Page 102 of Pretty Heartache

And Micah Harding is absolutely loyal.

That’s what I’ve focused on.

That, and the fact Archer’s left his drug dealing life behind, even going as far as to cut our father off completely.

I pull away from Micah, and Archer pulls me in for a hug. “It’s all good,” he says, scratching at his chin. “This is where I leave you both, anyway.”

“Oh?” I trade glances between him and Micah. “I thought you were coming home with us.”

“No.” He shakes his head. “I need to get back to Austria. This trip is just for you two.” He looks at Micah once more before bringing him in for a quick hug, clapping him on the back.

Archer leaves us and climbs into his own car. Micah wraps his arm around me and ushers me toward the plane.

“How was your shoot?” he asks. We’re still several feet away from the stairs when he starts slowing his steps.

“It was good,” I tell him, eyeing him with suspicion.

“Just good.” He arches his eyebrows and pulls us to a full stop.

I smile and laugh. “Yeah.”

“You don’t sound so sure.” He bends at the knees slightly, his hands still dipped into his pants. I search his beautiful face, giving in to tell him what’s been on my mind for the past several hours.

“Fine.” I groan, stabbing my heel against the pavement, hating that Micah can see right through me, but also loving that he notices. “It’s stupid, but I can’t get something Ruby said at the photoshoot out of my head.”

“What did she say?”

“It’s dumb, Micah.” Suddenly, I’m embarrassed—a feeling I’m not completely foreign to when it comes to Micah.

“I doubt it.”

I roll my eyes and inhale a deep breath, blowing it out between my red-painted lips. “Ruby called me Mrs. Harding because she thought you’d proposed to me and I’d been keeping it from her.”

Yep, I definitely feel stupid for bringing this up now.

My heart races, and my cheeks heat. I swallow my nerves, hating that I’ve brought this up. Micah has spent most of his adult life thinking he’s behind. He’s thirty-seven now, still unmarried, still childless. And while I’ve wanted to give him all those things, I didn’t want to rush him. I wanted to marry him years ago, but I didn’t want him to feel like he was only doing it to check a box off his list.

He’s also thought it’s what I’ve wanted since my early twenties. I constantly remind him that I don’t care what age I am. Since he felt like he’d wasted his twenties, he didn’t want me doing the same.

But I’ve always known I want to marry him, and as the years have gone by, I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready than I am now. As I look into his blue-gray eyes against the backdrop of a city far from home, I realize this is all I’ve ever wanted.

“Huh.” He frowns in thought. The lines in the corner of his eyes deepen as he jerks back, trying to get a read on me. “And how did hearing her call you that make you feel?”

“What?” I ask, my heart racing even faster.

“How did it make you feel? Her calling you Mrs. Harding?”

I smile, my nerves higher than they’ve ever been. “I liked it. It felt like it’s been my name all along.”

“Oh.” He removes one hand from his pocket and rests it on his chin in thought. “Kind of like how you used to doodleAdelineHardingin little hearts all over your notebook when you were eleven? That kind of feeling?”

“Micah.” I gape, playfully slapping him on the arm, but he catches my left hand before I have the chance to pull it away and drops to one knee. “Micah?” My giggling subsides, but my cheeks remain heated. Tears immediately prick the backs of my eyes.

“I’ve loved you for years, Adeline, and when I look back on it, the only regret I have is not having asked you this before.”

“Don’t regret it,” I whisper. “Any amount of time with you isn’t a regret.”

“It isn’t,” he says, staring up into my eyes. “Not one single moment. I used to spend my years counting the days of what I missed, thinking I had to check off milestones by this year and that year. But I don’t. And then I thought because you were in your twenties, you shouldn’t live your life tied down. You deserved to spend your twenties not rushing. But I’m only lying to myself.”

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