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Hunter’s voice, soft and sincere, breaks through my reverie. “No more than you.”
And in that moment, amidst the glow of the city, I feel closer to the stars and the man I love more than ever before.
As we sit back at the table, a cool breeze sweeps across the rooftop. Hunter’s hand reaches out, grasping mine. The intensity of his gaze makes my heart race.
“Megan, there’s something I need to tell you,” he says, his voice low and urgent.
I feel a lump form in my throat, unsure of what he’s about to reveal. My immediate thought is that he’s done all of this to let me down easy, to break up with me.
But that doesn’t make sense, Megan. Get a hold of yourself.
“I don’t want any bargains or compromises between us,” he continues, his grip on my hand tightening. “I’m in love with you, and pregnant or not, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don’t want you to just move into the penthouse. I want to marry you.”
My breath catches in my chest as his words sink in. The world around us seems to fade away, leaving only the two of us in that moment.
“I love you too, Hunter,” I reply, my voice barely above a whisper. “But I told you I wanted us to take our time.”
“You’ve seen me at my best and my worst. There’s not much more I can show you. You know who I am and what I’m about. If you want to date and be romanced, I will do that for the rest of our lives as a married couple. This is only the beginning.”
His words move me, and I’m unable to keep my tears at bay, but he keeps talking.
“Marriage is a statement to the world that you are mine, and I am yours. It’s a pledge you make to me to love me, and it’s one I make to protect and cherish you. I realize that I’m not speaking from a place of experience, but I know enough of what not to do to make this work. With you, it wouldn’t be work. It would just–”
“Yes,” I say, cutting him off mid-sentence.
“What?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
With a look of pure joy, Hunter leans in and presses his lips to mine. The sensation is electric, sending shivers down my spine. As we pull away, I see the same sense of wonderment in his eyes that drew me to him in the first place. When Hunter looks at me, he sees something about me I don’t even see in myself.
Something worthy of love.
He pulls a smaller Tiffany blue box out of the inside pocket of his leather jacket and hands it to me. It’s the most perfect solitaire diamond ring I’ve ever seen. Simple but brilliant.
He slides it on the ring finger of my left hand, then pulls my hand toward his mouth, kissing the inside of my palm.
“I can’t wait to make you Mrs. Middleton.”
Together, we gaze out over the city as the night stretches on. The stars twinkle above us, a reminder of the infinite possibilities that lay ahead.
Will I continue to paint? Will I become the full-time manager of the club so that I can work near him every day? Or will I become a stay-at-home mother and take care of our son or daughter instead?
But as I look at Hunter, I realize I don’t need all the answers right now. Anything is possible and all things that will be will be as long as we are together.
Chapter 43
The Partition Please
Megan
I’m still on a Hunter Middleton high after being proposed marriage in the most romantic way a girl like me could have ever dreamed of.
It wasn’t that long ago that I was on a trajectory of possibly ending up like so many of the nameless faces who end up dead in alleyways like the one next to the Blue Whiskey.
But I beat those odds.
And I beat them in the most satisfying way.