Page 124 of The Stranger

Me: You need to take that status down immediately!!!!!

Spencer: That’s rather one-sided since I let you leave yours up.

One-sided? How dare he?

Me: I deleted my relationship post.

Spencer: It’s a moot point, sweetheart, because I never asked you to.

Spencer knows how much the gossip at work upsets me, so I don’t understand why he’s gone and done something this reckless.

Not only does it make me look like a liar for constantly denying that anything has been going onbetween us, but it also undoes all the hard work I’ve put into keeping our relationship status under wraps.

I throw back my sheets and clamber out of bed to go in search of him. If I’m lucky, I might find him in his room getting ready.

Since I haven’t moved my things into his bedroom, despite his constant insistence, our nights are spent between his bed and mine. I guess it comes down to which bedroom is the closest in the heat of the moment. Last night it was mine.

I’m naked, so I pick up the first thing I see—the T-shirt he put on last night after his shower—tugging it over my head and punching my arms through each hole. Normally, I’d scrunch it up and bring it to my nose to inhale his scent, but I’m too mad.

I open my bedroom door with such force that it hits the adjoining wall with a loud thud. I don’t even get to take a step forward before I release my third gasp of the morning.

“Spencer,” I whisper when I find him on one knee, holding a small velvet box in one hand that has an enormous diamond ring sitting smack-bang in the centre. “What are you doing?”

He gives me the most beautiful full smile, and my anger melts away instantly. “What does it look like?” he asks, flicking his head behind him. That’s when I notice his beautifully decorated backdrop.

Giant lit-up letters, about three feet high, spell out “Marry Me”.They’re framed by hundreds of pink and white balloons that have more lights threaded through them. Numerous pink lanterns containing lit candles, flank either side and rose petals are scattered everywhere in the vicinity.

My first thought is for poor Sandra. She’s going tohave a busy day today, cleaning all this up. My second thought is,Oh my God, Spencer Prescott is proposing to me!

Snapping my eyes back to him, I notice the large heart—made up of more rose petals—that he’s kneeling in the centre of.

“When did you do all this?” I ask with wide eyes.

He winces slightly. “I told my mother I was going to propose … she wanted to help. She may have gone a little overboard.”Well … maybe a little, but I think it looks lovely.“She and her little minions snuck in earlier this morning, whilst we were sleeping.”

“Your mother knew? She just called me on the phone and chewed me out for not telling her.”

“I know. I’m sorry about that, but I had no choice but to ask her to intervene. These old weary bones of mine … I wasn’t sure how much longer they would hold out in this position.”

The smile on my face grows. “You’re finally admitting you’re old?”

“I’m admitting to nothing,” he grumbles. “I asked her to call you because I thought taking our relationship to the next level, in a similar way to which it started, was a novel idea.”

“I love you,” I say, taking a step forward.

“I love you more,” he counters as he rises. “What do you say, sweetheart? Will you spend the rest of your days by my side?”

Tears rise to my eyes as I leap into his arms. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

When our lips finally part, Spencer places me back down on my feet and reaches for my hand. “I take it that is a yes?”

“It’s a big, fat, giant yes,” I reply as a knot forms in the rear of my throat.

Is this really happening?

Is this beautiful man going to be mine for keeps?

He slides the ring onto my finger and it fits perfectly. “That was a great guess with the size,” I say, bringing it closer to my face to admire the way the diamond shimmers under the light. It’s a single solitaire around the size of my fingernail. I do not know what that is in carats, but it’s huge. Like mega. A vast difference to my last one, which I loved just as much at the time.