Chapter 216: Penny
I can’t stop looking at him.
He’s back behind the wheel now, eyes sharp on the road, one hand on the steering school, the other resting on the earshift the by and the uncia alata He’s quiet, and calm, and unreadable in that broody hero who secretly plane the most romantic date of your life way, and Pepeat-
Melting.
How can there possibly be more?
The garage alone was a fairytale. Candlelight and wine and confessions whispered between kisses. The lights still cling to my eyelashes, and my osmucics still warm from the pasta and his words. I’m pretty sure I first fell in love with you right here.
My heart is a tight, fluttery mess in my chest.
And yet he said that was just the first stop.
What else could he have possibly done?
We pull into his driveway, and I glance at the house. It’s dark except for the soft porch light glowing by the door. But instead of heading inside, he cuts the engine and steps out of the car.
He walks around, opens my door, and takes my hand.
“Wait,” I say, eyeing the house. “We’re not going in?”
“Nope,” he says simply.
He tugs me toward the back gate.
I laugh, half confused, half in awe. “You’re so mysterious today, Mr. Hayes.“.
He stops.
Dead in his tracks.
Then turns.
His gaze is dangerous and focused as hell, and it hits me right in the knees.
He steps in close, presses one calloused thumb to the line of my jaw, and leans in.
“Princess,” he murmurs, voice low like a warning, “don’t talk to me like that. Or all the hard work I put into your surprise is gonna go to waste.”
I blink.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’ll say screw the plan and take you upstairs instead.”
My mouth goes dry.
I nod.
Silently. Obediently. Completely undone.
He smirks. Kisses the tip of my nose. And keeps walking.
1/4
Chapter 216: Penny
We turn the corner bebind his homer and 1 freere
Oh.
Right there, nestled into the blanket of snow under the backyard tree line, is the most ridiculous and perfect thing Fes
An (gloo.
Not a little pile of snowballs. Not a half melted childhood attempt. A real, carefully stacked, actual labor.
Soft golden lights line the inside of the entrance. Like a portal. Like something out of a dreams.
But that’s not what takes my breath away.
Next to it, sitting proud and lopsided, is a snowman.
Not just any snowman.
Our snowman.
The one we built at the Christmas village during the retreat. He’s smaller now, sculpted by one person instead of two, but he has the saree verdi eme arms. The same little owl on his shoulder, made from compact snow and a single acorn for a beak.
And around his neck?
The contest medal we won.
My hands fly to my mouth.
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
I turn to him, stunned, overwhelmed, nearly tearing up again.
“You did this?”
He nods once. Like it’s no big deal.
“Why?” I ask.
He doesn’t answer.
Just swoops me up, arms locking under my thighs like I weigh nothing, and carries me inside the igloo.
The warmth is shocking.
He’s rigged a small heater somewhere in the corner. There are pillows and folded blankets, soft fleece laid down across the ice to make a floor. A thermos sits between two mugs. A little zippered bag of marshmallows beside it.
I look at him.
He shrugs. “You said you like hot chocolate with marshmallows. The kind that doesn’t melt.”
Tears sting my eyes before I can stop them.
I stand on my tiptoes, grip his jaw in both hands, and kiss him.
Hard.
He groans against my lips, brings one hand to the back of my head, the other low on my back, and pulls me tighter.
2/4
Chapter 216: Penny
His tongue parts my lips like he owns my mouth.
He tastes like cinnamon and snow.
He kisses like a man who’s been waiting to.
When we finally pull apart, we’re both out of breath. He doesn’t let go of me—just drops to sit on the pillows and pulls me onto his lap file he can’t be the space between us.
He pours the hot chocolate. I drop marshmallows into both mugs.
They bob like tiny clouds.
We sip in silence for a while, curled together, snow pressed close around us, our breath fogging the air.
Then I look at him.
19
“I know you,” I say softly. “You never do anything without a reason.”
He arches a brow.
“So… why this? The igloo. The snowman.”
He looks at me for a long time. Like he’s deciding something.
Finally, he says, “The garage… that was the first time I fell for you.”
I nod. “You told me.”
- 9.
“But this…” He glances around the igloo, then out at the snowman. “This was when I knew I didn’t want to go back.”
My heart trips. .
He hesitates, eyes heavy on mine. “That weekend. The snowman. Watching you laugh over powdered sugar and cocoa, Fighting those guys off you. You chasing after me to make sure I wasn’t mad… That was it for me, Penny.7
He touches my face like he’s afraid I’ll disappear.
“I didn’t want to leave again. Didn’t want to be deployed again and go overseas. Not if it meant losing this.”
My chest is a fist of emotion.
I set my mug down. Climb into his lap again. Kiss his jaw.
“Where the hell did you learn to be this romantic?” I whisper. “You’ve spent the last four years in the Navy SEALs.”
He laughs low in his throat, presses his forehead to mine.
“It’s not something you learn,” he says. “It just comes naturally… when you find the right one.”
And I think-
Yes.
That’s exactly what he is.
The right one.
