Page 38 of Betting on her Best Friend
“Dylan…” She exhaled his name as though the very sound was a balm to her soul. It sure as hell worked on his. Next to her shouting it when he made her come, saying his name with love on her lips was the best thing he’d ever heard.
Unlike everything he’d heard from her earlier.
He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his face, the sound giving life to the scratches her cold words had etched onto his heart. “Why are you here, Alyssa?”
“I, um, wanted to apologize for the things I said earlier.”
Dylan raised an eyebrow and glanced at their eclectic audience. “You came all the way here…with them…to apologize?”
“Yes. Wait, no. I mean—” Alyssa huffed out a frustrated breath. Taking a step toward him, she tried again. “You were right earlier. I am in love with you, Dylan. Crazy, hopelessly in love. I’ve known for a long time, but I was too afraid to tell you.”
Despite that he’d just heard the words he’d been waiting for Alyssa to say, he couldn’t bring himself to swing her around in his arms like they were in a Taylor Swift music video. Back at the hotel she’d cut his chest wide open. He needed major surgery, not a butterfly bandage.
Seeing Alyssa act so completely out of character had skepticism and cynicism perching on his shoulders. He needed to press her for more. He needed to understand how she’d suddenly pulled a one-eighty from an hour ago.
“What’s changed?” he asked. “I know you, Aly. You take days to analyze the pros and cons before committing to a new toaster. How can I trust that over the next week, or even month, you’re not going to reevaluate things and tell me you made a mistake?”
Alyssa’s hands clenched at her sides, her shoulders pressed back the slightest bit, and she took a commanding step forward. “Because I realized something, and it sent my entire process into hyperdrive.” She furrowed her brow and bit her lip for a second. “No, scratch that,” she said, shaking her head. “My process went right out the window. There was no process and yet I can tell you with absolute certainty that I’ve never been more sure of myself.”
Dylan balled his fists inside the pockets of his tux pants, digging his nails into his palms to keep himself grounded, but his pulse jackhammered in his ears as his hope began to swell. “What’d you realize?”
“That the very thing that’s kept us from being together all these years is the same thing that will keep us together.”
Maybe he was too exhausted to use his brain properly, but he couldn’t think of anything that could fit both roles as she claimed. “And that thing is…” he said, dragging out the last word.
Without hesitation, she answered, “Fear.”
Mentally, he reared back. He didn’t know what he’d expected her to say, but it sure as hell wasn’t that. “Fear,” he parroted.
“Yes.” She took another step forward, her eyes lighting up with excitement like she’d discovered the answer to an age-old mystery. “Our entire lives we’ve been afraid of failing at relationships, and not only that, but for lack of a better term, our fears complemented each other. You were afraid you wouldn’t be able to commit long-term, and I was afraid of loving someone who wouldn’t love me enough to stick around.”
“Aly, none of that is exactly news for me. I don’t get where you’re going with this.”
She took a steadying breath and continued. “I heard a song a few weeks ago, and one of the lines said that fear is at the heart of love. I thought it was ridiculous, that it made no sense. But now I get it.”
She killed the last couple feet of space between them. Her warm vanilla scent wrapped around him, weakening his resolve to hold himself in check and keep up the wall he’d erected to protect his battered heart.
“To love someone is to know fear. Gut-wrenching, soul-crushing fear. Fear that your love won’t always be enough. Fear that something terrible could rip them away from you. There are dozens, hundreds of scenarios, but they all come down to the same thing: when you love someone with all your heart, the scariest thing imaginable is having to live without them.” Bright blue eyes stared up at him, imploring him to understand. “Wouldn’t you agree?” she asked softly.
He had to clear his throat before his voice cooperated. “Okay, yeah. So, what are you saying here, exactly?”
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “If there’s one thing I’ve always been certain of in my life, it was that you would uphold your promise to always protect me. What I realized tonight is that you included yourself in that promise. You wouldn’t have asked me to overcome my fear of abandonment to be with you if you thought there was a chance you’d ever leave me.”
She pressed her hands to her belly as though physically trying to suppress her nerves. “I love you, Dylan. With all that I am and all that I ever hope to be, I love you. I can’t tell you that I’m not scared, because I am. I’m terrified. But not as much as I am at the thought of living without your love, for however long you’ll give it to me.” Alyssa blinked back the moisture gathering in her eyes. “And if the proposal I never let you get to still stands, I’d like to accept.”
His heart raced as his brain processed her words. She wanted him the way he wanted her. She loved him the way he loved her. He heard her say it, and he had plenty of witnesses. No way in hell he was letting her hide behind their parents’ mistakes anymore.
A broad smile stretched his face as he reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a black velvet box. He tilted the lid back and revealed the stunning two-carat diamond ring he’d picked out for her. “I was going to give you this tonight on our first official date.” He got down on one knee and there was an audible gasp from the peanut gallery. He’d forgotten they had witnesses, but he didn’t give them a second thought as he lost himself in her eyes.
“Alyssa, I would be honored if you would let me help you tip the statistical scales in favor of successful marriages, prove that our parents’ pasts have no bearing on our future, and break the Matthews Curse once and for all. Will you marry me?”
Tears fell unabashedly down her cheeks. “Yes.” She laughed and nodded emphatically. “A thousand times yes.”
Heart soaring, Dylan stood, held the sides of her face, and kissed her like a man starved. He tasted her salty relief as it flowed down her cheeks and between their lips. It wasn’t slow and sweet, but deep and all-consuming. He, too, now recognized the different fears that came with love. Even the irrational kind that told him if he let the kiss end, he’d find it was all a dream.
At last he had the woman he’d loved all his life—not only for a weekend or the occasional night, but for a lifetime—and he’d be damned if he was ever letting her go. Coming up for air, he rested his forehead against hers. “You know this is forever, right? No way I’m ever leaving you or letting you leave me. You’re mine, now and for always.”
Her eyes twinkled with tears of joy. “Sounds perfect. I can’t wait to get started.”
