I notice Sebastian hasn’t eaten much.
My brows lift at the way his knee keeps bouncing under the table, the only crack in his usually perfect control.
He keeps looking over at me like he’s checking that I’mstill right there. Like he’s afraid I might disappear between courses.
Halfway through dessert, he exhales slowly and reaches for my hand. “Ivy.”
Something in his voice makes my breath catch.
“I need a minute,” he adds, already standing. “With you.”
Drew raises a brow. “Should we be concerned?”
“No,” Sebastian says, a little too quickly. “Sit. Finish eating.”
Elizabeth smiles into her wine glass like she knows exactly what’s happening.
Sebastian leads me outside, just off the sidewalk where the streetlight spills soft gold across the pavement. It’s quiet and calm.
He turns to face me.
For a long moment, he doesn’t speak.
And then he does something that is rare enough to steal my breath.
“I used to think distance kept people safe,” he says quietly. “I thought if I stayed far enough away, nothing could be taken from me.”
My chest tightens.
“I was wrong,” he continues. “Distance didn’t protect me. It just kept me alone.”
He swallows, thumb brushing over my knuckles.
“You didn’t ask permission,” he says softly, a ghost of a smile touching his mouth. “You didn’t wait for me to be ready. You infiltrated my life and just… stayed.”
I nod, unable to speak.
“I don’t want distance anymore,” he says. “I don’t want control. I don’t want rules built out of fear.”
His eyes hold mine—steady and unflinching. Hisfingers tighten around mine like he’s afraid I might slip through them.
“I want a life where you’re always close enough to reach.”
He drops to one knee.
The world narrows. The sounds around me fade. All I see is him.
Sebastian Locke—quiet, guarded, and relentless—holding a small velvet box like it terrifies him more than anything he’s ever faced.
“I’m done pretending I don’t need you,” he says.
His voice is steady despite the storm I know lives beneath it.
“Ivy Hart… will you marry me?”
Tears blur my vision.
“Yes,” I breathe. Then louder, because he deserves certainty. “Yes!”
