We pressed our foreheads together, resting for a while before my eyes shot open again. “Emma? The rest of the crew?”
“They’re fine. No one was harmed.”
“And what happened to Joel and Ace and Ivy?”
At that, Theo shrugged. “Not sure. They’re in custody now, I’m sure we’ll have an update sooner or later. But for now, just know they’re somewhere where they can’t hurt you. Or anyone else.”
My heart heaved a relieved sigh at that. “I just can’t believe this all happened.” Suddenly, my stomach bottomed out again. “Oh God, Theo. Your boat! Philautia!”
“It’s okay,” Theo said on a chuckle. “The fire spread pretty quickly, and with all the commotion on board, it was first priority to vacate it before anything else.” He shrugged. “She suffered too much damage to salvage.”
“No!”
He laughed again. “It’s okay, Aspen. It’s just a boat.”
I scoffed. “I don’t think anyone else on this planet would agree with you that it was just a boat.”
“What I mean is, it’s not important. It’s material, something that can be replaced. You, on the other hand,” he said, his brows bending together as he pulled my knuckles to his lips again. He kissed them softly. “Are not.”
I tried to smile, but my stomach was still so tied up in knots I barely managed it.
Theo swallowed. “I thought I lost you.”
My face twisted with emotion, and I pulled him into me, awkward as it was over the bars of the hospital bed, until his lips met mine. I held that kiss for as long as he’d let me, and then Theo pulled back, taking my hand in his again and watching me with tears in his eyes.
We stayed like that for a long while, Theo holding my hand in his and kissing my skin with soft, featherlight touches as his eyes flicked between mine. The more we were silent, the more at ease I felt. I savored every warm touch of Theo’s hand, thankfulness filling me like helium in a balloon.
We were alive.
We were okay.
Nothing else mattered. Not right now.
I let my eyes close, let the relief flood me like the warm water of a bath after a long day. Theo kept his hold on my hand, and then I felt his fingertips brush against my face, and I leaned into his palm with a smile.
“Aspen?”
“Hmm?”
“Marry me.”
I nearly choked on my own spit as I sat up, eyes flying open again. I stared at Theo like he’d just confessed an addiction to watching foot fetish porn, and it only made him grin.
“What did you just say?”
“I said, marry me,” he repeated, and he laughed when my eyes got even wider. “I don’t care if it’s crazy. I don’t care if no one else understands it. I love you,” he said, and he emphasized each word of that last sentence with his eyes searching mine. “I love you, and I don’t want to — no, I can’t lose you.”
I bit my lip against the emotion crawling up my throat, watching Theo with tears blurring my vision.
“Say you’ll be mine forever,” he pleaded. “Say it, and I’ll be yours forever, too.”
I choked on a mixture of a sob and a laugh, nodding as more tears flooded my eyes until they started pouring over my hot cheeks.
“Yes?” Theo asked, his eyes widening.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m yours.”
His next exhale was on the wings of the biggest smile I’d ever seen spanning his face, and he pulled me into his arms so quickly and so completely that it set off more than one of the machines I was hooked to. Alarms rang and still he held me, and kissed me, and I laughed and kissed him back until two nurses ran in yelling at us in Greek first and then in English to let go of each other.
Theo finally released me but held my hand tight even as the nurses fixed the wires and tubes. They started checking my vitals then, asking me questions about pain level and asking me to perform various tasks.
All the while, Theo was there at my side, holding my hand and smiling at me like an absolute loon.
He was crazy. We both were.
But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
One Month Later
“Dear Ms. Dawn,” Theo read from the letter in his hand — the one I repeatedly tried to jump up and snag for myself, but he kept out of my reach. “It is with great pleasure that I write to you with an exciting offer that I hope you will receive with as much enthusiasm as I have sending it.”
“Theo, give it to me!” I tried to jump again, but he spun away from me, waltzing over to the oversized window with a reading nook that overlooked Central Park. The leaves were just beginning to turn, their greens fading to faint shades of orange and yellow and red.
We’d been “home” at Theo’s penthouse in New York City for two weeks now, flying back to the States on his jet as soon as we were both cleared from the hospital and took care of the affairs with the yacht in Athens. We were set to fly to Colorado for him to meet my family in just two days.
That was, if he was still alive by then, because I was about two seconds from strangling him if he didn’t give me the mysterious letter that came addressed to me that morning.
“My name is Dorothy Hammerstein, and I was blessed enough to be in Santorini on the night of your stunning exhibit at the Blue Top Gallery. I was also surprised to find such exquisite work from a photographer unbeknownst to me, and even more surprised to find that my generous offer to purchase my favorite photograph of the lot was declined.”
I waited until Theo was by the couch, then I jumped on top of it, launching myself onto his back and clinging on like a monkey. He laughed as he caught me, but
