Soon Allen would know. And soon, if everything went right, Jake would be his fiancée.
He had to believe that, otherwise, Riley was never going to let him hear the end of it.
“What are you scheming?” Kingston whispered, keeping his voice low enough so that he couldn’t be heard thanks to the noise from the TV.
Jake stared into his hypnotizing blue eyes for a moment, enjoying the way the colours shifted in the light before he pressed their lips together in a gentle kiss. “It’s a secret, but you’ll see soon enough.”
Kingston didn’t seem to like his answer, but Jake held his ground and kept his mouth shut. Kingston was the kind of guy who wore his heart on his sleeve, and Allen could smell mischief from a mile away. It was safer to keep him in the dark.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with food, does it?” Kingston asked.
Jake smiled. “No.”
Kingston gave him a look that said he was still suspicious, but he stopped prying and shot a mournful look over Jake’s shoulder at the kitchen, and Jake didn’t need to be a genius to catch on to what Kingston was trying to hint at.
“Do you want to help me finish prepping the chili so we can eat?”
Kingston’s eyes lit up, and he was on his feet before Jake had a chance to haul him in for one last kiss. He didn’t mind because Kingston’s enthusiasm as he dragged him to the kitchen was enough to leave him grinning like an idiot.
“Allen is going to say yes,” Kingston said the second they were out of earshot.
Jake nearly dropped the knife he had just picked up. His heart lurched into his throat, and Kingston smoothly plucked the weapon from his hand before it could clatter onto the counter.
Smirking, Kingston took over the onions Jake had been working on, the steady thunk of the knife against the cutting board filling the silence.
Jake realized that if he didn’t ask Allen soon, he was going to figure it out. Because if Riley and Kingston were sharp enough to catch on, Allen wouldn’t be far behind them.
Or maybe he already knew.
Sighing, Jake went to the fridge to retrieve the hamburger, wondering how he was going to pull this off.
When Jake found himself alone on a beach with Allen a few hours later, he was relieved to see that his intended had no idea what they were doing there.
Jake had researched spots to propose, and the winning one always seemed to be the ocean, so that’s what he went with. His family owned a nice beachside cottage with a private cove, so it was the perfect place to be alone with his boyfriend and stumble his way through the question.
Besides, the other suggestion waswhere they first met,and Jake didn’t think proposing in a sex shop over scattered pairs of underwear had the mood he was looking for.
“It’s a beautiful spot,” Allen said, his eyes wide and full of happiness as he reached out and took Jake’s hand, intertwining their fingers. “Do you have good childhood memories of this place?”
Jake peered around the cove as flickers of a time long passed filtered into his mind. He had spent many summers with Riley on the beach when they weren’t distracted by hockey and video games. There were hidden places near the shoreline where they once built forts and pretended to be pirates smuggling away treasure, and he knew by heart where the best crab hunting spots were.
“The sound of the waves is nice,” said Jake. “The rhythm always helped with my anxiety, so we came here a lot when the city noise became too much. Riley and I would drag our sleeping bags out here and sleep under the stars, making stories about the constellations until we couldn’t keep our eyes open.”
Allen giggled and looked up at the sky, searching as if he could spot the bright lights even though it was sunset. “I’m happy you and Riley were happy,” he said softly. “And I’m happy this place brought you peace.”
Jake tightened his grip on Allen’s hand, and there was no hiding the tremor. “You give me peace too.”
Allen turned away from the vastness of the heavens and met Jake’s gaze with tears glittering in his eyes. He placed his other hand onto Jake’s, giving him strength to steady his trembling.
“I love you,” said Allen. “I’m grateful your dumbass teammates dragged you into my store that night.”
“That was mostly Riley’s idea,” Jake admitted.
Allen’s laughter was like a siren’s song harmonizing with the crashing of the waves. The world was orange and red around them, the sand was still warm on Jake’s bare feet from the heat of the midday sun, and the air smelled of sea salt and roses.
Jake knew this was the moment he was waiting for—there would be no better time.
“Jake?”