Page 107 of Bound to You

“Sure,” I say, and they all look at me. My stomach tumbles as I walk down the hall to Caio’s study where he keeps all his records.

I knock lightly on the door and push it open. What I see inside sets my heart racing.

Caio turns around as I step inside.

His desk is gone.

His chair is gone.

His couch is gone.

All that’s in the room is my Caio, wearing a three-piece suit and looking at me with nerves shining in his ocean eyes.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi.” I laugh nervously. I feel like I know what’s happening, and I feel like I might throw up.

“I am so glad you picked that dress.” He runs a hand through his hair, a disbelieving smirk on his face.

“Well, you did say you liked it,” I shrug, trying to hold in my smile.

“It’s perfect.”

My heart beats as if I’m running from imminent death.

“Come here,” Caio says, holding his hand out for me. I take it, walking further into the room, and landing right in front of him.

He sweeps a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m surprised you weren’t fiddling with this.”

“I don’t think I can do anything right now.” I laugh nervously again, and he chuckles softly, the sound shaky with what I assume are nerves of his own.

“Isla.”

“Mmhm?”

“My Isla, my artist, my love, my reason for being here. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” I breathe.

“I can’t believe the way you fell into my lap. This perfect thing, dropped right in my path. I can’t believe I was lucky enough to be the first person driving down that road. To find someone like you waiting for me.”

My eyes flood and I try to hold the tears in, willing them to suck back into where they came from so I can see him clearly. So I can commit every detail of this moment to memory.

“I never thought I’d be one of those people to find someone who meant so much to me, that I was willing to give everything up for, but here we are. Here you are.

“I would give up the world for you, sweetheart. Somehow you became the only thing that is important to me. The one thing that I can’t lose, the one thing that I want to keep forever.”

He kneels down onto one knee, and I can’t stop the tears from falling.

He reaches up, gently wiping them from my cheeks with a shaky hand before he pulls a red velvet box from his pocket.

I can barely breathe as he opens it. Barely breathe when I see the gigantic diamond nestled into the cushion.

“Will you tell me what I want to know if I ask you?”

I nod and he lets me get away with it.

“Will you marry me, sweetheart? Will you let me keep you forever?”

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