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I blink, utterly stunned at how far he’s already gone to mesh his life with mine. More hope makes my chest swell until it’s tight—but in a good way. The very best way, in fact.
“How do I know you mean it?” That’s the last question I have, the one I haven’t been able to get past on my own.
“Stay right here.”
Before I can reply, he darts across the room and up the stairs. I hear him rummaging around up there. A curse follows, then he jets back into the living room winded, but looking surprisingly upbeat—and clutching something in his fist.
That hope expands even more until it fills up my whole body.
“You don’t have any proof about me. Just like I never had any proof about you when we were in Maui. The truth is, I tried to apply ‘logic.’ I questioned everything and took each word you said with a grain of salt. It’s what a cautious, rational person does, right?” He shrugs. “How much better would it have been if I had simply gone with my gut and believed you were exactly the woman you seemed? That you were the only one I could ever want or need, despite the apparent ‘proof’ otherwise, for the rest of my life?”
He makes an excellent point. Relationships don’t come with guarantees. It’s not a savings account or a municipal bond. There’s no assurance this romance will pay the dividends I want. Cupid isn’t the FDIC, who will insure a substantial chunk of my investment in his heart.
I’m willing to trust him—and us—or I’m not. It’s as simple as that.
Granted, in the past, I was blindly loyal to my father. But I put my faith in the wrong someone. Clint took such good care of me in Maui—far better than my father did, even at his best. I can’t shade Clint with Barclay’s wrongdoings just because they’re both men who told lies. I can’t fall into the guilt-by-association trap. I have to believe that Clint is exactly the man I fell for.
Slowly, I nod. “What’s in your hand?”
He smiles, looking both sheepish and a bit shy. “You never saw it, did you?”
“What?” But I’m pretty sure I know.
Suddenly, he’s down on one knee. “Bethany Alannah Banks, will you—”
“You dug up my middle name?”
Clint laughs. “I knew everything about you before I orchestrated our first meeting in Hawaii. The only thing I didn’t know was the actual you. So, yes. Bethany Alannah Banks, I love everything about you—the kind, the shy, the ballsy, the witty, the unsure—even your middle name. Please do me the extreme honor of being my wife and making me the happiest man on earth.”
When he flips open the ring box, I gasp. It’s everything I ever imagined an engagement ring should be. It’s not big or gaudy. In fact, it’s simple. It’s elegant. It’s…me. The marquise-cut diamond sits on a simple white-gold band, flanked by two smaller marquise-cut diamonds nestled on either side. No other embellishments. Nothing that jumps up and screams “look at me!” Just a pure, exquisite expression of the love he’s been trying to give me for the last three months.
“Can I try it on?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “If it gets you any closer to saying yes, then absolutely. All day long.”
After yanking the ring from the box, he insists on sliding it onto my finger.
The moment he does, my equilibrium fixes itself. Everything feels right. My world is perfect.
Well, almost.
I blink up at him. “Want to hear my version of an ideal life?”
“Yes. Please tell me we can meet somewhere in the middle, Beth. I don’t want to live without you.”
Finally, I reach out and touch him. “You’re the center of it. The only part of our past we ever think about is falling in love and learning from our mistakes so we can have an amazing future. I’m wearing this ring, and we’re planning a wedding. And buying a place on Maui, where I can be near my family, and we can live an insanely happy life together. Yes, we definitely have to catch up to my siblings in the baby department. I want our kiddos to play with their cousins. Professionally, you and I would have this great home-and-work relationship, and we’d make an amazing investment team to help the financial dreams of others come true. And most of all, I want to show you that I love you, too. And that I never stopped. That’s my perfect world.”
“Seriously? For real?” Clint gapes, looking sucker-punched. “You’re saying yes?”
I glance at the ring, then into the face of the man I never expected to love…and now can’t imagine living my life without. “I’m saying an enthusiastic hell yes.”
Instantly, my reply fills the chasm between us and builds a bridge across the divide. He pulls me close, crushing me against his chest, then swoops down to claim me with a kiss that feels like a tender, passionate start on our forever.
