Page 162 of My Ruthless Opponent

“Okay.” He releases a breath then adds, “Let’s do this.”

He turns me around so that I am facing the beach. When I do, what I see makes me gasp.

It’s neither the full moon in the dark background of the night sky nor the silver lines of waves that are sparkling under the starlight that takes my breath away.

I am standing at the start of a rose petal-scattered walkway that has twinkling fairy lights and candles lining up its two edges.

The walkway leads to the cabana that’s decorated with white, sheer draping, woven with flowers and lights.

I look around and find hearts made up of candles all over the sand.

My hand covers my mouth. I look up at him and find him staring at me. I am blown away. For the first time, I feel like I am special to someone.

“Raleigh… this is…” So beautiful. This is everything.

He smiles softly, his shoulder relaxes as if he was anxious about my reaction.

With a hand on my lower back, he guides me ahead.

As soon as we begin walking on the walkway, something soft falls on my face.

I lift my gaze and my heart flutters when thousands and thousands of rose petals fall over us from the sky.

Three drones are flying over us, showering us with rose petals as we continue walking.

An incredulous gasp escapes me as the petals continue cascading down on us.

The softest caress of petals on my face and body sends my heart in a flurry of wild beats. Am I in a dream or is this real? It feels like I am in paradise.

The romantic ambiance of candles, soft lightings, and rose petals along with the sweet melody of the ocean is stupendous. The astounding combination of these elements blows my mind. Raleigh went all out.

My eyes meet his. Raleigh is grinning at me, it’s so infectious I find myself grinning like a fool.

He reaches out and plucks a petal from my hair. My heart swells. I loop my arm with his and rest my head on his shoulder as we walk.

With each step, we get closer to the cabana. It is filled with bouquets of red roses.

If it were possible to freeze time, I would and spend eternity in this stunning setting with him.

At that moment, when the breeze picked up and Raleigh pulled me to him once again, I realized…. I am falling hard and fast for Raleigh. Scratch that. I am not falling anymore. I already fell.

I am totally and completely in love with him. The epiphany fills me with dread. Because I want him beside me. Not for one year like we planned. I want him to be with me forever.

I don’t know how and when I fell in love with him. And I guess that is the beauty of love, isn’t it?

You can’t keep a record of things that made you fall in love with that person. There’s no such thing. Love is love. It is simple.

We complicate it by pondering on why we love the person, or what made us fall in love with them. We can’t control it. It just happens.

Loving him wasn’t a decision… I never planned to fall in love with my opponent. I fell for him before I even realized I did. He made me brave enough to open my heart’s doors again.

Who am I kidding? He broke down the damn thing and waltzed inside.

Falling in love with Raleigh made me realize that I was never in love with Andrew. Because he never made me feel whole like Raleigh does.

All of a sudden, my mind begins thinking of the future.

What would happen after our one year of marriage deal is up?

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