Tiffany Fallon knew something was up when her boyfriend presented her with tequila before they boarded a yacht for a sunset cruise on a Mexican vacation.

"He made me take a shot of tequila before we got on the boat. I thought that was strange for 2 in the afternoon, but sure, no problem," she said.

It turned out to be a shot of courage for her man, Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts, who had planned for months to ask Fallon, his girlfriend of two years, to marry him on this private four-hour cruise June 30 in Cabo San Lucas. He had asked for Fallon's parents' blessing last month. And Rooney, the remaining single member of the Flatts country trio, had picked the 35-foot yacht, the oceanfront resort and the engagement ring months earlier. He knew the ring's box would be suspiciously bulky in his pants' pocket, so Rooney packed the ring in some tissue paper and stuffed that into his pocket before the cruise. Inside the tissue paper, Rooney had even stuffed the fortune from Fallon's fortune cookie from lunch at P.F. Chang's two weeks earlier: "You will soon get a treasure."

The cruise started with champagne, and some two hours later, the boat was passing by a centuries-old naturally formed rock arch, which locals refer to as "The Gateway to Paradise." "It was perfect . . . and it seemed like the right moment," Rooney said. "We were on the front of the ship, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky." Rooney dropped to a knee.

"I said, 'This is a very historical place in the world, perfect for a historical moment in our lives.' " And he proposed. Fallon said yes, and she and Rooney cried. "Oh yeah, and I'm not a big crier," Fallon said. "I surprised myself. I was boo-hooing and lashes were falling out. He was crying and I was crying. It was tender. It was really special."

Rooney said he picked the spot because fellow group member Jay DeMarcus and his wife, Allison Alderson, raved about Cabo San Lucas, and it was a spot that neither Rooney nor his girlfriend had been. Rooney thinks his hooking up with Fallon was fate. She has a brother named Joe and her dad's name is Don. The happy couple met through Alderson, a friend of Fallon's when both were competing in pageants a few years ago. (Fallon is a former Miss Georgia USA and Alderson is a former Miss Tennessee and Miss Tennessee USA.) The first outing happened when DeMarcus, Alderson, Fallon and Rooney all went to Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar in Printer's Alley. "We just completely fell for each other . . . the first night we hung out. Sometimes you just get each other, and that's what happened with us," Rooney said. Fallon, an actress, model and current Playboy playmate of the year, says there are no solid wedding plans yet. Will a Rascal Flatts song be the wedding song? "God, I hope so!" Fallon said. By BRAD SCHMITT Tennessean Staff Writer

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