Page 61 of Only Be Mine

He looked like someone offering his whole life, hoping I’d take it.

I swallowed hard. “John…”

His smile was shaky. “If you’re going to say no, I’d like you to do it before one of the actors jumps out and murders me.”

A wet laugh escaped me, surprising us both.

Then my heart overrode everything else.

“Yes,” I whispered.

John exhaled like he’d been drowning and I’d just pulled him to the surface.

He surged to his feet so fast I barely had time to breathe before his arms were around me, crushing me close. He kissed my cheek, my forehead, my neck, like he had to touch me everywhere to convince himself it was real.

“I love you,” he breathed against my skin. “I love you, Catherine Larkin.”

I wrapped my arms around him, clinging. “I love you too,” I whispered back, and for once the words didn’t feel like a trap. They felt like freedom.

He pulled back just enough to slide the ring onto my finger, his hands still trembling. The pink diamond caught the faint haunted-house light and glittered like something defiant.

Like it didn’t care about fear.

Like it didn’t care about ghosts.

John lifted my hand and kissed the ring like it was sacred.

“We’ve got time,” he whispered against my knuckles. “All the time we need.”

My throat tightened, emotion swelling up too big, too fast.

Then he grinned, the mischievous one, the one who knew exactly what he’d done by bringing me here.

“Now,” he said quickly, tugging me toward the exit, “before you change your mind, let’s get the hell out of here so you don’t actually murder me for this.”

I let out a shaky laugh as he guided me outside, the cold air hitting my flushed face.

And as the haunted house door closed behind us, John’s hand tightened around mine, warm and sure.

Chapter 20

Cate

Present

Ilet my fingers slide down the front of my shirt until they reached the gold chain I kept around my neck. I gave it a slight tug and pulled it free.

At the end of the chain, the ring caught the light as it surfaced - small, worn smooth at the edges. John’s ring.

I rolled it between my fingers absently, the metal warmed by my skin. There had to be something I missed. People didn’t just disappear. They went places. They left trails. They could be traced, tracked, found.

What if he was still out there somewhere?

I slipped the ring over my finger. It looked impossibly small next to the one Trevor had given me - delicate, almost fragile by comparison. Yet if I had to choose between the two…

It would’ve been this one. Every time.

Amy reached over and covered my hand with hers. “Wow,” she said softly. “I can’t believe you still have that.”