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“Maria, I knew I was in love with you before you even walked through my door eight years after I had first met you.” Rolling off her, he lay beside her now as he reached into his nightstand to pull something out …

Her emerald eyes widened at the sight of the little, round, pink crushed velvet box as he untied the bow on top.

“I saw this in the window of a jewelry store after we left the bridal shop to pick out Kat’s wedding dress.” Opening the box, he revealed a shiny ring that somehow still caught the light in a dark room. “And even though I was drunk when I passed it, I knew that, once I sobered up, I would be back to buy it.”

“You …” Maria’s breath caught in her throat. “You had it this whole time?”

“Yes,” he said, taking it out of the box before he slid it on her finger, “I did.”

Staring down at the most perfect, size six ring, she felt her eyes go a little misty. “It’s a princess cut.”

“I know, princess.” He rolled back over top of her and kissed her lips with a dimpled smile. “Do you like it?”

“No.” Maria shook her head, not looking at the handsome face, but to the beautiful gold ring that held a huge, crystal clear diamond. “I love it.”

Kissing her deeply, both Dominic and her knew that was the closest she was going to get to telling him she loved him for now, and yet it still made him the happiest man in the world.

“I would have asked you to marry me again,” he said after sweeping a tongue over a pouty bottom lip, “but I was afraid of getting turned down again.”

Maria gave the same attention to his bottom lip with a hinted smile. “You should ask me now.”

“Maria Caruso”—his fierce but very loving gaze returned, as his hazel eyes bore into hers—“will you marry me?”

“I will, on one condition.”

“Anything,” he promised without even having to hear it, but Maria was unsure how he would react.

“I don’t change my last name.”

“Princess”—Dominic reached up to touch the back of his tatted fingers to her cheeks—“I would have never allowed you to do such a thing.”

Closing her eyes for a moment after feeling the somersault in her gut, she opened them only to shove him off her so she could get up and take him with her.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a laugh while she tried to drag him out of bed.

Interlocking their hands that were opposite in every way possible, inside and outside, Maria could no longer hold out. “We got a wedding to plan fast.”

Forty-Six

A Changed Woman

“Ahhhhh!” The collective screams of three girls erupted when she showed them the ring.

“Ha!” Lake shoved a finger in her face. “I knew you were secretly like us.”

Adalyn did as well. “Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Maria is no different than us! She likes boys too!”

Katarina shook her head, smiling. “Oh, how the mighty has fallen.”

The other two girls, however, stood there in utter shock.

“Y-you’re getting married?” Chloe asked, blinking to see if this was real fucking life.

“Before us?” Elle stood there, unmoving, most likely wondering why she had put in the most work and been with her man the longest, yet she didn’t have anything to show for it.

Maria understood why Elle and Chloe were shocked—because she was like them. She also understood why Kat wasn’t. However, she didn’t understand the reaction from the other two. “Why are you two not shocked?” She looked at the two best friends, Lake and Adalyn.

“Because I’ve seen him, Maria,” Lake kept reminded her just how similar they were underneath, no matter how much she denied her boy crazy side. “I don’t need to know anything else.”

Adalyn wiggled her brows, clearly thinking about her man, Angel. “The Luciano brothers are hot as fuck, huh?”

“Ew.” Kat tried not to gag.

“Nope,” Maria told her. “Just the one is.”

“Holy shit.” Elle looked at her as if she could see the wild thoughts behind Maria’s emerald eyes. “You really are getting married ….”

“Yep,” she confirmed sharply before she dropped another bomb on them. “Tomorrow.”

“Ahhhhh!” Another shriek roared out, this time between all five.

“Tomorrow?” Elle’s mouth dropped. “Why so soon?”

“Uh ….” Maria looked over at Kat.

“Are you sure you’re not rushing into it?” Chloe asked, concerned for her friend, who’d recently been through a lot.

“Kat, cover your ears,” Maria instructed.

Katarina immediately held a gruesome face as she hummed with her hands over her ears, instinctively knowing she didn’t want to hear anything that was about to come out of Maria’s mouth.

“He won’t fuck me till after we’re married.”

“Oh …” Chloe was the one who spoke first, her eyes growing wide.

“So, you’re telling me he’s respectful and hot?” Lake’s face was a picture of disbelief, as she tried to keep her swooning to a minimum. It was understandable, as she was dating Vincent.