Page 143 of Cockpit
Not even a sound.
Wait a minute.
When I look up, the office is dark. The staff is gone. Just the front light is on.
The clock tells me I’ve been working a while, but for them to leave without saying anything?
Another page I found. The perfect wedding cake and there is a huge question mark covering the tiers of it.
What the hell is going on?
I drag that page over to my desktop as I rise from my seat, suddenly unsettled and a whole lot confused.
“Hello?” I call out as I step back from my desk with one last look at my screen.
And then my heart stops.
And starts.
A laugh escapes my lips as my fingers go up to touch them, and I stare at the screen. In disbelief. In shock. In holy shit.
I can’t be right. Can I?
The screen. The messed-up pages. When they’re all together, I see what they say, but my eyes don’t want to believe it to be true.
Will. You. Marry. Me?
My heart pounds as I stare at the screen and then look out to the office beyond. “Grayson?” I walk out of my door, the click of my heels the only sound I hear. “Gray?”
When I turn the corner to the front waiting room, my breath catches as I lock eyes with Grayson. He’s standing in the lobby, looking exactly as he had hours ago in my office—shorts, polo shirt—and yet, the man just stole my heart all over again. His eyes are all I see as I stand there, because, in them, I see so many things I never thought possible. So many things I used to scoff at but now want for myself.
Lining the wall behind him are all of the pages I was trying to fix—in poster size—but this time, they are spread out and in the right order. Will you marry me?
“Grayson.” Part hope. Part shock. All love.
It’s all I have to say to have that nervous smile spreading on his lips. “Want to skip dinner and do this instead?”
Unable to get the words out, I nod emphatically as he takes a step toward me.
“So, there’s this girl,” he says and chills race over my skin as my heart melts and pulse races.
“And there’s this boy . . .”
He nods as his hands find mine, trembling ever so slightly. “There’s this girl who walked into my life a few years back, took everything I knew, took everything I thought about what I wanted for my life, and she tossed it upside down.” He chuckles, and the shy smile on his lips makes me want to kiss him. “She challenged me in ways I never expected. She told me that she was not a kid person, even though time and again, she stole both my and my son’s hearts. She said she hated this small-town life despite walking proudly through it in her high heels and slowly letting them sink into the grass without a single complaint. I told her I was ruined. I accused her of being just like the person that ruined me. I told her never again . . . but nevertheless, she persisted. She wore her way into my heart, into my life, until a day was not complete without her smile, her laugh, the scent of her perfume. You knocked me on my ass, Sidney Thorton . . . knocked me down when I didn’t even know you were coming . . . but then you picked me back up. You made me whole. You made me hope. You made me love.” His eyes well with tears and mine follow as my pulse thunders in my ears. “And I don’t want to spend another day without you knowing that you are the one I want. You are the risk I chose to take. You are the one I choose.”
“Grayson.” My chest aches from all of the love.
“Will you marry me, Sid?” He lowers himself to one knee, smiling up at me. “Well, me and Luke, but he and your parents and my family and your staff—who helped me frustrate you by choosing this topic—are all waiting for us at Hooligan’s to celebrate if you say yes.”
My laugh echoes around the empty space. “That’s a lot of pressure, Mr. Malone.”
“You have no idea.” His chuckle is laced with nerves. He produces a ring box with a very delicate infinity band of pale yellow diamonds that is stunningly gorgeous and simple and everything I could have ever asked for. Just like him. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t know without a doubt that you’re the one I’ve waited for. All the pain, every bit of the heartache led me to you. Led me to fighting against you . . . and then fighting for you. Will you marry me, Sidney?”
I lower myself to my knees as my head nods and my hands reach for his hands and my lips find his lips. “Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes.” We kiss. It’s soft and delicate and packed full of every emotion I could ever imagine. “On one condition,” I say against his lips.
“You’re giving me a heart attack here, Thorton.”
“No, it’s going to be M
