Page 104 of Miss Manage

“Of course I meant it.” My laugh came out tight, like I was holding my breath in my teeth. “I just don’t want to freak you, I mean her out by blurting it like an idiot in a bar⁠—”

She touched a finger to my lips, stopping the spiral in its tracks, and then lowered her hand with a smile that hit me square in the chest. “I promise she wouldn’t be freaked out. In fact, I’m pretty sure if you proposed, she’d say yes.”

My breath stuttered. “You think so? Even without the perfect proposal? You don’t suppose she’d want something more romantic?”

“Well…” She leaned in, voice dipping warm. “I don’t know her personally. But I’d imagine so long as it’s you, whether it’s tonight, tomorrow, or next week, the answer is yes. She’s a lucky woman.”

A slow smile curved across my mouth. “Believe me, I’m the lucky one. And I’m glad I met you tonight.”

I tossed back the rest of my drink, set a hundred-pound note on the bar, and rose from the stool. “May I walk you back to your hotel?”

“That’s very kind of you.”

Outside, I reached for her hand without hesitation. The moment her fingers threaded through mine, something settled in my chest. We walked in an easy, charged quiet, the cool London air brushing past us as the city moved around our little world of pretend.

Except it didn’t feel like pretend anymore.

With each step toward the hotel, the game thinned, reality filling the space between us. Adrenaline ran warm through my veins, anticipation coiling tightly as her shoulder brushed mine.

Neither of us broke the silence. Perhaps we both needed the walk to shift us from make-believe to reality.

The moment the door to our room clicked shut behind us, I backed her against the wall and kissed her like I’d been starving for it. “I fucking missed you, Charlotte.”

“I missed you, too,” she whispered against my mouth.

I forced myself to pull back, barely, because I couldn’t last another minute. After crossing the room, I dug into my computer bag, and my fingers closed around the box that had been on my mind all week.

I walked back and dropped to a knee in front of her.

“You are my person. My partner.” My voice was thick with everything I’d been holding on to. “Will you marry me?”

She gasped when I opened the box. Her sister had helped me pick out a beautiful antique diamond that was both feminine and classic. She locked her gaze on mine. “You’re my person, my partner, and my future, too. Yes, Gabriel. I’ll marry you.”

With shaky hands, I slipped the ring onto her left ring finger and then stood up so that I could kiss her again. “In my head I told myself to hold off on the proposal until the other side of this merger, but I couldn’t wait a moment longer.”

Her smile curved, slow and sure. “Seems mergers are part of our love story.”

I brushed my nose against hers. “Mm. We’re my favorite merger of all.”

She laughed, that warm, familiar sound that had anchored me from the beginning, and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close. Whatever came next, with new challenges and chapters, we’d face it side by side. Together.