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I finally find my voice again. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to come see you,” he says. “I couldn’t wait.”
Reality coalesces in my mind, the truth of what I’m seeing: Braxton, standing here, in London, in the middle of the night.
“How long have you been here?”
“We got in earlier today,” he says. “We’ve been trying to find you for hours.”
“We?”
“Yeah, Selene’s watching the hotel lobby in case you come back.”
I gape at him, astounded. “Selene’s here?”
He nods. “Of course she is. She wanted to help.”
“Help? I don’t understand.”
“Kylie, I made such a mistake. Leaving you was the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life.” He puts a hand on my cheek. “I didn’t mean a word I said that night. I thought I had to do it. I thought I had to choose between you and my sister, and I didn’t know what else to do. But I was wrong. I was so wrong, and I’ll do anything to make it right.”
I take a breath, my body shivering. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“It took me too long to figure out where you’d be,” he says. “I almost didn’t make it.”
“Braxton, you flew halfway across the world for this?”
“Yeah,” he says, and the groove forms between his eyes again, his expression intensifying. “I did. I had to. I have something to ask you, and it couldn’t wait. It had to be tonight.”
He touches my face, his eyes sweeping over me like they did the first night he told me he wanted me. The night everything changed.
My breath quickens again.
“Kylie,” he says, his voice gravelly. Before I know what’s happening, he takes my hands in his and sinks down onto one knee.
My eyes widen and my mouth drops open, my breath catching in my throat. He can’t be—
“I love you, baby girl. Always have. I’m yours, and I want you to be mine, forever.” He reaches into his inside pocket and pulls something out, pinched between his thumb and two fingers.
A ring.
I clamp my hand over my mouth.
He smiles—that brain-melting smile that makes me forget where I am, that sucks all the oxygen from the air. “What do you say, Ky? Will you marry me?”
I meet his eyes. He’s so open, so honest. Holding nothing back.
My eyes tear up again, but it’s laughter that escapes my lips.
“Yes,” I say, though I can hardly get the word out. I’m smiling and laughing and crying all at once.
He stands, wrapping his arms around me, and lifts me off my feet. My face is even with his, and he kisses me, his lips like silk. People around us clap and cheer, and I’m pretty sure I see the flash of a few cameras. He sets me down and takes my left hand. He meets my eyes while he slips the ring on my finger.
“There,” he says, his voice soft. “Now you’re mine forever.”
