Page 94 of The Heartbreaker Next Door

He pulled out…

A key ring.

I stared at it.

Then at him.

Then back at the very ordinary silver key dangling from a very ordinary metal ring.

A laugh burst out of me. Half relief, half disbelief. “You’re an a-hole.”

His mouth twitched. “An a-hole?”

“You knew exactly what you were doing.”

He shrugged and spun the key ring around his finger. “I said I got you a ring.”

“You said it like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like a man who was about to permanently alter the course of my life.”

His eyes gleamed. “Bit dramatic.”

I put my hand over my chest. “You almost gave me a cardiac arrest.”

“Over a key?” he questioned innocently.

“Over the word ring.”

His grin widened.

I swatted his chest. “You did that on purpose.”

“Maybe.”

He held the key on the ring out to me. And as I looked at it resting in his palm, something unexpected happened. The relief faded. And underneath it was a tiny, traitorous flicker of... Disappointment.

Well, that was alarming.

“I’m not asking you to marry me, Felicity,” he pointed out the obvious.

“I see that.” I took the key from him and examined it. “Unless engagement rings have gotten significantly less sparkly since the last time I checked.”

Dean laughed and pride swelled in my chest. Every time I made him laugh I got irrationally satisfied.

His smile faded, leaving something achingly tender behind. “I want you to have a key to my house.”

The mood shifted, the air around us became thick with emotion. His fingers closed around mine, curling my hand around the key.

“What’s mine is yours,” he said simply. “Besides, I have a key to your place. It’s only fair.”

My chest squeezed. Because of course Dean could turn a three-dollar piece of hardware into something that felt suspiciously like a declaration and special occasion.

I looped my arms around his neck. “For the record, if you eventually present me with another kind of ring, I’ll probably say yes.”

His brows lifted. “Probably?”