Page 121 of Always Yours

He grins. “Don’t get upset.”

“Don’t be weird.”

“Don’t be nosy.”

“Don’t be elusive.”

He laughs as he pulls into the apartment complex.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Janie, stop.”

“Then what is it?”

Dimitri meets my gaze and slowly shakes his head. “My mom gave me something, and it has put a lot on my mind.”

“What?”

He works his lips. “I wanted to wait until we left.”

“For what?” I ask, completely and utterly freaked out and a little bit annoyed.

“You know, you make my life hard.”

“I makeyourlife hard?” I throw back. “You torment me in and out of bed, Dimitri Blake Titov!”

“Hey, it’s a job, and someone has to do it. I’m very thankful it’s me.”

“Impossible,” I say, crazed by him. “How can I argue with you when you do this?”

“Oh no, you’re figuring out my plan to keep you from arguing with me,” he teases, his eyes playful and, God, so beautiful. He reaches out, cupping my face in his hand. He runs his thumb along my lips, and I get lost in his eyes.

Wholeheartedly in love with everything about him.

And who he is.

My love.

“I love you, Austen.”

Gone is my annoyance, still unable to resist those three words. “I love you.”

He stares deep into my eyes, his thumb putting me in a trance. His lips part as if he is going to say something, but then he stops, still searching my gaze. I reach up, covering his hand with mine. “You can say anything, Dimitri. You know that.”

“I do,” he says, such emotion in his voice. “You remember how, when we were on the phone with your Babu’s son and you introduced me as your boyfriend?”

I go still in his hand. “Yeah. Was that not right?”

“Yeah, it is, but I’ve always felt we were more than that.”

“Oh, I have too, but they don’t have a word for something other than boyfriend,” I say, laughing. “I’ll sound silly if I’m like, this is my soul mate, my love, my whole life, my world, my everything, Dimitri. That’s a lot for one person to process.”

He grins, his eyes twinkling. “Then how about your husband?”

My laughter trails off as I blink at him. “My husband?”

He swallows hard, letting me go to dig into his pocket. He pulls out a rather worn green box and slowly opens it to reveal a stunning, large round-diamond ring that has little diamonds surrounding it on a platinum band. The sight of the ring leaves me unable to breathe, much less think about what the hell is happening. What he is asking or even implying.

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