Page 60 of Only Be Mine

Not just any haunted house.

The haunted house.

The one from a year ago.

The memory hit like a punch. Me terrified, grabbing a stranger for safety, my scream echoing off the walls, the way my whole body had shaken.

“What part of ‘no haunted houses’ did you not…” I started, anger rushing in like oxygen.

But then my eyes found him and the words died on my tongue.

John wasn’t standing beside me, he was kneeling.

Right there in the entrance, oblivious to the crowd around us, his attention locked completely on me like the world had narrowed down to one single point.

“John?” My voice cracked.

His hand shook as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny velvet box.

Time slowed as he opened it.

The ring caught the dim light and threw it back like it was alive.

His blue eyes lifted to mine, steady and terrified all at once.

“Cate,” he said, voice low, and careful. Like he was holding something fragile.

My chest tightened so hard it hurt.

“I know this place scares you,” he said softly. “And I know surprises aren’t your favorite. But this is where everything changed for me.

“I didn’t fall for you because you were fearless,” he said. “I fell for you because you trusted me anyway. Because you show up. Because you love honestly, even when it costs you something.”

My heart was pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it.

“I don’t want a perfect future,” he went on. “I want you. I want to keep choosing you. Every day. Even when it’s hard.”

He swallowed, eyes never leaving mine.

“Will you marry me?” he asked.

My vision blurred instantly.

I stared at him, at the box, at the ring, at the man who had spent a year learning every rough and jagged edge of me and still stepped closer instead of backing away.

He’d brought me back to where we met.

To where everything began.

To the place I’d once clung to a stranger because I didn’t believe I’d ever be safe.

And now he was kneeling in front of me like I was the safest decision he’d ever made.

I didn’t know what to do with that kind of love.

My mind scrambled for all the reasons this was too soon, too much, too risky. Marriage didn’t work. Love didn’t last. People left. Fathers left. Men promised and disappeared and…

But John didn’t look like someone making a promise lightly.