Page 164 of Our Chaotic Love Affair

“Hi,” he said.

I would never get tired of looking at the man. It was truly unfair that he got better looking every day. By the time he was seventy, I would need special glasses just to look at him. He was far too attractive for my own good. Normally, I would probably be jealous. But I wasn’t. I completely trusted him. He would never cheat on me. And he loved me. He only had eyes for me. There were times when my own insecurities snuck up on me, but Cash always made me feel better.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” He didn’t look sorry. He looked like he was trying not to smile. “I was sitting at the bar, having a drink, when I saw the most beautiful woman in the piazza.”

“Very sneaky, Lurch.”

“And I thought to myself. That woman. She’s the one. My one true love.” He stepped closer. “So I bought her a drink. Hoped maybe she’d give me a chance.”

My eyes were already filling with tears. “What are you doing?”

“When in Rome,” he said simply.

Then he dropped to one knee. The piazza went silent. Every person there stopped what they were doing. The musicians played on. The fountain bubbled. And Cash Bancroft knelt in front of me, pulling a small box from his pocket.

“Cleo Quinn.” His voice was steady even though his hands weren’t.

My heart stopped beating the moment Cash pulled out that small velvet box. It felt as if Rome itself was holding its breath. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. My eyes were already blurring with tears.

“I’ve spent my entire life planning. Calculating. Making sure every step was measured and every risk was minimized. And then you walked into my world with your purple hair and your fearless heart, and you turned everything upside down in the best possible way.”

I pressed my hand to my mouth, trying to hold back a sob. This gorgeous man was on his knee in front of me in the very place where we’d first fallen in love.

“You taught me how to live,” he continued. “How to laugh. How to take chances. How to dance in fountains and eat gelato for breakfast and love without keeping score.”

The string quartet played softly in the background. People at nearby tables were watching, smiling, some of them wiping away tears of their own.

“I had this whole speech prepared,” Cash said, his voice cracking slightly. “Pages of it. But now that I’m here, looking at you, the only words that matter are these. I love you. I will always love you. And I want to spend every day of my life proving that to you. You are my world. I want nothing and no one except for you.”

He opened the box, revealing a ring that was the complete opposite of the one he presented to me for our fake engagement. It was a stunning emerald surrounded by diamonds, set in platinum. Not a traditional engagement ring. Something uniquely me. Something that showed he knew exactly who I was.

“I’m asking you to be my very real wife. My partner. My everything.”

I couldn’t stop the tears now. They flowed freely down my cheeks as I stared at this man who had completely changed my life.

“Cleo Quinn, will you marry me?”

It was more of a rhetorical question. We’d been talking about being married but we just never committed to it.

“Yes,” I whispered, then louder: “Yes! A thousand times yes!”

The piazza erupted in cheers and applause. Cash’s face broke into the most radiant smile I’d ever seen as he slipped the ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly.

He stood and pulled me into his arms, lifting me off my feet and spinning me around. Then he kissed me. It felt like my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. I actually wondered if there was a risk of real damage. I didn’t know how I could keep getting happier. My cup runneth over.

When we broke apart, I looked at the ring. Looked at him. Looked at the piazza full of strangers celebrating our engagement.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it. I love you.” I grabbed his face in my hands. “When did you plan this?”

“Weeks ago. The musicians, the lights, getting Marco in on it.” He grinned. “I wanted to do it right. Give you the proposal you deserved.”

“It’s perfect.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”