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I take a deep breath and lift my hand to knock on the door.
No one answers, and then I check my phone to see it’s 1:00 in the morning. Tomorrow’s a workday. She and Lucy are probably sleeping.
Shit.
I knock again, a little harder this time.
Still, no one answers.
Reaching into my pocket, I retrieve my phone and give her a call. I know it’s hopeless. Maddie sleeps with her phone on silent so it won’t disturb her. I’m fucked.
The call continues ringing, and hopeless laughter escapes me. I press the phone to my ear and let my forehead drop against the door with a heavy thud.
Maddie’s voicemail picks up, and I listen to her tell me to leave a message.Chapter Twenty-FourMaddie“Maddie, it’s me. Aiden. I’m, uh…standing outside of your door, actually. In Austin. If you could wake up and come let me in, that’d be great. But I guess you’re sleeping, which is fine. You probably need it after our weekend. On the off chance you listen to this before I see you, I’ll…uh, be outside, leaning against your door waiting for you to wake up. You’re probably wondering why I’m here, and well…I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you again. I don’t like the long-distance thing either, and who cares about—”
Aiden’s voicemail cuts off and I stare down at my phone, thoroughly confused.
I only woke up a minute ago and my brain is still groggy with sleep. Surely I didn’t hear that right.
I go back to my voicemail list and click his again so I can replay it.
“Maddie, it’s me. Aiden. I’m, uh…standing outside of your door, actually. In Austin…”
I did hear it right! The rest of the voicemail fades into the background as I leap off my bed and run for the door of the condo. I yank it open as quickly as I can and scream as Aiden’s upper body falls to the floor at my feet.
“Shit,” he curses, rubbing his head as he slowly comes to.
He must have been asleep against the door and now he’s lying there, blinking his eyes open and staring up at me.
“You’re not in New York!”
He smiles. “No.”
“You’re here! At my door!”
“Yeah. I have been for the last, oh…five and a half hours.”
My hands fly to my mouth in shock and he slowly pushes himself back to a sitting position before standing. He looks like shit. His clothes are all rumpled. His hair is standing up on one side from his sleeping position against the door. He winks one eye, trying to adjust to the light pouring in from the window behind me, and I’m crying. Then I’m hitting his chest. Then I’m crying some more.
“What are you doing here?!”
“Oh, just…proving my love,” he says with a self-deprecating grin. “You know, the ol’ grand gesture where you fly back into town in the middle of the night and then sleep in the hallway because your girlfriend doesn’t answer the door. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
“You’re crazy!”
“I know.”
“How are you already back in Texas?! You must have flown back right away.”
He narrows his eyes as if thinking it over. “I think I was in New York for less than thirty minutes, tops.”
Wow.
Okay. So he came back…for how long?
“Your voicemail made no sense. Are you just here for a few more days or what?” I’m shaking my head, trying to understand the change of circumstances. He still only has his one suitcase.
He rubs the back of his head, almost like he’s nervous. “No, it’s a funny story actually…I quit my job.”
My mouth drops open. “You WHAT?!”
“Yeah. I quit. Last night. Very unprofessional of me, but well, what are you going to do?”
“Aiden!”
He laughs and then sucks in a deep breath. His eyes lock with mine, and I see tears start to gather beneath his dark lashes. He never cries. Never! What is going on?!
Then, slowly, he starts to lower himself down onto one knee. He winces as if in pain. I’m sure after sleeping propped up against my door for several hours, his muscles are stiff. “I think I slept in a weird position. My body is killing me.”
“Is that why you’re kneeling down?! Here, come inside and you can go back to sleep on my bed.”
I reach out to scoop him up in my arms, but he doesn’t accept the help.
“Not yet. I have something I need to do.”
I frown. “What?”
He sweeps his arms out as if to say, Isn’t it obvious?
I step back in shock.
“No.”
No.
Way.
“Maddie Lane,” he says, smiling up at me with those swoon-worthy dimples, “don’t you think it’s about time you and I got married?”
“AIDEN SMITH.”
“Oh good, you know who I am.”
“Don’t joke right now! Are you being serious?”
“Deadly.”
“You’re asking me to marry you.”
“Yeah, did you not catch on? I can repeat the whole thing. It wasn’t long. Maddie Lane, don’t you think it’s—”
