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“Romantic,” I said drily, but I couldn’t help my smile. Or my cock from taking an interest in the thought of Ander gripping me in his palm—whoa. Time to stop that thought in its tracks if we really were going back inside.
When we were back in the function room, Ander asked me to wait for him at the side of the dance floor. He disappeared into the crowd of dancing bodies and then reappeared next to the DJ booth. I watched, my heart pounding, as he spoke to the DJ. And then he was back in front of me, tugging me right into the centre of the dance floor.
“This one is dedicated to all you lovers out there. May you never have to dance on your own again,” the DJ crooned into his microphone, and if I hadn’t been here with Ander, I would’ve cringed so hard and probably cried a bit.
The music began, and from the first note, I knew what the song was. Ander’s arms came around me, and he looked into my eyes as we began to sway to the music. “This is going to sound cheesy as fuck, but I wanted them to play this…because I want you to know that you’ll never have to dance on your own again.”
It was cheesy, and it was perfect, and right there, holding the man I loved under a glitter ball at a stranger’s wedding, I knew that it was a moment I’d hold on to forever.
EPILOGUE
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Looking at the photos from our private prom again? You’re getting as bad as Noah with all the collecting pictures.” Ander swatted my ass as he passed me where I was leaning over the iPad that rested on our kitchen island, swiping through an album from our university days.
“It’s the anniversary of our do-over prom date,” I informed him, leaving the iPad and following him into our small but cosy lounge. Baxter, our Shih Tzu cross, came running across the room, his tongue hanging out, happily sniffing at Ander’s bare feet with his cold, wet nose.
“Ugh!” Ander leapt up onto the sofa and gave Baxter a stern look. “Don’t even think about coming up here.”
Baxter wagged his tail, pleased with Ander’s attention, but obediently stayed where he was. Ander sighed, pulling a dog chew from what might have been the sofa cushions or his back pocket. He threw it to our dog, who caught it in his mouth, quite impressively, in fact, and then ran off to his basket to feast on it.
I switched on the lamps and turned off the ceiling light, then joined Ander on the sofa. “How was work?”
He slid his arms around my shoulders, pressing his body weight into me so that I had no choice but to sink lower into the sofa until I was more or less lying down with him sprawled on top of me. “Hi. Work was good. You were there, remember? How exactly did you manage to leave an hour earlier than I did?”
I wound my arms around him. “Because I managed to avoid the big boss man by telling him I had a time-sensitive task, and you were too late to come up with an excuse?”
“It’s your fault,” he murmured against my lips, rolling his hips down and making us both moan. “You were too distracting, standing there at the photocopier in those tight trousers. You know what they do to me.”
“Yeah…blame me,” I said breathlessly, arching into him, forgetting about the fact that we had an audience of one small dog, although he was successfully distracted, thanks to Ander.
“Wait. Before we get naked, come outside with me for a minute.” Ander’s weight suddenly left mine, and he tugged me up off the sofa. “I’ll be back in a second.”
When he returned, he was holding my coat and a scarf and was wrapped up in his own jacket, which looked a little odd given that he was currently barefoot. I smiled at the sight. Fuck, I loved this man so much.
After shrugging my coat on and letting him drape my scarf around my neck, I made a detour to the hallway to grab my shoes, and then I followed him back through the kitchen. He stopped only to shove his bare feet into his trainers, and then he unlocked the door that led to our tiny walled back garden—our little patch of greenery here in central London. His hand came up to my face, obscuring my vision. “Close your eyes.”
I closed them, and he led me a little way across the garden before telling me to sit down. Taking a seat on what I knew was the wooden bench that was placed against the wall, underneath the trailing honeysuckle that grew across this section of our compact space, I kept my eyes squeezed shut.
He left me, and I breathed in and out slowly, the chill of the night air tempered, probably by the small gas firepit we’d installed in this space. It was difficult to tell with my eyes closed. I felt a little disorientated.
“Open,” Ander said softly.
My eyes opened, and a gasp fell from my throat, my hand flying to my mouth.
Our little space had been transformed. The small firepit was alight, as I’d presumed, but the hundreds of candles placed all around the garden were new. They glowed and flickered, tiny, hypnotising flames dancing and throwing shadows all around us. It was like we were surrounded by hundreds of fireflies, and it was so beautiful.
And then, as my gaze lowered, I saw the most important thing of all, right in front of me.
Him. The person I loved the most in the world, down on one knee, looking a little bit nervous and a lot in love, a small velvet box cradled in his palm.
He opened his mouth, and before he even said a word, I already knew what my answer would be.
Yes.
THE END
