Roman cleared his throat. “I have something I’d like to share with everyone.”
The residual chatter dimmed until no one spoke.
“It’s Sadie’s birthday. She figured out the surprise because I am apparently an easy target.”
Everyone chuckled in response.
“It’s true,” Babushka shouted. “He’s very easy.”
“The thing is, I fell in love,” he said, not looking away from Sadie.
No one spoke, not even Babushka.
Which was fine—the pounding of his heart was loud enough, he didn’t need outside noises.
Sadie’s entire face had gone soft. She reached out and squeezed his hand.
“I fell in love with Sadie ten years ago.” Fuck, his voice wobbled like his heart in his chest. “I was just too caught up in myself to realize it was love or that it could happen so fast.”
Sadie’s eyes misted over like the fountain he’d bought her for her office.
“More recently, I fell in love with her all over again.”
There. That sounded good. Not rehearsed. Not planned. Still good.
“Maybe I never stopped loving her.”
That was definitely the case.
“Rome,” Sadie whispered.
“And I hope she’ll be mine.” Roman cleared his throat. “Forever.”
He moved his eyes away from Sadie to allow his gaze to wander over the room. Over his grandmother and her boyfriend of the moment, Etta, his parents, her parents, his brother and Heather—everyone. They all waited with rapt attention.
His gaze fell back on Sadie. Sadie, who didn’t seem to be breathing.
He wasn’t good with words when he was nervous, so he dropped to his knee and held out a velvet ring box with a princess-cut diamond in a gold setting.
“Marry me?” he asked, his knee digging into the floor.
Sadie’s expression went blank. Babushka gasped loudly. Lothario yipped.
But there was only Sadie and Roman. The two of them in a room of everyone they cared about.
“Seriously?” she asked him, reaching out to touch the diamond.
“Like you didn’t know this was coming,” he replied.
“I didn’t.” A tear trickled over the edge of her eyelid. The tear wasn’t the bad kind. He’d learned all of the varieties of Sadie tears, and this one was because she was happy.
“It’s a yes or no question.” Roman looked pointedly at the ring.
“All my noes turn to yeses when I’m with you,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him.
“Is that a bad thing?” he whispered back against her mouth. Because truth be told, all his noes turned to yeses around her, too.
Another tear fell over her eyelashes and down along the apple of her cheek. “Not at all. It’s just that…”
