Sienna’s cheeks flush that pretty pink I adore, but she laughs. “One step at a time, Terrance. Let us survive New York first.”
He winks and says a final goodbye before driving away.
I pull Sienna close, cradling her face in both hands. My thumbs brush her cheeks as I look into her eyes. My heart is hammering so hard I’m sure she can feel it.
“I have a question to ask you before we leave,” I say softly.
She looks up at me, her brows furrowed, a small, curious smile tugging at her lips. “What?”
My mouth goes dry as the words come out steady. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
For a second, she just stares at me, then she smiles so wide her dimples appear. “Not at all what I was expecting you to ask. But yes. A million times over, yes.”
I grin, grip her waist, and pull her flush against me. “Exactly the answer I was hoping for.”
She laughs and wraps her arms around my neck. But a moment later, her expression grows more vulnerable. “I’m still scared,” she admits quietly, her voice muffled against my chest. “Of how much my life back in the city is going to change, youknow? But… It’s an exciting scared. Like, oh-my-God-I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening scared.”
I kiss the top of her head, then her temple, then gently tilt her chin so I can see those beautiful eyes I’ve completely fallen for.
“I know what you mean,” I murmur. “I’m scared too, but I’m right here, Sienna, every step of the way. I love you. That doesn’t change when we board that plane or land in New York. It only gets stronger. I promise.”
Her eyes shimmer as she rises onto her toes and kisses me. The kiss is slow, deep, and full of quiet hope.
“I love you too,” she whispers against my lips. “And I can’t wait to see what New York will be like with you.”
We stand there for a long moment, wrapped in each other, soaking up the last traces of island magic before reality calls. The warm breeze carries the scent of salt and flowers one last time, and my heart feels full to bursting—grateful, certain, and wildly in love with the woman who entered my life in a chaotic whirlwind and refused to leave.
Getting double-booked in paradise wasn’t so bad after all.
In fact, it marked the beginning of everything.
And as I hold her a little tighter, knowing we’re flying home together, I know with every steady beat of my heart that this is forever.
Epilogue
Milo
Three years later
I hearSienna before I see her, her bare feet padding across the hardwood floor, that familiar off-key humming drifting toward me like my favorite song on repeat.
She rounds the corner wearing nothing but one of my button-down shirts, the hem skimming the tops of her thighs. Her hair is piled messily atop her head, and her knee is already bouncing with that restless energy I’ve learned to love like breathing.
God, I still fall for her a little more every morning.
“You’re making me breakfast… again,” she says, leaning against the kitchen island, her eyes sparkling as she watches me. “Which means I get to stand here and admire those flexing forearms while you scramble eggs.”
I round the counter in two strides and pull her into my arms, my hands sliding around her waist. “Morning, baby.”
“Mmm. Morning, indeed.” She rises onto her toes to kiss me softly, her fingers threading through my hair as she lingers, humming happily against my lips.
Three years.
Three years of her chaotic laughter filling my heart, of late-night takeout and spontaneous dance parties in the living room, of me learning to calm her racing mind as she teaches me to let go.
Three years of loving the woman who spilled water all over me and completely rewrote my life for the better.
I lift her onto the island so we’re eye-level, then rest my forehead against hers. “I still can’t believe you’re mine.”
