Page 40 of The Heart You've Borrowed

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I say to him as I wrap my arms around his waist.

“You look beautiful.” He kisses my forehead.

“Thank you.” I smile up at him.

“Let’s go.” He grabs my hand and leads me out of the apartment.

“Where’s Kelly?”

“I think she’s at the gym with Brad again.” He laughs.

“Do you think they are actually working out?” I bite my bottom lip.

“I’m sure they are, just maybe not in the way most people do.”

“Shut up.” I swat at his arm as we make our way to his truck.

“I’m just saying.” He raises his hands in defense.

“Well, hopefully they work out.” I shake my head.

“She’s a heartbreaker so who knows what will happen. But today isn’t about them, it’s about us.” He smiles at me as he opens the door for me.

“Where are we going?”

“You do know what the word surprise means right?” He smirks as he closes my door, making me roll my eyes.

We drive for about thirty minutes before we pull down a dirt road. Trees line the road and I have to say it is beautiful. It reminds me of all the romance movies I love to watch. I look over at Lio and I get butterflies. I don’t know what I did in life to deserve him but I am damn lucky to have him by my side. He looks over at me and smiles, grabbing my hand and bringing it to his lips to kiss my knuckles.

“Where are we?” I question as I look out the window.

“I’ve wanted to take you here for a long time.” His voice goes soft.

“For how long?” I laugh.

“Two years.”

“What?” I turn to face him.

“You’ll see.” He smirks at me. Two years? I’ve only been here for two months. How could he have wanted to show me this for two years.

“It’s beautiful.” I whisper as a house comes into view.

“I knew you would like it.” He pulls in front of it and turns the truck off. He gets out of the truck and comes around to my side opening the door for me.

“It looks just like the house in that magazine.” I laugh to myself remembering the time in high school that Lio was over and I showed him a house from some magazine I found. I told him that one day I was going to live in a house like that. I was going to get married and live my life there. He laughed at me and told me that one day he will make that dream come true for me.

“It’s not the exact house but it’s the closest I could find.” He finally says from behind me. I spin around to look at him.

“What do you mean?” I question.

“You didn’t know this but I kept that page from the magazine and I promised myself that if I ever had enough money I would buy you that house. I kept it all these years, even after we fell out of touch. So when I saw this one on the market I bought it two years ago for you even though I didn’t know if you would ever come back into my life. I wanted to feel close to you in any way possible. I know it sounds silly or even stupid but it made me feel like you were still a part of my life.” He laughs, pulling the magazine page out of his pocket and holding it up.

“Lio.” My voice cracks as tears stream down my face.

“I love you, Charlie Mae, more than I ever thought was possible. You are my entire world, you are the air that I breathe, you give me life. And I will forever be thankful for that. You have shown me what the true meaning of life is. I want to spend the rest of my life with you starting today, here. I have spent the last two years fixing it up and I want us to move in together. I want us to start the next chapter of our lives here.” He smiles as he gets down on one knee and pulls out a beautiful diamond ring.

“Will you marry me, silly girl?” There are tears in his eyes.

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