Page 37 of Awaited Love with You

“Yes.” I nod. “You?”

“Very.” He pauses. “But I need you to know something important…”

“Just because I’ve neutralized Rush Banks and anyone else who might’ve posed a threat, that doesn’t mean someone new won’t try me.” His eyes meet mine. “There’s always someone willing—and waiting—to try to kill the king.”

“This is the only life I’ve ever known,” he adds. “Even if I pull back, restructure, make it cleaner, smarter, more distant—this world is still mine. And it’s all I can offer you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not asking you to pretend it’s something it’s not,” he says. “But I’ll give you what I can. The dates. The normal. Whatever version of this life that makes you feel safe in it—even with the danger that’s bound to come. Can you handle that?”

“It’s been months and I’m still here,” I say softly. “I just wish you’d told me more before I had to find it out the hard way.”

“Hmmm.” His expression doesn’t change. “Would you have stayed if I told you more earlier?”

“Probably not…”

“I thought so,” he says. “On a scale of one to ten, how tempted are you to leave if someone tries to take me down again?”

“Negative fifty.”

A flicker of relief edges into his gaze, quiet and soft, and then the waiter returns—rolling out a silver cart with a domed tray and two frosted bowls.

“For the lady,” the waiter says, setting a small dish I didn’t order in front of me.

Confused, I look down at the bowl of mint sorbet.

Before I can tell him he’s made a mistake, I see something half-buried just beneath the pale green surface.

Something that’s shimmering. Something that looks a lot like… diamonds.

“I lied about the last job being the ‘last’ job,” Ryder says, moving closer. “I need you to agree to this one, too…”

I’m utterly speechless.

“I’ll say what you’re going to say for you.” He lifts a spoon and presses it against the sorbet, freeing the stunning diamond ring from its place. “This is all moving very fast, and you still have whiplash, and you don’t have any more love to ‘waste,’ so you need to be sure that this isn’t a game or something that’s not permanent.”

“I wasn’t going to say that at all.” My voice cracks as he lifts my hand and slides the ring on my finger.

My chest swells with a rush I can’t name—equal parts terror and clarity. And yet…

“What were you going to say, Autumn?”

“Yes.”

End of Season 3