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“Remember when I asked you if you’d fight with me?”
I nod slowly. “I said I would if you wanted me to.”
His smile is gone now, and his eyes burn with an intensity that sets my body alight.
In one quick move, he drops to his knees and presses his forehead to my stomach.
My pulse leaps. “Roman?”
He looks up at me, and I stroke my fingers through his dark hair, my mind a blur of confusion.
His throat works on a swallow. “Happy isn’t the word I’d use to describe how I feel because how I feel is so much more than that. My life changed the moment I met you. You knocked down the walls I’d built around myself and brought warmth and light and love with you when I was determined to keep all of those things at arm’s length.”
A lump forms in my throat. “I’m so glad.”
He reaches into the pocket of his pajama pants and pulls out a ring, one that glitters brightly in the rays of sun that are just starting to reach through the window. Heart thrashing, I cover my mouth with both hands and stare down at the huge diamond surrounded by tiny turquoise stones.
“I want you by my side, fighting with me, Chloe.” His voice has gone husky. “And I want to be by yours, fighting just as hard. I convinced myself I was fine going through life alone, but I was so fucking wrong it’s laughable. My heart’s been yours since the second I saw you. You smiled, and just like that, everything changed. Every damn day, I fall harder for you, and that’s never going to stop. So please, sweetheart, be my wife. Let me show the world just how much I love you.”
Tears drip hot down my cheeks, and he stands, pulling me into his arms. I go up on my toes and kiss him, putting all my love and all my passion and all my dreams for our future into it.
When I finally pull back, my lips feel swollen in the best kind of way.
“Is that a yes?” His pale gray eyes burn into me.
My heart beats like wings against my ribcage, as if it’s a bird wanting to break free—but only so it can fly to him. “Loving you helped me dream again. Loving you reminded me how to take risks. You have my whole heart, Roman. You always will. And nothing would make me happier than marrying you.”
He takes my hand and slides the ring onto my finger, the slender band a perfect fit. I don’t have time to admire it before his lips are on mine again, and we kiss in front of the window overlooking Manhattan as the sun gilds the buildings, and the empty streets below us begin to fill.
The End