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I laughed as I turned back to look at Mason. “They were in on this?”

Mason smiled sheepishly. “Yes. They’ve been in on this for a while. I knew I couldn’t pull it off on my own.”

Sarah and Bree came up the stairs and stood next to Mason and me. “We were in charge of clearing everyone out of the photography exhibit so you two could have some privacy,” Sarah said with a dreamy quality to her voice. I was certain she’d loved every second of being involved with a top-secret, romantic proposal like the one Mason had planned.

“Yeah,” Bree said with a roll of her eyes. “It sounded easy in theory, but proved to be a bit more difficult than we’d anticipated and we got behind schedule.”

“We were also in charge of guarding the stairs and making sure no one interrupted you during the proposal.” Sarah had a huge smile on her face and appeared to be quite proud of the fact she and Bree had handled their parts so well.

Everything suddenly clicked into place. I looked over at Mason whose entire face seemed to be one big grin as he saw the wheels churning in my head. “Is that who kept texting you? And why you suddenly got so weird downstairs?”

Mason laughed as he slipped his arm around me and kissed the top of my head. “Yes. I didn’t know how much longer I could stall going upstairs, and it was starting to make me nervous. Especially when Liam said you really needed to see your exhibit. Which by the way…have you looked at it?”

With the excitement of the proposal I’d completely forgotten we were standing in front of my photography exhibit. I had been so proud of my piece for that year. The city Mason lived in had some of the coolest architecture I’d ever seen. I’d had plenty of time to explore the area when I was visiting and Mason was working. I picked out a few of my favorite places and photographed each of them with the changing seasons. I’d taken the spring pictures on my last visit to see Mason, right before the portfolios for the Spring Art Show were due. The project had turned out even better than I’d anticipated. The stark contrast between the same subjects in different seasons was really amazing and unlike anything I’d ever captured before. Plus, even though I’d found the places on my own, Mason came with me every time I returned to photograph them, so although you couldn’t see it in the photos, each one held special memories of our time together.

I gave Mason a sly look. “No…I haven’t looked at it yet. I kind of got distracted by this really hot guy down on one knee with a beautiful ring asking me to marry him.” I smiled at Mason as I held out the hand with my engagement ring. My engagement ring. I sure did like the sound of that. I wiggled my fingers and was absolutely mesmerized by the overhead lights sparkling off the diamonds.

“Well, you should probably turn around and look at it.” Mason gently put his hands on my upper arms and slowly spun me around.

It was the second time that night I’d gasped in surprise.

Right there next to my exhibit was a small plaque with my name engraved on it. Below my name it said, “Best in Show for Photography.”

“Holy shit!” I spun back around so I was face to face with Mason. “Best in Show for Photography? I can’t believe it!” I shrieked with excitement. Mason wrapped his strong arms around me and pulled me into a hug. The smiles on our faces were enormous. I was so proud of myself. I’d worked really hard on my entry for that year and it felt so good to receive such a high award. It felt even better that the people I cared about the most in the world were there to share the moment with me.

“Congratulations, my gorgeous artist,” Mason whispered into my ear. He squeezed me a little tighter. “I’m so proud of you!” I felt myself beaming from the inside out and wondered, for a fleeting moment, if it was possible to explode from happiness.

“Do you have any idea how hard it was not to say something when we met up with you downstairs?” Sarah said with a laugh and a big smile. I pulled away from the embrace with Mason and tucked myself into his side so I could talk to my girls. “We saw it when we were clearing everyone out of here. Congratulations, Anna!” Sarah started clapping her hands and let out a little squeal of excitement.

“Yeah! Congrats, hot stuff! Both for the award-winning exhibit and for locking down this guy.” Bree waved her hand towards Mason. Over the past year, Bree and Sarah had really gotten to know Mason and both gave him a big stamp of approval.

I laughed as I reached out to hug Bree and Sarah. “Thank you so much to both of you!” I exclaimed from the middle of our group hug. “This has been the best night!”

“Well, you deserve it,” Sarah said sincerely.

I pulled away from the group hug and reached into my glittery clutch. “Can you take a few pictures of us?” I handed my phone to Sarah. “Bev couldn’t make it, but I’m sure she’d appreciate some.” She might be a flake, but she was still my mom. I stood next to Mason and held up my hand with my engagement ring. Once the moment was captured to everyone’s satisfaction, I posed next to my artwork and plaque. We of course had to end the photo shoot with a selfie of Bree, Sarah, and me making goofy faces as we squished together.

I felt a familiar hand dance across the exposed skin of my lower back. “If you ladies don’t mind, I would like to steal my award-winning fiancée away for the rest of the evening to celebrate.” I stepped away from Bree and Sarah to feel Mason’s arm snake around my waist and spin me around. He immediately placed a searing kiss on my lips. When he pulled away, the smile on his face was positively wicked.

I loved everything about it.

“Yes,” Bree chuckled. “Get out of here! We’ll see you guys tomorrow…or whenever you decide to come up for air.”

Bree wiggled her eyebrows at us suggestively as Sarah slapped her on the arm. “Bree! Seriously!”

“You know they’re going to put that hotel room to good use,” Bree said as she made loud kissing noises, which caused Sarah to gasp in mock horror, before both of them dissolved into a fit of giggles.

I turned to Mason. “You got us a hotel room?” He really had thought of everything to make it an incredibly special night.

Mason smirked. “I was hoping you were going to say yes and we’d have a reason to celebrate. There’s a bottle of champagne chilling in the room as we speak.”

I wanted nothing more than to get out of there and to our hotel room with my fiancé…which, by the way, I absolutely loved the sound of…my fiancé. However, as a participant in the Spring Art Show, I was required to stay until the show ended. “Mason,” I said, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice as I placed my palm on his chest. “The Spring Art Show isn’t over for a few more hours and I…”

“Already taken care of,” Bree interrupted. “Just so happens, it’s not what you know, but who you know. As one of the judges, Liam was able to put me in contact with the organizing professors and they all said, given the circumstances, you could leave early.”

My heart soared. I couldn’t believe so many people had come together to make the night so magical. “Thank you,” I told Bree and Sarah. I’d need to be sure to thank Liam as well. “Now, ladies”—I winked mischievously at them—“if you’ll excuse me, it appears my fiancé has some additional plans for us this evening.”

Bree reached down and smacked me on the ass as she started to walk down the stairs. “Go get ‘em, tiger!”

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