A grin tugs at my lips as I think of how Shelli teases me for giving a gym the Justice name without a ring on my finger. Everyone expected us to get married when I graduated, or at least get engaged when Ryan graduated. While the name of the gym has nothing to do with my own name, I know Ryan wants to marry me. I want to marry him too, but we’ve just been busy. We’re already completely committed to each other; we haven’t just been hanging out for the last five years. We’ve loved, we’ve fought, and we’ve made a lot of love. It’s good between us, and I’m lucky to be in love with someone I can truthfully say is my best friend. We don’t need paperwork or a ring to prove that. We have our love, and that’s perfectly enough.
As my eyes scan along the beams, the bars, and the big, bold writing that makes up the gym’s name, I’m breathless. I can’t wait to show Ryan tomorrow.
As I turn, I look out at the vaults and stop dead in my tracks.
My face turns up in a grin as I take in Ryan, standing behind one of the vaults with a disbelieving look on his face. A stunning, gorgeous smile that has me speechless. He stands in a dark suit, his hair brushed to the side, not gelled. The first few buttons of his shirt are open, and his coat is tight on his shoulders. He looks delicious. “Hey,” he calls to me, and I shake my head. I haven’t seen this guy in ten days, and he says hey?
“Hey? That’s it?”
“Sorry. Hello, my gorgeous girlfriend!”
I roll my eyes as he laughs. I start for him, and I’m a little taken aback he doesn’t come for me. We always meet in the middle, it’s our thing, but he doesn’t move. “I thought you weren’t coming in till tomorrow?”
His eyes stay trained on mine. “You think I’d miss opening day?”
My lips tilt before I hold my hands out, pointing to the Justice Gymnastics sign. “Do you see it? It’s for your dad.”
“I do. I was supposed to be surprising you, but like always, you keep surprising me.”
I beam as I head toward him. “I wanted to keep his legacy going. I think it’s perfect.”
“I do too, and I’m trying real hard to keep it together, so come here.”
“But you love it?”
“I do. Damn it, I do, but I love you more.”
My heart soars, but before I can finally reach him, I notice a little blue box on the vault. I pause mid-stride, and when I look up at him, his face is bright and he’s wearing a huge grin. “Ryan?”
“Come here.”
I come to the vault and take his hands in mine. I meet his gaze, and his eyes feel like coming home. “So?”
“So,” he says, and then his cheeks warm with color as he shakes his head. “This is the vault that I first saw you on.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s not. I bought—”
“No,” he says, cutting me off. “I bought this from the university because I needed the piece of equipment that I first saw you on. The event that you murdered with no questions asked. You were magnificent, and I can still recall everything about that day ’cause it was the day I knew I had to know you.”
I gaze up at him as his fingers lock with mine, feeling out of breath. “I thought it looked old. I almost sent it back, but my mom wouldn’t let me.”
“I know,” he says with a wink. “I told you a very long time ago that I knew that was the day I fell in love with you. Sometimes I know that to be true, but then you’ll do something else, and I feel like I fall for you all over again. Every day, you do something, and I think, how can I still be falling in love with this girl after all this time?”
My lip juts out as I nod. “I think I’m falling in love with you all over again right now.”
“Good,” he says, coming around the vault, still holding my hands. “We’ve gotten a pretty good start on this life of ours.”
I nod, my lip quivering as I hold his gaze. “We have.”
“We’ve grown and fallen deeper in love. We are really good at doing it now.”
“And I don’t even need Google.”
“Thank God,” he teases, and my heart soars in my chest.
“I love you, Ryan, you know that.”
“I know,” he says, and when a tear rolls down his cheek, I come undone. Pulling a hand free and covering my mouth, I cry into it as he holds my gaze. “This is one of those moments when it’s too hard to keep the emotion in. I see my family’s name up there, and knowing I’m about to ask if you’ll take that name, makes me the happiest guy on earth… Damn it, it’s really hard to keep the tears in.”
I can’t speak. I feel like I’m drowning in emotion as I gaze up at him. The person I will love for the rest of my life.
“Some said we were too young to make it, but I think we’ve proved them wrong.”
“Fuck ’em,” I say, and he laughs, shaking his head.
“Exactly.”
“Because we’re good.”
“We’re awesome,” he says softly, his lips tilting up. “You’re mine forever, Sofia. And no matter what, I promise you, I’m all in.”
When he drops to one knee, a sob escapes from behind my hand, and he just grins up at me with watery eyes. “With all that I have, with all I am, I choose you, Sofia. For the rest of our lives—hell, in a hundred lifetimes—I choose you. Do you choose me?”
I fall to my knees between his and scoot closer to him. He laughs as he wraps his arms around me, kissing my temple. “Yes. Over and over again, Ryan, I choose only you.”
He swallows hard, and somehow, he opens the box with one hand, holding it out for me. It’s a stunning single diamond in a platinum band. It’s perfect. “I didn’t want it to be too big where it would get caught on the leos, and I didn’t want you to ever take it off.”
“I won’t,” I say, his words rattling my soul. “I love it.”
“So, you’ll marry me?”
“Oh, you don’t have to ask, Ryan, because my whole heart is yours for the rest of our lives.”
He takes in a deep breath as he holds out the ring to me. “Why don’t you say yes for the people in the back?”
When he shoots me a wink, I laugh as I look over to where he is pointing to see our moms blubbering like babies. I grin at them before looking up at Ryan. “Yes.”
“A little louder,” he says with another wink, and I laugh.
“Yes, yes, Ryan, I am going to marry you!” I cry out, and his grin is so beautiful, I think I’m sobbing a little harder if that’s even possible. The gym fills with cheers as he slides the ring down my finger, and then our lips meet in a hungry embrace. His fingers grip my face as our mouths move together in our familiar but breathtaking way. When he pulls back, his eyes bore into mine, and I know he is the kind of man who will constantly blow me away. I close my eyes as I cuddle deeper to his chest, and I bring my hands up to tuck under his chin where they belong.
I have been marking off goals since the moment I met him. I wanted to be the best, I wanted to get the best grades, I wanted to graduate, and I wanted to open my gym. Through all that, I wanted to continue to love him the way he deserved.
But today, I can mark off a goal I never dared to dream.
Marry the love of my life.
As I gaze into his eyes, I can’t wait to mark off more goals with him by my side.
Because together, we’re unstoppable.
THE END