THEO
Abigail was sitting on the beach, just like I had all those years ago when she’d found me. The sunset glowed orange on her skin, her feet buried inside the sand. Black leather sneakers were beside her. She set her chin on her knees, the sun bright on her cropped white shirt.
She was a literal dream come true.
All at once she stood, stumbling in the sand. I was there just in time to catch her. One arm anchored her waist as the ocean glittered citrine in a fading sun. We looked like a still from an old Hollywood movie.
“Theo,” she breathed.
I groaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing you say my name.”
Her grip tightened on my shirt. “What are you doing?”
I grinned. “Catching you.”
We had three uninterrupted seconds as she registered my words and the meaning behind them. Then the necessary evil I’d brought to show my love ruined the moment.
“Abigail,” the horde of paparazzi just a few feet away yelled, cameras flashing.
Abigail scrambled off me. “What the hell?”
I trailed my knuckle along her jaw. “You lied to me, sweet girl.” I inclined my head at the ring. She covered it, looking away.
“No, I didn’t. I should’ve, because you lied to me… but I simply didn’t correct an assumption.”
“So, a Crowne lie.”
She shrugged. “Old habits.”
Another moment passed. “Is that why they’re here? Do they think it’s you? Theo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into the spotlight.”
I stuck my tongue into my cheek to keep from smiling. “My little reject always getting in over her head. What did you say? Something about in public and proud. And about not wanting my burgers… you’re going to regret that.”
I unrolled the magazine I’d brought with me, handing it to her. She held the glossy pages, a line forming between her brows as she read the headline.
ABIGAIL CROWNE’S SECRET HUSBAND REVEALED.
I grasped her chin, pulling her eyes back to mine. “Didn’t you know if you made that kind of statement, I was going to cement it? Bind it and wrap it in steel.”
“No,” she whispered. “I didn’t.”
I grazed my thumb back and forth across her chin. I wished I could take all the hurt in her eyes away, heal the bruises on her heart. Maybe if I filled her chest with enough bliss, she wouldn’t feel them.
“I was always afraid to love you, Abigail. At first I thought if I kept my distance just enough, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt when you left me. Then it became, if I keep us distant, we can’t get close enough to break apart. You’re the one person I want to risk everything for. You wanted a grand gesture, this is it, Abigail. That magazine goes out tomorrow, but this is live. The whole world is watching. They know you’re mine. You belong to me. Forever.”
Something mischievous flickered in her clay eyes. “What if I said no?”
“It’s too late for that. This is for the world, Abigail. So people like Ned know what it means if they try and take you. So they know who’s going to rip their throat out. But us?” I leaned closer, so the words throbbed along her neck. “There’s no going back. We’ve belonged together for years. I’m keeping you. You don’t get to let me go, Abigail.”
When I pulled back, there were tears in her eyes.
I thumbed them away.
“I’m scared,” she said. “Every time I get close to my happily ever after it always crashes to pieces at my feet.”
I gripped her jaw tight between my fingers, willing her to feel my determination.
“Sweet girl,” I said. “I will always be there to pick up those pieces.” She chewed her lip, still uncertain. “I was saving this for… Fuck it.”