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“It’s okay, Brett. I knew what I was getting into. And you really didn’t have to speak up like that. It was really sweet of you.”
“I didn’t do it to be sweet. I did it because it was right.”
“I know why you did it. You wanted to sell the fact that you love me and we’re the perfect couple, and I think your grandfather believed it. I’m almost positive he thinks we’re really a couple, and he’s going to give you your trust. That’s what you wanted, right?”
“That’s what I said I wanted.”
“What do you mean, that’s what you said you wanted? He bought it. He bought the lie.”
“It’s not a lie, Rosie.”
“What are you talking about?”
We step outside, and I can see the moon in the sky. There’s silence between us for a few seconds.
“It’s true, Rosie. All of it was true.” His voice sounds desperate.
I look up at him in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m in love with you. I really do think you’re perfect. You’re beautiful, and you’re wonderful, and I know you might not believe me. I know we said this was friends with benefits, and then it wasn’t friends with benefits anymore, and …” He groans. “I’m sorry. Somewhere along the way, this became real for me. I don’t want to hold you back. I don’t want to do anything that makes you regret being part of this, but I can’t hold it in any longer. I love you. I really, truly love you, and I don’t care about the trust. I don’t care about any of it. I couldn’t look at you for one more night, kiss you, touch you, hold you, be inside you, and not be honest. When I say I love you, I mean it. I’m not acting. I’m not pretending.”
“I love you too,” I say softly.
He goes still. “Wait. What did you say?”
“I love you too, Brett.”
“You do?” His voice is full of wonder.
“I never thought in a million years you’d love me. I never thought this could ever be real.”
“It’s so real,” he says. “It’s realer than anything I’ve ever said or done in my life.” He grabs my hand and spins me around. “Why do I feel like it’s the stroke of midnight, and you’re going to go running off, and all I’ll have is a slipper to remember you by?”
“I’m not running off anywhere,” I say. “Not at midnight and not at any other time. You really love me, Brett?”
“I love you more than words can say. It feels so strange to say it, but I never want to stop. I love you. I love you. I love you. Rosie Meadows, how I love you.”
“Brett, I’ve loved you since maybe the day I met you, and I don’t even know what to say.”
“Say this means something to you. That it’s real.”
“It’s real, Brett. But I thought you didn’t want a relationship.”
“My heart has been closed off for a really long time. When Charlie died, I didn’t think I deserved love. I didn’t think I’d ever feel love again. And then I met you, and you had the tiniest little key, and I could feel the lock starting to come undone. I tried to ignore it. I tried to ignore you because I wasn’t looking for love or hoping for it. But you opened it up, and all I can do is think about you, love you, want you. And I don’t know what we’re going to do now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re my fake fiancée, but one day, I want you to be my real fiancée, and I want to propose to you in front of the world.”
I giggle. “Let’s take it one day at a time.”
“Oh, darling. We’re going to take it one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one week, one month, one year, one lifetime at a time.”
He pulls me into his arms and strokes the side of my face. His eyes are full of love as he looks down at me. He kisses my nose and then my lips.
“I love you, Rosie Meadows. For a million lifetimes.”
“I love you too.”
