Latched (Coronado Series Book 1) (24 page)

“How did you do all of this? We have been together since Friday, do you have magic fairies who work for you?” She tried to figure out how he accomplished everything. “Is this why you wanted to go to Balboa Park yesterday, you were getting this all done for me, right?”

“A man never gives away his secrets, I’m an excellent planner and I’m able to execute an objective. This is important to me, so it was easy.” They heard the side gate open and Mark got up, “Dinner is served.” The owner of her favorite Italian restaurant, Vigilucci’s, walked in with two boxes filled with food.
 

Mark spoke with him for a moment and they shook hands. Mario blew her a kiss and waved, “Buena Fortuna, Bella. “

He brought the boxes to the table and started to unpack them, Birdie got up and went over to the table and looked inside. “I’m serving you tonight, sit down and enjoy.” He pulled out the plates and put them on the table and made sure her glass was full. They sat down and started to enjoy their meal as the sun faded. She noticed that the patio was filled with fairly lights and he also had a heater installed. They sat together and enjoyed the music and each other’s company, it felt like someone had sprinkled fairy dust over them.

“This is the best date I have ever been on in my life. Thank you for doing this for me.”

“Sweetheart, I’m glad you like it. I wanted it to be just us tonight.”

“I think it’s perfect, it doesn’t get better than this.” She looked at him and couldn’t imagine a better evening. He had stolen her heart and there wasn’t a thing that was going to change it.
 

“I have always been a man who knew what he wanted. I knew in High School that I wanted to serve my country and I knew that I wanted to become a SEAL. When I know what I want, that’s it for me. I never go back. I do not equivocate once I’ve made my decision. When you’re on the teams you do the impossible every day and that becomes your normal. Challenges are just something to get through. We learn to never give up and I will have that for the rest of my life. I will never be able to give up once I decide.”

She listened carefully, because she knew that there was an underlying message and she wanted to be able to understand it.
 

Mark came around the table and grabbed her hand and pulled her up, “I love you Birdie James, and you are the one for me.” He got down on one knee in front of her and looked up, “I will love you for the rest of my life. I promise to protect you and take care of you and I promise to listen to you.
 

Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
 

He pulled a ring box out of his pocket and opened it up to show her.

She looked down at him and covered her mouth in disbelief. She was having trouble breathing as tears fell down her face.
 

He looked up at her with love in his eyes and was waiting for her to answer. She tried to pull herself together to be able to say something. All she could to do was nod her head up and down.
 

“Birdie, are you saying yes to me?” She kept nodding her head and tears fell down her face. “Baby, you are going to marry me right?”
 

She nodded her head and finally got out, “Yes, I will marry you Mark Frazier.”
 

He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. She grabbed him and kissed him with everything she had.
 

He picked her up and swung her around, “Damn Birdie, you made me sweat.”
 

She started laughing and crying, “I love you and I would be honored to spend my life with you.”
 

She looked down at her hand and saw the ring for the first time, he has chosen a beautiful diamond in a classic setting. “Oh my, this ring is beautiful, it’s stunning.”
 

He picked her up and kissed her with all of the love in his heart. “Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world. I will not disappoint you. I love you with everything that I am.” He put her down and let a big breath, “I was nervous, that was harder than I expected. But you said yes!”

“You planned the most perfect evening. How did you do this?”

“A man never gives up his secrets. I had a lot of help and I’m glad I could pull it off so soon.” He gathered her in his arms and hugged her. He had to be careful because he didn’t want her to get poked from the medals on his chest.

She pulled back and grabbed a napkin to wipe her face. “I’m a mess and I don’t want to get anything on your uniform. I can’t believe you asked me to marry you. Are you sure?”

“Baby, I have never been more certain of anything in my life. You are the one for me and I am the one for you. The rest is just details.”

She looked at the man who stole her heart and ran her hand down his face. “I love you and I am looking forward to whatever adventures come our way.” She kissed him and somehow it felt different. It felt important as though it was the beginning of everything.

“Let’s go inside and get you out of that uniform. I think we have some celebrating to do.”
 

He picked her up and took her upstairs, “I like the way you think. I think we need to practice on making some babies.”
 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

TUESDAY

Birdie woke and felt Mark curled around her. He had his arms wrapped around her and was holding one of her hands in his. She looked down at their hands together and admired her engagement ring, it was beautiful. The difference in their hands was startling when she looked at them together. Her hands looked small wrapped up in his, it almost seemed liked he was protecting her even in sleep. Was she crazy to become engaged to a man after only knowing him for three weeks? Apparently she was and it didn’t seem to bother her too much. He was the person she wanted to take the leap with. This was the beginning of the rest of her life and she had a feeling that a life with him was going to be exciting. She tried to roll over and heard him mumble something. She rolled into him and kissed his skin and breathed in his warm guy smell. “Good morning fiancé.”
 

“Good morning fiancée,” he kissed her gently and dragged his mouth down her neck and kissed her on the magic spot. She started to wriggle underneath him and he didn’t let her move very much. He had her pined underneath his big body as he shifted his hips and poised himself right at her entrance. She let her legs fall apart as he slid into her with one push. “Hi.”
 

She started laughing as he pulled out and slid back in, her laughter quickly changed to a moan. He kept up a slow leisurely pace “Do you want me to move a little faster?” He pushed his hips all the way in and bottomed out. Her eyes were closed and he could tell that she was very close, so he pulled all the way out and watched her eyes pop open. She was about to protest, but he slipped back in and set a rhythm that he knew worked for her. He was rewarded with Birdie calling his name as she fell apart. He allowed himself to finally let go and emptied himself into the woman who made him the happiest man in the world. He rolled off and pulled her in and kissed her head.

“Melanie is opening the store for you today, so you have the morning off. You can spend it with me and we can stay in bed.” He ran his hand up and down her back and she was silent. He looked down and she had fallen asleep, maybe he wore her out. He wrapped her up a little tighter and kissed her head, then managed to pull the sheet up and let himself drift off.

********

They sat on the patio at the Hotel Del Coronado and enjoyed drinking champagne and eating brunch. Mark held her hand and kept smiling at her. “Thank you for last night, you made the most perfect evening. I will remember it for the rest of my life.”

“Did I give you a good engagement story? Sam told me it was important, he told me it had be flawless.”
 

“You did an amazing job and I look forward to telling people how romantic my bad ass Navy SEAL fiancé is.”

“I’m relieved you liked it. I’m surprised how much fun I had planning it. I think I may have a lot more romantic nights in me.”

She looked down at their hands and felt her tummy flip over. “I feel like the luckiest woman in the world and I love you.”
 

“Thanks for agreeing to marry me. I promise to work hard on being a good husband.”

She squeezed his hand and felt like her heart had grown several sizes in her chest. They finished up their meal and headed out of the restaurant. Birdie’s house was not that far from the hotel so they walked back along the board walk. “When does your platoon get moved up on the rotation?”

“It looks like it’s going to be in the next two weeks. Can we go have a quickie wedding in Vegas? Then we can plan something bigger in a couple of months.”

“Are you nuts? We have only known each other three weeks! We are going to have a very long engagement.”

“Why? We love each other and you said yes. What is the difference if we get married sooner rather than later? Are you going to change your mind, if you find something that you don’t like about me?”

“No, I’m not going to change my mind. You are not going to rush me into this. I only get one wedding and I would like to enjoy it. I hate Vegas any way.”

“We could go to the courthouse and get married and then you could plan a big event for a couple of months from now.”

“Why are you in such a rush?”

“I love you and I want to marry you and I don’t want to wait. I’m going down range in a couple of weeks and I want to know that you are taken care of so I can concentrate on my job.”

“I am capable of taking care of myself, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m going to keep myself plenty busy while you are gone.”

“What are you going to be so busy with?”

“I’m going to start the renovations for the space above my shop and have the garage redone. I also have my shop and I’ve been offered a couple of projects to work on from the accounting firm. Then I have to pack my condo and have the rest of my furniture moved down here. I’m a very busy woman…. places to go, people to see.”

“The Navy will not contact you and give you information unless we are married. If something happens to me, you will have to hear it from my mom.”

“I am not going to be rushed Mark, and nothing is going to happen to you. I just found you and I am not letting you go. Let's talk about living arrangements. I hope you feel comfortable moving into my house. I really want you to stay there.”

“Baby, I don’t care where we live as long as it is together. Let’s sell my condo and then you can use the money on your house.”

“I don’t think we should do that. I think it would be better to keep it and rent it out. The tax advantage alone makes it worth keeping. I can run the numbers both ways, but that will probably be my recommendation.”

“Do you want to get a prenuptial agreement? You have a lot of assets to protect and I don’t want you to think that I’m marrying you for your money.”

“I thought you were marrying me because of the amazing sex.” She laughed at her own joke. “No, I don’t want a prenup. I’m not marrying you to plan a divorce. I don’t believe in them unless you are trying to protect assets for your children. Do you want one? You have plenty of money.”

“No, I want to marry you this week. I’m going to give you complete control of the finances. I just want to be able to buy a new truck every five years, leave me enough money for that.”

“We have to do this together. I don’t want you to get mad if I make a decision that you don’t agree with.”

“You told me you wanted to be the boss. Be the boss of the money. It’s interesting, we had that discussion about who is the boss and it’s a big deal to you. You’re not really bossy. All you seem to care about is picking the food. When am I going to see Birdie Boss?”

“I am plenty bossy, just you wait and see.”

“I don’t really think so but bring it on.” He leaned down, gathered her in his arms and kissed her hard right in the middle of the street. “I love you and I want to make it official.”

“I love you, but I’m not going to be rushed. I want to find a dress that I really like.”

They stood together and stared at each other. “Think about sooner, rather than later, please.”

“I will, but I would like to have a wedding that I am excited about. This is the only one we get.”

They arrived at her house and walked through the gate, “I guess I should get to the shop.”

“I’m going to check in at the base and we should call our parents tonight. What time are you going to be done at the shop?”
 

“I only need a couple of hours, I can be back home by five. What would you like for dinner?”

“Whatever you want is fine with me. I have eaten the worst food over the past eleven years with very few exceptions. I can’t believe I’m marrying the prettiest woman in the world, who is smart, sexy and a great cook. I won the lottery when I met you.” He looked down at their entwined hands and it gave him a feeling of contentment. He had found his person and was starting the rest of his life with her. “Do you like your ring? We can exchange it if you want something else.”

“I love this ring, it’s perfect. I may want to have it sized down a little though. I don’t want to lose it.”