He grins, completely unfazed. “Since when have I ever followed the rules?”
That would be never.
“If I followed arbitrary rules like ‘don’t mix business and pleasure,’ we wouldn’t even be here right now.”
I snort. “Yeah, that’s not an arbitrary rule. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”
Which is why it’s a good thing I quit before we started dating.
I reposition the laptop screen so I can see what I’m doing and type in Miles’s VPN password. The request for help is so much like the early days of our relationship that I can’t help but smile. Thankfully, he’s gotten better at managing his chaotic life since then, but now and then he begs me to help him out—for old times’ sake.
The VPN spins, the icon making endless rotations, as it verifies the password.
Chances are Miles typed it in wrong the first time. He’s terrible at keeping track of his passwords and used to have a file on his desktop containing all of them until Beck found out and put a stop to it.
I love the man, but he’s literally a cybersecurity nightmare. Which is why he doesn’t have the passwords to So Savvy Traveler accounts. That and the very real possibility that he’d post using the hashtags Gran’s always texting us.
The VPN finally settles, and the wordsAccess Deniedflash in red.
Neta?
I try it again and get the same result.
“Did you change your password recently?”
Miles frowns, brow furrowed. “I don’t think so.”
There’s a notable lack of confidence in his words, so I click the password hint.
A new window opens on the screen, and I freeze, pulse roaring in my ears.
That can’t be right. Maybe I had one too many mojitos.
I read the hint again.
Inside the small gray box are the words “Will you marry me?”
I lift my gaze from the screen and find Miles watching me intently.
His face is unreadable, but it doesn’t matter. I know this man as well as I know myself. I know his heart, just as I know my own.
And there’s no one else I would rather spend the rest of my life with.
No one else I’d rather have by my side on these wild travel adventures.
Warmth floods my chest and tears blur my vision as I look down at the screen and type my reply with trembling hands.
YES.
The screen lights up, and the wordsPassword Acceptedflash in green.
I turn the screen so Miles can see it, but he’s already on his feet, pushing the laptop aside and pulling me up with him.
His smile is as wide as I’ve ever seen it, and when our eyes meet, his are filled with such love and tenderness there can be no doubt that while our relationship started as a no-strings fling, it will end with a happily ever after.
Miles folds me into his arms and lowers his mouth to mine, kissing me slow and deep, just like he has a thousand times before. A familiar toe-curling excitement radiates from every place our bodies touch, and yet it’s different this time, because I know with every fiber of my being that I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving this man.
Like there was ever any doubt.
