“Titus,” she breathed.
Her cheeks turned pink before my eyes. I lifted a finger to stroke across her velvet skin, but she dropped to one knee before I could reach her. She looked up at me, her eyes begging me for something. Silly girl. Didn’t she know I’d give her anything she wanted? The beginnings of the house behind me was my entire life savings and I’d already decided to give it to her, even knowing we couldn’t be together.
“Titus. I’ve loved you as my best friend for longer than my feeble memory serves. You’ve been my sidekick through everything, but you’re so much more than a sidekick. You’re the guy who always stands by my side. You calm me down with a simple hug, you stick up for me in all those stupid fights I’ve gotten into, you make me feel better just by smiling. Everything about my past is colored by the presence of you. It’s always been you. You have been my foundation for as long as I can remember. It just took me a really long time to see that. I love you, Titus. Not just as my best friend but as my boyfriend and hopefully one day, my husband. Will you forgive me and promise to give me another shot?”
Amelia whipped out a gold band from her pocket and held it up, the midday sun gleaming off the shiny surface. My heart, the organ that had skipped a beat the second she started talking, stuttered over the sight of that ring.
“Are you…? Proposing to me?” In hindsight, that was a stupid question. Of course she wasn’t, but my brain needed time to catch up. The thing about eating so much sugar, your brain cells aren’t the sharpest.
Her lips tugged into a smile, the desperation not leaving her eyes. “I’m proposing a redo. A take two. A give-Amelia-another-shot-because-she’s-a-dumbass.”
My heart soared and I knew everything would be okay. More than okay. Perfect.
I reached down and picked her up under the armpits. Swinging her around, I put her up on the makeshift table, right on top of the construction plans. Nobody puts my girl in the dirt, not even my girl.
She swallowed hard and kept her hands on my shoulders, now a few inches taller than me. “I’m not a peacock. I know I try for attention way more than I should, but I’m working on it, I promise. And you know I keep my promises.”
I opened my mouth to let her know I accepted her proposal, but she interrupted me in typical Amelia fashion. “When I promised you I’d quit tagging the Welcome to Auburn Hill sign, I kept that promise. Right? So you know you can trust—”
Several gasps interrupted her verbal tirade. Amelia, realizing maybe for the first time that we had an audience, cut her gaze to the crowd. Her eyes got huge.
Jesus Christ. I hadn’t even officially gotten her back as my girlfriend and she incriminated herself in front of the town. I’d be bailing her out of jail before I could freaking kiss her overactive mouth.
A shout broke the charged silence. Reluctant to look away from Amelia even for a second, I saw the mayor push his way to the front of the crowd out of the corner of my eye. On closer inspection, his face was a disturbing red, and the vein trying to pulse its way out of his forehead didn’t bode well either.
“How dare you—”
Amelia threw my hands off her and crouched down to whisper something to the mayor, only half of which I caught.
“…evidence…rethink…quiet.”
Mayor Bennett pulled himself up tall and tugged on his suit jacket. Amelia stood back up and looked far more confident than a few moments ago. The mayor turned to the whispering crowd and announced his verdict, like he had any right to pass judgement anyway.
“I think since Amelia has agreed to stop vandalizing the sign, we should grant her immunity. After all, she did help the town gain a fun nickname.” He looked like he wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it rather than admit the nickname of Hell was a good one.
With a final nod, he walked off and disappeared. Amelia cleared her throat and addressed the crowd, which had grown while Amelia laid it all on the line.
“Okay, nothing to see here, folks. Time to move on with your day.”
She looked down at me and whispered, “See? Not an attention whore anymore.”
I chuckled and pulled her to me, slipping the ring onto my left ring finger. As far as I was concerned, it could be my wedding ring. I was as taken as a married man.
“Amelia, I—”
“But we haven’t heard Titus’s answer yet!” Poppy seemed particularly outraged we hadn’t put our entire relationship on display.
I dropped my forehead to Amelia’s shoulder. Only in Hell did we do everything in public where the town gossips could witness every word. Someone needed to stop this appalling trend. My head started bobbing and I realized Amelia was shaking with laughter. There was nothing funny about this whole thing and, yet, it really was so ridiculous as to be funny. I started laughing with her. Knowing she loved me and wanted to make things work made me feel as light as that fluffy donut I’d had earlier.
I had to act fast. If I didn’t, something else would cut us off and I was done with interruptions. Lifting my head, I grabbed Amelia by the waist and swooped her over my arm, smashing my lips to hers in a swoon-worthy kiss. God, it felt so good to feel her against me, the press of her lips as desperate as mine.
The crowd reacted and I couldn’t fuckin’ care less. Let them watch the whole thing. All that mattered was having Amelia back in my arms. For good. The kiss was indecent and sloppy, full of passion not fit for general audiences. Then again, we were on my
