“I wascompletely obsessedwith you. Still am.” Then he drops to one knee. He pulls something from his pocket—a small red velvet box.
“Luca…” My voice sounds like a warning. “What are you doing?”
“Emma Green,” he says, opening the box to reveal the most stunning ring I’ve ever seen, “will you marry me?”
I stare at it. Athim. My brain is short-circuiting with questions.
But—
We’re so young. We’re about to start college. We havenomoney.
“It’s a simple answer, Em. Yes or no.”
“Yes,” I say, without a second of doubt.
Luca beams. He stands, slips the ring onto my finger, and kisses me, pulling me into his arms like he never wants to let go.
I wrap mine around him just as tightly and whisper against his lips, “I love you.”
“You havenoidea how much I love you,” he murmurs.
Emma answers her phone just as I’m about to hang up. Before she can even say a word, I jump in. “Emma, there are people at my front door.” My voice comes out damn near desperate.
She bursts out laughing—and that laugh? It wrecks me. Because all it does is trigger memories. Of her laughing breathless in my bed, the first time I kissed her.
“Today’s the shoot, remember?” she says, still amused.
I peek through the curtains in my living room. There’s a crowd outside my house, and the only faces I recognize are Sam and Karen.
“Yeah, but why the hell aren’t you here?” I can’t deal with this alone. Not without her.Damn it.
“I’m with Jack.”
“Who the hell is Jack?” I snap. She left me here with all these people, and she’s offwith some guy? “Emma, if you’re not here in fifteen minutes, forget the video?—”
There it is again. That laugh. But this time, it doesn’t make me feel warm. It makes meangry.
“Jack is thedog, Luca. The dog you’re going to shoot with in the video. I went to pick him up. I’m literally in the Uber, almost at your place.”
Oh. Thedog.
Great. Now I look like a jealous, possessive idiot.
I exhale and look up at the ceiling, like maybe it’ll drop an excuse down on me that’ll explain away my meltdown.
“Luca…” Emma says gently, pulling me back from my shame spiral.
“What?”
“Stop hiding behind the curtains and open the door.”
I glance back toward the entrance. There she is—standing right outside my house, looking straight at me like sheknowsI’ve been watching her.
She’s holding a dog on a leash, and she’s wearingthatpink suit—the one she wore the first day I saw her again.
Damn.
I walk to the door wearing my best grumpy face, maybe a little overdone—and Emma smiles like she’s immune to my moods. Behind her, at least six people are waiting.
