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When we enter, there is a collective intake of breath and the music stops. All eyes are on us as I look out into the crowd. My gaze lands on my parents, leaning forward in their seats, with wonder etched on their faces. Bennet is at the bar, holding a glass of scotch in a white-knuckle grip, and I realize everyone in this room knows everything that was going on in that storage closet. Well… almost everything.
The king leads us to the dance floor in the center of the room before releasing our hands and moving to the sidelines to watch with his wife. Dan steps out in front of me, facing me.
“Wait!” a high-pitched voice pierces the air, and a man in a colorful designer suit with a bald head and cat-eye glasses, with no mask rushes toward us. I recognise him instantly as my favorite designer, Ignacio Bonetti, and he’s holding my shoes. “Honey child,” he cries, “Are these beautiful pieces of art yours?”
I nod and he kneels to the ground placing them in front of me, and waits for me to step into them. When I do, he gasps, and throws his hand over his mouth. Actual tears well in the corners of his eyes. “They're a perfect fit!” he exclaims to the crowd, who surely doesn’t care.
But I do.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He pulls up to his feet, and whisks a card from his lapel pocket. “Here,” he says, handing it to me. “I’m interrupting something here, clearly, and I apologize for that, but I just saw these beautiful masterpieces and got so excited I couldn’t help myself. Call me next week. I would love to work with you on this project and many others.”
Holy shit. My heart pounds. His proposal is nearly as exciting as the one that’s coming next. As quickly as he appeared, and much more quietly, he eases into the crowd, and then it’s just Dan and I.
“Sorry about that,” I quip, looking at the love of my life. “I’ve interrupted you too many times.”
Dan shakes his head, his eyes shining with pride. “Don’t be sorry. I need to earn it.” He leans close to whisper to me. “I love that you have passions. I have mine, too. What we need to figure out is how we can both have everything we dream of and still have each other.”
I nod, my eyes wet with unshed tears. I’m still not sure how we’ll make this work, but I know we’ll try.
My breath hitches as Dan lowers himself to one knee in front of me for the third time this evening.
He opens his mouth and stops short.
“What now?” I ask, looking around for the reason he hesitates.
He looks ashamed. “I don’t know your name,” he admits in a low whisper. “Is it Cindi or Elle? Seems like I should get it right in a moment like this.”
“Oh.” I snort. “It’s Cindelle.”
“Like the Star Wars character?”
I laugh. “Yes, my father’s a huge nerd.” I arch my brow. “But if you know that…”
He scowls but his eyes are filled with playful mischief. “You caught me. I, too, am a Star Wars nerd.” His brow arches. “But that’s a royal secret, got me?”
“Of course, your majesty.” I roll my lips to keep from laughing.
“Full name?”
“Cindelle Rose Barclay.” It seems odd that I’m about to get proposed to by a man who has to ask my name, but so many things about me and Dan are odd. But the peculiarities don’t make us less right.
“Cindelle Rose.” His eyes sparkle as the name dances across his tongue. Never before has my full given name sounded so… lovely.
Danon takes my hands in his. “When I met you, I was trying to escape my destiny, or at least forget it for a while. Instead, I fell headfirst into it. You’re my destiny. I know now, I wasn’t running away from something, but running to someone. I got all the details wrong. And that complicated things.” He draws a breath, his eyes locked on mine, and I swear his look wet, shimmering with unshed tears.
“I thought you were a waitress and you thought I was a bossy hockey player from Denmark. Each not suitable for the other, but unbeknownst to us, those little details didn’t matter one bit, because we fell in love anyway and found our way to each other in the most unlikely of places.”
I nod. When I think about everything that happened, it seems like it isn’t real, like its something I’d read in a book. Spicy rom-com vibes.
“From now on I promise you, forever and always, I’ll communicate with you. Starting right now.”
A nervous laugh bubbles from my lips.
“If we’d listened to our parents, we’d have saved ourselves a lot of trouble, but then we wouldn’t have this amazing story to tell our kids one day. I’m thankful for every second of our story and I want to spend the rest of my life making more with you.”
Tears well as my Prince Not-So-Charming shows me just how charming he can be.
