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The air was crisp, there was a slight chill in it even though it was coming into the summer. Sam Lloyd sat on a bench beneath a huge Beech tree in Central Park. He’d told Evie to meet him here after she was finished up in Harlem with Theta, she’d be here any minute. Why was he so nervous? It’s not like she was going to say no, especially not after what they’d done last light. His head spun just thinking about the feel of her body against his.
“Sheesh, pull yourself together Sergei” he muttered under his breath.
Why was he so nervous? She’d already said yes. She still kept that tractor nut that he’d given her in Bountiful but this time, this was the real deal. This time people would see that jewel on her finger and know that she was about to be Mrs Evie O’Neill Lloyd. God, he’d never grow tired of hearing her say that.
Contrary to popular opinion Sam Lloyd had not stolen the ring, he hadn’t even stolen the money for the ring. After they moved back to New York, he’d gotten himself a job and he’d saved up for it. Saved for it like a proper working man and not the con man that he had been. The man he had been before Evangeline Mary O’Neill had catapulted into his life, before he’d kissed her and stolen her twenty dollars. He really had spent it, heck he’d spent it right away, but had he known how much Evie O’Neill was going to mean to him he would have kept it. He would have kept it for a moment just like this.
“Sam!” Evie squealed as she ran towards him, pecking a soft kiss to his cheek.
“Hey Baby Vamp” Sam replied squeezing her hand as he guided her to sit down on the bench beside him. “I missed you”
“I’ve literally only been with Theta for a few hours Sam, you must be pos-i-tutely desperate”
“If I agree with you, will you kiss me,” he said, a smirk crossing his lips.
“Always” She leaned in and he pulled her closer to him. Planting a kiss to her lips. They were in a public place but the park was fairly empty around this time so there weren’t masses of people about but even so, he kept it light. He wished he still had his don’t see me trick. Kissing Evie always kept him steady and steady was just what he needed right about now.
He rubbed her temple gently with his thumb as he removed a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face. “I have actually brought you here for a reason you know,” he said finally. “I can kiss you any time, which I most definitely plan to do tonight”.
“I’d like to do more than kiss you tonight” she purred in his ear nibbling it lightly.
“Easy Baby Vamp, you’re getting an old boy excited over here”
“Sorry” she giggled freeing herself from his grip “So what was it you wanted?”
“Ah… yes” he started to get anxious again. “I wanted to give you something”
“Let me guess” Evie retorted “it’s my twenty dollars, Oh Sam you shouldn’t have”
“Actually,” Sam said, one hand coming to rest in Evie’s, the other reaching into his pocket, “it’s this”.
He pulled out the ring that he’d picked out from the jewellers. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a simple silvery band with a single small gem in the centre.
“Oh, Sam” Evie squealed he hands flying up to her face in shock.
“Do you like it?” Sam said, worried that he’d done something wrong
“I love it, Sam,” she said. “It’s just the absolute berries”
“You’re the absolute berries,” he said, ever the joker. Even in a time like this. “May I?” he asked, gesturing to her finger. She reached her hand out towards him and he slipped the ring on her finger, this time it wasn’t too big. This time it fit perfectly. He took her hands bringing them up to his lips and he pressed gentle kisses to her knuckles. He yanked her to him then as she melted into him, their lips moulding together like pieces into place. He never wanted to stop kissing her and since he was going to marry her, he never had to.
“Ikh hob dikh lib” Evie said, his native Yiddish sounding funny on her tongue, he laughed. “Am I saying it right, Ikh hob dikh lib” He kissed her forehead.
“Ikh hob dikh lib, Evie, Ikh hob dikh lib” he wrapped his arm around her as her head came to rest on his shoulder, snuggling into his neck. Right here, with her, this was home.
“Oh, and after this, you are definitely getting more than kissed later.” and just like that, Sam Lloyd was the luckiest man in the world.