~*~Two days later~*~

"Kate. Relax."

His words did little to calm her, but the love shining in his gaze sent a wave of peace crashing over her pounding heart. In a few minutes, the man she loved more than she even realized would be down on one knee, with a department-budget ring and a question that was sure to draw the attention of everyone from the restaurant patrons to the press to, hopefully, a blackmailer. She would say 'yes' – and she would mean it – and that thought scared her to death.

It was fake – she had to keep reminding herself – and yet she knew there would be truth behind the façade.

Truth in his words.

Truth in hers.

And then she would go back to his loft (her home for the foreseeable future) and to his bed (a place that was becoming all too comfortable for her) and to his family (who already felt like her own). How could she possibly go back to 'normal' – whatever that was – when this was over?

"Just keep looking into my eyes," he was saying. "I'll hold you steady."

She didn't doubt that. Except that those same eyes that would indeed hold her in place would also send her soaring with love and desire and need.

The waiter brought their dessert, and Kate's hands began to shake. Rick covered her trembling fingers with a soothing grip and whispered for her ears only, "Would marrying me be this traumatic for you? Really?"

He couldn't hide the hurt in his gaze, and the tears she'd been holding back surfaced in the green eyes that looked back at him. "No," she managed to speak with a watery smile. "That's what scares me."

He understood, and she loved him for it. Pressing a kiss to her knuckles, he shifted and knelt in front of her, still holding her hand. A chorus of surprised gasps ricocheted from table to table in the Central Lounge, the classy restaurant in Astoria where they'd had their first (real) date. Her eyes locked on his, and everything else faded away.

Fishing the velvet ring box from the pocket of his sports coat, a small chuckle left his lips. He took a deep breath, rubbing his thumb reassuringly across the back of Kate's hand, and began the speech he'd practiced in front of the mirror earlier that day.

"Kate… I've thought a long time about what I wanted to say tonight. I'm a writer, after all; I should be able to come up with words that make sense. But I couldn't. So I turned to one of the greats and borrowed from him."

She brushed her fingers along the hair above his ear and laughed as his next words registered in her muddled brain.

"Say that you'll marry me. Sometimes carry me. And I will be there forever more for you."

"Are you quoting a Neil Diamond song?"

"Yes," he replied. "Now sshh."

He continued with a quirky grin, his eyes a little moist in spite of himself. Its purpose might be to advance their undercover assignment, but he meant every word.

"You'll know, by the love in my eyes and the beat of my heart. I'll be there."

She would. She did.

"You'll know, cause you'll never be lonely again." His hand tightened around hers, and she used her free hand to swipe at the tears that had spilled across her lashes.

She wouldn't be. She wasn't.

"Anytime, anywhere. This I promise if you marry me." His voice grew husky. "Promise you'll stay with me. We'll make some memories. And maybe a dream or two will come true, who knows."

They would. They had.

"This I can say for sure. All that I have is yours. You'll never wonder where I stand. It shows."

She knew it was. She knew it did.

"I won't ever forget these words."

She wouldn't either.

"And I'll love you for all I'm worth – if you say you'll marry me."

He cracked the velvet jeweler's box, and Kate sucked in a sharp breath at the stunning beauty of the ring nestled in his hands. This was not within the department budget.

"Marry me, Kate."

A hush fell over the restaurant as everyone waited to hear her answer. She grinned and nodded her head, vanquishing some renegade tears with another whisk of her hand. "Yes, you goofball. Of course I'll marry you."

The ring was poised at her left hand, and her finger quivered as he slid it into place. It quite literally took her breath away.

And if she had any air left in her lungs, the kiss that followed most certainly stole it away.