Page 155 of Booked on You
“This is beautiful,” Scarlett whispers, stopping to admire the cathedral as I admire her.
We continue toward the center of the square, where there’s a clear space in front of the church. This is it. This is the moment I’ve been planning since the day she came back to Charleston.
I turn to face her and take both of her hands in mine.
“Scar, I need to tell you something.”
“Okay…” Her voice is uncertain, and I can see the question in her eyes.
“When you showed up at my door seven months ago, I thought I knew who I was. I had my studio, my routine, my safe little life where I didn’t have to risk anything or feel too much.” My voice shakes, but I keep going. “I spent years thinking theonly way someone could love me was if I became someone else because no one would ever love me for who I was.”
“Ezra…” Her voice breaks.
“Then you wrote our story. You wrote Jordan, and I saw myself through your eyes for the first time.” My throat tightens, and I have to stop for a second. “You didn’t want me to be different or better. You wanted me exactly as I am without trying to change me.”
Tears are streaming down her face now.
“You gave me the proof I couldn’t argue with. Right there in black and white. Because of you, I learned I was worth loving. Thank you for wanting the real me. The version of myself I’d been protecting for years because I didn’t want to get hurt again.” I blink hard because my own eyes are burning. “I love you so much it steals my breath away. You make me want to be brave, even when I’m terrified.”
“I love you,” she whispers.
“I don’t want to wait any longer for our forever,” I say as I let go of her hands and drop to one knee.
She makes this sound that’s between a gasp and a sob. I look up at her and see tears streaming down her cheeks. She’s staring at me like I’m her entire world. I pull the velvet box from my pocket with trembling fingers. The lid opens with a soft click, and I think about my next words, the ones I’ve been wanting to say for months.
EPILOGUE
SCARLETT
Ezra drops to one knee in front of St. Louis Cathedral, and my entire focus narrows to him. Everything around me fades away. He pulls a velvet box from his pocket, and his hands are trembling. When he opens it, I forget how to breathe.
The ring is stunning with a large diamond that looks pale pink in the glow of golden hour. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, the ring of my dreams.
I make a sound that’s half sob, half gasp.
“Scarlett Collins,” Ezra confidently says, “will you do me the honor of making me the luckiest man on this earth and marry me?”
“Yes.” It doesn’t release from my lips fast enough. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Ezra slides the ring onto my finger. The second it’s on, he’s on his feet, and his mouth crashes into mine.
I kiss him through my tears and grab fistfuls of his shirt to pull him closer. I’m vaguely aware of people clapping and cheering around us, but none of it really registers. All I can focus on is him and the way he’s holding me like I’m the most precious thing in the universe.
“You’re going to be my husband,” I whisper against his lips.
“You’re going to be my wife,” he says back.
We nearly lose ourselves in front of the cathedral, not able to get enough as emotions pour out of us. I selfishly never want this moment to end and would freeze time right here if I could.
“This might be the happiest day of my life,” I confess.
“It’s the happiest of mine,” he says.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
“You should probably check that,” Ezra says with a breathless laugh.
The screen is flooded with notifications. Text messages, Instagram tags, Threads mentions, missed calls. I scroll through and see at least five different videos of the proposal already posted from different angles.
