Page 100 of Midnight Beast

“I have a very bad feeling,” I say as I walk toward the back door. Rocco and his guys are finished unloading and they disappear into the club to get themselves sorted out.

“Nah, this is good. You’ll like it.”

I grumble as I climb up into the back. It’s warm and empty, save for one last item, right in the middle. It looks like a wooden crate, and sitting on top is a black briefcase.

“What’s this?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder. Ronan’s leaning on the doorway to the truck, watching with his arms crossed.

“Open it.”

I obey, mostly because I’m too curious now. The latches click and the lid flips open—to reveal a second box.

This one is small, black, and wrapped in velvet.

My stomach flips. My heart races. Sweat prickles my palms. I turn to look back, and Ronan’s right there, his hand on my waist.

“Pick it up,” he whispers, keeping my back to him. He leans down and kisses my neck. “Go on, love. Open it.”

I lift the box and flip the lid.

Inside is a diamond ring. A single large stone is surrounded by more little glittering ones. The band is gold, and it’s perfect, perfect in a way that breaks my heart and puts it right back together.

“I want you in my life until the day that I die. I want you forever, Valentina. I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”

I pick up the ring and slide it onto my finger. “Yes,” I whisper.

He turns me around and buries my mouth with his.

We make out in the back of a truck that had been filled with very illegal drugs only a few minutes earlier.

And it’s perfect. It’s exactly perfect.

He breaks the kiss off and leans into me. I hug him tight, squeezing my eyes closed, my body trembling with joy and nerves and a thousand other sensations, all of them new and good. “I love you,” I say to him. “I can’t wait to do a whole lot of crime together.”

“I love you too,” he says and kisses me again. “Breaking the law is just so much sweeter when you’re by my side.”

I lean my head against his chest, and his heart’s beating as fast as mine.

“You know just what to say to make a girl feel special.”

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