Free Perfect for the Beach by Lori Foster, Janelle Denison, Kayla Perrin

than anything else.
    “It’s a gift I hope you’ll accept. Along with all that it signifies.” He nudged the box closer. “Open it and see for yourself.”
    His expression was so expectant that a fresh wave of anxiety washed over her. With trembling fingers and her heart slamming hard against her ribs, she did as he requested, revealing a stunning, sparkling, solitaire diamond ring.
    She gasped, overwhelmed by the size of the stone, along with the unmistakable connotation attached to this particular gift. “Alex …” She lifted her gaze back to his, shaking her head in denial and panic. “This is too much.”
    Too much for her to deal with.
    Too much for her to live up to.
    Too much emotion, and too many promises she wasn’t prepared to commit to.
    “It’s an engagement ring,” he explained, as if she had any doubts about that, which she didn’t. “I love you, Dana, and I know you feel the same way about me, too. I want to marry you.”
    She snapped the box shut, as if making the ring disappear from sight could also make his proposal vanish, as well. But the life-altering words still hung between them, shaking her up like nothing ever had. “I don’t know what to say.”
    He reached across the table and grasped her hand gently in his, his fingers strong and warm against her cool, damp palm. “How about yes?” he suggested with a boyish grin.
    She swallowed hard, and needing to regain a semblance of her self-contained composure, she eased her hand from his. “Don’t you think all this is too soon?”
    Taking her cue that she needed distance and space, he leaned back in his chair, though his compelling gaze never wavered from hers. “We’ve been dating exclusively for a year now. I don’t need any more time to know that you’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I guess the real question here is, am I the guy for you?”
    “You know how much I care for you.” And yes, loved him, too, more than she believed possible. “But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to get married.”
    “Will you ever be?” he asked gently.
    His question was a direct and brutal one for her, and because she didn’t have a cut and dried answer for him, she resorted to her biggest defense. “You know how important my career is to me.”
    “Yes, I do,” he acknowledged with a nod of his dark head. “But you’re thirty-five, Dana. Is that all you want out of life?”
    He was hitting too close to deep emotional issues, and she bristled in response. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am.”
    “And I admire your success and how driven and dedicated you are. I’ve never made you feel otherwise, and I’m not trying to take that away from you now.” His fingers absently strummed along the stem of his wineglass. “But at some point don’t you want to get married and have babies and a family of your own? Because that’s exactly what I want with you.”
    She bit her bottom lip, horrified to feel her throat close up with tears. Refusing to let them surface, she resolutely gulped them back. “I don’t know that I can give you what you’re asking for,” she whispered, trying to be as truthful as she could be with him.
    Disappointment flickered in his gaze, but was quickly masked by a tougher resolve. “I strongly believe you can give us both that future together, but it has to be what you truly want,” he went on determinedly, despite her own doubts. “It’s also a matter of you letting me past those emotional barriers of yours, without fearing that I’m going to try and change anything about who or what you are. You need to let go and trust me with your heart and what’s inside, and believe that I’ll never, ever intentionally hurt you in any way.”
    That easily, he’d exposed her greatest secrets and fears, proving that he knew her better and deeper than she ever would have believed. God, she felt stripped completely bare, and too damn vulnerable, and it was all she could do to remain seated across