Page 73 of Come to Me

I let him speak.

"You're amazing, Ally. We can get the obvious out of the way first. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He pulls his hands into his lap. "And you're so damn thoughtful. You don't even realize it. I love that you would rather spend your night reading than at a party. I love that you get excited about Tennessee Williams, that you aren't afraid to correct me or tell me when I'm being an idiot. And I love how shameless you are about your lust for coffee."

My heart thuds against my chest. It's so damn sweet. Of course it is. It's Luke. But what is he getting at?

"I promise I won't get sidetracked by the part about you feeling pleasure." He smiles. "But, Ally, when you're happy, I'm so fucking happy. I can't think of a better way to spend my life."

No. There's no way... he can't be...

"Luke, I..."

"There's no one else who compares to you."

He slides out of his seat and drops to one knee.

Oh my fucking God.

He's... I can't breathe. I can't feel my limbs. The room is spinning.

Or maybe it's me.

Luke looks up at me with those achingly sincere eyes. He pulls a ring box from his pocket and holds it flat on his palm.

He pops it open.

It's a ring. A gorgeous round solitaire in a platinum setting.

I stare, focusing on the details to try to ground myself.

It's stylish, classy, timeless not trendy, subtle not hey look at me.

It's exactly the kind of thing I would pick out for myself.

"Alyssa Summers, will you marry me?"

My hand flies to my mouth. My heart is racing so quickly, and my stomach is full of butterflies. I can barely move to nod my head. I don't think. I just respond. "Yes," I nod. "Of course."

He slides the ring onto my finger. It's even more gorgeous up close. God, it's so perfect. He's so perfect. This whole thing is so damn perfect.

He stands and wraps his arms around me. I lean into him, hugging him as tightly as I can. His grip is strong around me. He would keep me up if I collapsed in his arms.

I feel his lips on my cheek. I move to meet him, and we kiss, long and deep, not caring if anyone in the restaurant is looking at us.

When we break, I am dizzy and breathless. I slide back into my seat, gripping the table for support.

He looks at me with a million-dollar grin. I expect some witty quip, but he says nothing. He just squeezes my hand and stares into my eyes.

Luke asked me to marry him.

I should feel like the luckiest girl in the whole damn world.

* * *

I'm toonervous to eat much of my dinner.

As promised, Luke doesn't make any comments about it. He sits across from me, grinning as he answers all of my obnoxious questions about how long he's been planning this. I gather that it's been a little while, a few months at least.

He probably wanted to do it in San Diego at some romantic place by the house where he grew up.