Chapter one
Natalie
“Ineed you to marry me.”
I blink at Gabriel Shelly like he just banged on my apartment door and set off a bomb.
There’s no smoke.
No alarm.
Just him. Six-foot-something, broad shoulders blocking my doorway, hair damp like he didn’t bother drying it, eyes too sharp for charm and too controlled to be casual.
And me.
Blazer still on. Heels kicked off. Keys lined up in the tray like soldiers. Because I don’t unravel at the end of the day. I organize.
I don’t know what this is.
But it’s about to wreck something.
“Hi,” I say, because apparently I’m a robot who defaults to professionalism when a man shows up at my door and proposes like it’s an emergency.
Gabriel doesn’t smile.
That’s the first sign something is really wrong.
He usually smiles. Not in a cocky way like Dex. Not in the “I know I’m hot and I’m going to weaponize it” way like Bryce. Gabriel smiles like he’s letting you in on a private joke, like he’s the only one in the room who remembers to breathe.
Right now he looks like he forgot how.
“I’m serious,” he says.
“I can see that.” My voice comes out steadier than I feel. “Are you… okay?”
He drags a hand over his face. The stubble rasp is audible from where I stand. That shouldn’t be sexy in a moment like this. It absolutely is. My brain is useless.
He stares past me into my apartment like he’s looking for exits.
“Can I come in?” he asks.
I should say no.
I should say,This is my home, not the team lounge.
But Gabriel is already here, and something in his eyes is… not panic, exactly.
Desperation.
My hands start to sweat.
“Yeah,” I say, stepping back. “Come in.”
He moves like he’s carrying something heavy and invisible. He barely makes it three steps inside before he turns back to me.
“I need to talk about Maddie,” he says.
The words snap everything into place.
