Page 93 of The Billionaire's Heart

This is it. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for all day. I pull out a sparkler and light it as my nerves take over and I start to shake. Fortunately, the sparkler is hiding my shakes as I come behind Mia and pull her into me; her back to my front. “Here. Hold it with me.”

“Okay.” Her small hand wraps around mine as we swivel the sparkler in the air a few times. “Make a word.”

“See if you can guess it.” I move our hands around together.

“Will. You. Marry. Me.”

As I let go of the sparkler, I bend down on one knee and pull out her engagement ring she just handed me. She turns around with both hands covering her mouth.

“Mia McIntosh. I want to be your family. I want to share my family. I want to have a family. With you, Mia. I want all of that with you. Will you marry me?”

For the second time in the last twenty-four hours, I watch a sea of emotions converge across Mia’s face. I can’t tell what she’s feeling, but at least she’s not telling me no.

Finally, confusion settles on her face. “You want to marry me? For real?”

“I’ve loved you since the moment you walked into my office, Mia. Then you stole my heart when you asked to pay for your dinner that night in the parking lot. And then I touched you and instantly became addicted to you. You’re what I think about every day, all day. I’m scaling back my day-to-day involvement in Gallo Enterprises so that we can have a life together. Have a family together.”

Tears are streaming down her face and it’s all I can do to wipe them away, since I’m still on one knee with the ring in my hand.

“Please say something, Mia.”

“Yes.”

“Yes? You said yes.”

She smiles and nods. “I said yes.”

I slip the ring back on her finger and suddenly it looks different to me. The ring looks permanent; a part of her. “I love you Mia McIntosh, and cannot wait to make you Mia Gallo.”

She looks up at me in surprise. “Mia Gallo.” She whispers like she’s trying it on. “I like it.”

“Me too.”

We hear the initial thump of the fireworks and then there’s a gigantic explosion in the air, with lots of colors falling down from the sky. As more fireworks enter the skies, I notice Mia’s not looking up at them, but down at the ring I just put on her finger.

“Are you okay? You’re not watching the sparkles in the air.”

“I’ve got all the sparkles I want right here.” She holds up her hand with the ring on it. “I love you, too, Ian. My peanut butter to my jelly.”

We lean into each other and kiss as the fireworks explode over our heads.

Epilogue - Mia

Tonight was our engagement party and most of everyone that was invited could attend. Including my family. That still sounds so weird to me,my family, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it, eventually.

Ian flew in both of my brothers for the weekend so it’s kind of like a family reunion as well. Both my mother and Ian’s mother are getting along like sisters. They seem to bond over their generation commonalities and are making jokes that most people in attendance don’t get, but neither of them seem to care. They keep repeating some weird phrases, ‘Gag me with a spoon’ and ‘Grody’. It’s weird.

When an engagement party was first suggested, I was afraid that I would feel like a fraud or a liar, but I don’t feel like that now that it’s a real party for a real reason. The way Ian proposed to me was epic and no romance novel or Hallmark movie could outdo him. Ever. I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have found someone to love me the way he does.

Ian’s been true to his word and has scaled back his day-to-day business. He doesn’t plan to travel as much but instead, relying on his team to handle what they have been hired to do. He’ll still have to go away on business, like next week when hehas to be in the Bahamas all week, but for the most part, he’s been true to his word.

Tomorrow, my family and Ian’s will attend my kickball game. My entire team came to the party tonight and wished us well. Almost all of Ian’s friends from school came. All except Declan. I met him at Kate’s fundraiser last week, but he had to work at the police station tonight.

Riley, the party planner for tonight and my teammate, is amazing. This is the best party I’ve ever attended. It may have something to do with the fact that money didn’t seem to be an issue, and it was only for friends and family. We did have a professional photographer take some great pictures of the two of us, at Brinna’s insistence, to release to the public.

That’s going to be a sticking point with me, being in the public eye. Ian assures me that once the wedding happens, no one will care about us anymore. I’m looking forward to that day, but the look on Brinna’s face when he said that tells me he has no clue what he’s talking about.

This coming Monday, I can officially move into my shop because Kendall assures me that all the construction will be completed. My plan is to have a soft opening later this month and then Riley is planning my grand opening the first week of August.

The DNA results came back, and Lynn Yates is one hundred percent my mother. None of us were really all that surprised with the results. We look almost like sisters and have the same laugh. Even I can hear it.

We’ve been texting and talking on the phone every day and once we had the official results back on Wednesday, I invited her and Jeff to our party tonight. That’s when Ian jumped in and orchestrated my ‘family reunion’ with my brothers.

They’re identical twins, so I’m still struggling to tell them apart, but they told me they get that all the time. Even one oftheir girlfriends mixes them up sometimes. That could go really bad, really quick, but I said nothing. I may be their older sister, but that doesn’t give me any right to say anything.

The love Ian and I have for each other is something I never thought was possible for me. He loves me so much and shows me that in everything he does. I had no idea how love feels until Ian.

What I feel for him is something I’ve never felt before. And how he makes me feel… there’s nothing like it. I’m so lucky to have moved to Hibiscus Harbor. Making that leap was so hard and doing it alone, even harder. But it was worth it. Love is worth it.

Five stars; highly recommend.