Black questioningly.

Harlow looked at Lowell and burst out laughing. He joined her, and they chuckled until they could hardly breathe.

“What’s so funny?” Ball asked when they had themselves under control once more.

“I just got accustomed to the fact that Lowell and I are dating. I think we need to wait awhile before we agree to tie the knot.”

“Don’t wait too long,” Dave said. “Life’s too short to have regrets.” Then he turned to the rest of the group and said, “Drinks are on the house tonight.”

Everyone cheered, but Harlow only had eyes for Lowell. He was staring at her intently.

“What?” she asked.

“When I was standing in that alley, looking up at you hanging out that fucking window, one of the things I was feeling was regret. Regret that I hadn’t told you how I felt about you. I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the last month. Even though you were the one who went through the ordeal, even though you were the one who was suffering from smoke inhalation and having nightmares, you got ahold of my parents and told them what happened. You kept in touch with Loretta and even helped her figure out some of the insurance stuff. You went and visited Lacie, Jody, Milo, Jasper, and Sammie. You’ve been everything to everybody, and you haven’t asked for anything for yourself.”

“Lowell—” she began, but he brought her hand up to his mouth, kissed the palm, and continued.

“Before you, I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with one person. Couldn’t fathom how I wouldn’t get bored waking up to her morning after morning. But I can honestly say that, after spending the last month with you, the reason I couldn’t imagine being with someone forever was because I hadn’t met you yet. I’ve realized that no other relationship had worked out because she wasn’t you.

“I’m not asking you to marry me right this second, because neither of us is quite ready for that, but I can see it happening. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for the bad dates you’ve had. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you like surprises again, at least the ones that I arrange for you.”

“When Jasper and I were hanging out that window, and you turned your back on us and ran away, Jasper lost it. He thought you’d abandoned us, just like his father had.” Harlow was crying now, and having a hard time getting the words out, but she forged on. “But I knew you hadn’t. I knew you’d be back for me. From the bottom of my soul, I knew that. And the second I saw that truck come around the corner, I knew it was you. You don’t have to make up for any bad dates I might’ve had—you do that every day, just by being yourself. I . . . I love you, Lowell.”

She saw his eyes get misty before he hauled her out of her chair and into his lap. Making sure to keep her weight on his good leg, Harlow buried her face between his neck and shoulder and simply held on.

Since Lowell had been released from the hospital, she’d been living with him in his apartment. Her parents had stayed in her apartment while they’d been in Colorado Springs, and his parents were in a nearby hotel. She’d taken care of him, even when he hadn’t wanted to be taken care of. She’d bullied and babied him, vowing to do whatever it took to get him back on his feet and working with his team again.