“You didn’t close your eyes.”
With a sexy smirk, I closed my eyes and listened to his footsteps hurrying away.My breath hitched.This was it.The surprise.I sensed him before he said a word.Despite the fact that at 5’11, he looked small next to my four brothers, his presence had made him larger than life.He didn’t need the height, not when he had a dominating aura that you couldn’t ignore.
The faint rustling of a box opening and closing caught my attention.A slight thud of something being placed gently on the table in front of me had me sitting straight up.
“Okay, open.”
My eyes flew open, and I stared at a small black box.It was closed.Not opened.Not in his hands as he was on one knee, but Wyatt was never the conventional type.My breath caught in my throat as I reached for the box.
As a little girl, I had dreamed about this moment; as a woman in her twenties, I gave up that dream, never thinking it was in the cards for me.For us.But now.Now I could be the one inviting my friends to my engagement party, my bridal shower, my bachelorette party, my… wedding.
A rush of happiness flooded through me as I met Wyatt’s eyes.
“Go on,” he said, nodding toward the small box.
I flipped the lid open, the wordyesready to burst free.
It died on my tongue.
A necklace.
It’s a necklace.
A pretty one.A delicate gold chain with a golden camera charm nestled on a square of velvet..Tears burned behind my eyes as the fragile hope I’d been clinging to shattered.I forced a smile, blinking hard and praying he wouldn’t notice how badly I’d misread everything.
“Do you like it?”he asked, a hopeful smile on his lips.
“L-love it,” I managed past the lump in my throat.
He took the charm between his fingers and turned it over.“I had it engraved.”
Love at first sight.
“Because you’ll never convince me it wasn’t.”He smiled, and my aching heart cracked a little more.
Disappointment consumed me, settled deep in my bones, but I forced a smile.This was on me, not him.I foolishly expected something he’d told me he never wanted.Marriage had always been off the table.Yet… I hoped.
I stared down at the golden camera.A beautiful and sweet gift.The perfect representation of us.We’d been in photography class together but had never once spoken until the night of that party… he had said he had admired me from afar for months.Love at first sight, he always claimed.I jokingly called him an idiot.
Photography class.
Tears blurred my eyes.Disappointment battled with reality.It was perfect.Thoughtful.So Wyatt.
But it wasn’t a ring.
I swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in my throat.“It’s perfect.”My voice was small, forcing past emotion that was trying to escape, and I was desperately trying to force down.
Relief flashed across his face, that adorable grin turning into a full-on dopey smile.“Here, let me put it on you.”He took the box from my grasp and gently removed the necklace.He stood behind me, bent to my ear.His breath caressed my skin.“Hold your hair.”
I brushed my shoulder-length bob away from my neck, holding it to the side.The cold press of the charm landed on my chest.Wyatt kissed my shoulder before stepping around me.“Perfect fit.”
My hand landed on the charm.Memories from photography class and all the assignments we did together after that party flooded my mind.
“Hold still,” I had teased, peering through my camera.“You look ridiculous with your tongue out.”
Wyatt had grinned.“I’m giving you a masterpiece, Grasso.This is art.”
“Happy anniversary, Rosebud.”
