Page 101 of Guarded from Danger

I drop to my knee.

She gasps, her eyes going wide.“Xavier?”

With a shaking hand, I pull the ring from the bag and hold it out to her.

All the beautiful things I planned to say fly out of my head. All that’s left is the simplest of truths. “I love you, Lucy. More than I—” My voice cracks. “I never knew love could be like this. Could feel like this. I didn’t think I’d ever… but then I met you.”

A tear slips down her cheek.

Please. Let it be a happy tear, like she says she cries sometimes.

“I had all these romantic things to say, Luce. About how much I love you. But right now… Shit. I can’t remember. I just love you. Big capital letters in bold, love. I love you with all myheart. And I’ll do anything for you. Anything to make you happy, to take care of you, not that you need me to, but I want?—”

“I love you, too.”

“Will you marry me? I know this isn’t like the proposals in your books, when the guy says all these perfect, eloquent things. But what I can’t say, I’ll show you. I’ll spend my life showing how much I love you, if you’ll let me.”

And then I take my heart from my chest and hand it over to her. “Lucy. Will you marry me? Even if I say the wrong thing sometimes and I curse too much, and I—” My eyes go damp. “I’m not perfect, Luce. But I’ll spend my life trying to be the best husband to you.”

Lucy blinks. Another tear escapes.

Time stops.

“Yes. Oh, yes. Ofcourse.” She kneels down and flings her arms around me. “Of course, Xavier. I would love to be your wife.”

My eyes aren’t just damp anymore.

I never imagined.

I never dared to hope.

As I slip the diamond ring on Lucy’s finger, she touches my cheek. When I look back up at her, she has the fiercest look in her eyes. “What you said? Your proposal? It’s a thousand times better than anything I’ve written. Because it’s real.”

“Oh, Luce.”

“And something else.” Amid the cheers around us, she holds my gaze. “Youareperfect, Xavier. You’re perfect to me.”

Hugging her close, I feather light kisses across Lucy’s face before capturing her lips.

When the cheers turn to hoots and low whistles, I finally pull away and thumb the lingering tears from her cheeks. “I love you, Lucy. And I can’t wait to marry you.”

“Me neither.” She smiles, and her Lucy-glow is brighter than it’s ever been. “Let’s not wait too long. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Lucy Stone.”

Oh.

My heart.

I never knew it could be this full.

EPILOGUE

Seven Months Later

LUCY

This has been the best Christmas yet, and it’s still not over.

I’ve always loved Christmas, ever since I was old enough to know who Santa was. My parents took the time to make it special for me, taking me to holiday festivals and driving around to look at all the decorations and spending hours trimming our tree. We made cookies and read Christmas stories and one year, my dad even rented a snow machine so I could make my first snowman.

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