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“Yes!” she says again, her eyes full of tears. “Yes, Oli, I’ll marry you!”
I rise to kiss her, my hands cupping her delicate face. She wraps her arms around me, shaking with shock and excitement, and laughs between long, deep kisses.
“I love you,” I whisper.
She chuckles as warm tears touch my fingers. “I love you,” she says.
I wipe the tears off her cheeks and reach for the ring. She presents her quivering left hand and I slide the ring onto her finger; a perfect fit.
“It’s beautiful,” she says.
“Well, I know how much you like to match, so...” I joke.
She falls back onto her chair at the table with the book on her lap. “I can’t believe this,” she says. “I’m engaged!”
I sit down, too. “You’re engaged!”
“We’re engaged!” She looks at the book again. “And... Melanie Rose knows about it?”
I nod. “She does, yeah.”
“Wow, that’s intense.”
“She gladly sacrificed a copy for a worthy cause. Said so herself.”
“That’s a relief, I guess,” she says, still wincing at the hole.
“And now, we celebrate.” I gesture at the book. “Check the back cover.”
Paige’s eyes narrow, but she obeys, excitedly flipping it over. She opens it and slides two boarding passes out of the dust jacket. “Hawaii?” she reads. “You’re taking me to Hawaii?”
I grin. “We leave tomorrow morning.”
She gasps. “But you hate the beach.”
“Well, a very wise man once told me that love was about compromise and personal sacrifice, so I’m taking one for the team,” I say. “Plus, we have taken no time off together yet this year and I think I can find it in me to survive five days in... Maui.”
“Maui?!” She bounces in her chair, then stops, disappointed. “No.”
“No?”
“Oliver, I can’t go. I have to be back in Washington in two days.”
“No, you don’t.”
“No, seriously. Fiona is expecting me on Sunday night. She almost didn’t even let me come home this weekend at all.”
I withdraw a folded letter from my pocket and hand it to her. “That’s odd, because she told me to give you this...”
Paige quickly unfolds it. “From the desk of Senator Botsford...” she reads the letterhead. “Congratulations, Paige. Have a great time in Maui. Ask for Liana at the front desk. She’ll take good care of you. X-O Fiona.” She bites her smiling lip. “P.S. Can’t wait to help you plan your wedding.” She laughs as she looks at me with beautiful, stunned eyes. “Damn, that woman can keep a secret.”
I reach for her hand across the table. I pull it toward me, admiring the ring on her finger before kissing her knuckles.
Paige releases a long, happy sigh. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but is there anything else?” she asks. “Because I don’t think my heart can take much more of this.”
I chuckle. “No, there’s nothing else. One wild night of passionate lovemaking ahead, but other than that, no.”
She considers it for a moment. “I think I can handle that,” she teases.
