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“I thought we should start our life together where it all began.” I flip open the box to reveal a ten-karat diamond ring with a row of sapphires surrounding it.
She stares at the ring in awe. “It’s so… beautiful. Oh, my God, Ethan.”
“It’s a family heirloom. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” she squeals. “And I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
She leans forward to kiss me, and a stray tear falls from her eye onto my cheek. “Yes, a thousand times yes.”
Laughing, I shake my head. “I didn’t even ask you yet. Stop being so impatient, woman.”
She wipes away the tears with the back of her hand and sniffs. “Sorry, I got a little excited.”
“We met in this backyard over twelve years ago. I was at the worst point in my life, on drugs and unable to function, and you brought me back to life. Every conversation with you helped me heal, but I still wasn’t good enough for you. Leaving you behind was one of the hardest moments of my life because meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You were always my something good.”
I love you, she mouths, and I say it back.
I slide the ring onto her finger. “Mia Elizabeth Roman, I’ve loved you for almost as long as I’ve known you, and I’ll love and worship you for the rest of my life. Will you be mine?”
She grazes my cheek with her thumb. “I’m yours, E. Forever and always.”
I sit on the swing next to her and slip my fingers between hers. We kick our feet off the ground, the metal bars grinding beneath our weight.
“How did you pull this off?” she asks.
“The owner of the house flipped out when he saw me on his doorstep. He’s a big-time Flyers fan. I told him about how we met and offered to pay him to bring you here for a few hours. But he didn’t want money. He settled for autographed memorabilia.”
She laughs. “You got off easy.”
“Tell me about it. I would’ve paid anything to make this moment special for you. This house, this backyard, all of it means something to us. I want you to look back on this day and remember it the same way you did the first time we met, the first time we sat out here together.”
“I remember thinking you were the hottest boy I’d ever met.” Her cheeks flush crimson. “I had an instant crush on you.”
“And now?”
“Still the hottest boy I’ve ever met. Only now, you’re a man. My man.”
The corners of my mouth turn up into a smile. “One more thing,” I add, nervous about how she’ll react to the last part. “Since I had to ask your dad and your brother if I could marry you—”
“You did?” She claps her hands together and laughs. “Was that Will’s idea?”
“Of course. You know your brother. Goddamn pain in my ass. I had to ask him over dinner like we were on a fucking date.”
She shakes her head. “He’s insane.”
“If you only knew. That’s not what I wanted to tell you, though. Since Will is my best man, he’s already started planning my bachelor party.”
She rolls her eyes. “What if I said no?”
I smirk. “Look who’s got jokes.”
“Whatever. It could’ve happened.” She glances down at her ring and smiles. “So, where is Will taking you? On a tour of every strip club in the world?”
“Would you let me go?”
She laughs. “Not like I could stop you.”
“I would do anything for you. If you didn’t want me to go, I’d tell Will no. But you’d have a very angry brother to deal with. Will’s been looking forward to my bachelor party since I told him I want to marry you. He already booked our rooms in Vegas.”
“Vegas, baby.” She throws her arms above her head. “I’m coming, too. I can have my bachelorette party there.”
“Are you serious?”
She shrugs, nonchalant, as if hijacking my bachelor party isn’t a big deal. “Yeah, why not?”
“Because your brother will have a stroke. No women allowed.”
“Same city, different parties. Let me handle Will.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
Mia grips my hand, and a pulse of electricity dances up my arm. No matter how much time passes, the sensation never fades. She smiles as if she can feel it too.
Six months later
Clarke’s party girl side came out to play the second we touched down at McCarran Airport. She was already slightly buzzed from the drinks my brother passed down the row to her during the flight, and now she’s so drunk she’s dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly, of all places. Yep, it’s not just a bar from a movie.
Located inside the New York-New York Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the bar looks exactly like what I remember from the movie. And Clarke managed to talk her way up there. We were supposed to keep the bachelor and bachelorette parties separate, but somehow we all ended up here.
