Page 88 of Billionaire Romance

Epilogue

Sally

One Year Later

Valentine’s Day

The dress I’m wearing is gorgeous, though I’m not exactly sure why I’m wearing it. Despite my best efforts, Eric hasn’t fully embraced Valentine’s Day. I’ve accepted that he’s not ever going to love it the way I do, and that’s okay. He’s still agreed to celebrate with me, and I agreed that I wouldn’t subject him to a giant party. So the message asking me to come home wearing something nice is a little surprising.

I turn my key into the elevator and feel it lift towards the top of the building. We’ve been living together for six months now, and there’s no end in sight. I’ve never felt as lucky as I do now looking back at the day I met Bianca. I’m half-way convinced that it was Cupid that yanked that chocolate cart out from under me, simply so that I could save her life, and then meet the love of my life.

And he is the love of my life. There’s no question about that.

The elevator doors open on our living room, and I freeze. Our entire apartment is filled with candles, every surface covered, and in the middle of the space is a table covered in ingredients for banana splits, all in separate bowls, just like it was served to us at The Empire Room a year ago.

And next to the table, standing in a tuxedo, is Eric. I shake my head as I walk toward him, trying to look at everything at once. “Eric, what the hell is going on?”

He smiles. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“But you hate Valentine’s.”

“I don’t hate it,” he says, pulling me in for a kiss. “Not anymore.”

I smile up at him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “You did all this?”

“I did.” He’s grinning. “And I asked you to dress up because I am fully prepared to take you out for a fancy dinner on the town for this day that you love. But before that, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Okay,” I say, eyeing the table. Everything looks delicious.

And then I feel Eric pulling away from me and I’m confused because it feels like he’s pulling down. I look at him, and my mind doesn’t register the position. Why is he on his—

Oh. My. God.

Eric is on one knee in front of me and my mouth has dropped open. “Eric…”

“Sally,” he says, smiling. “I will never forget when you first walked into my office. I’d never seen anyone like you, and it was like I had been struck by lightning. You weren’t anything I expected, and I was falling in love with you before I even realized it.”

There are tears in my eyes, and I’m trying to blink them away because I don’t want to miss a single second of this.

“This past year has been the happiest of my life, and I love you.”

“I love you too,” I say, though it’s quiet because I’m not in control of my voice.

“I don’t ever want to be apart from you.” He pulls out a box from the inside pocket of his tux, and opens it. Inside is a beautiful ring, sparkling diamonds in a swirling formation with a filigree silver band. It’s absolutely perfect. And even if there were no ring at all, I wouldn’t care. “Will you marry me?”

I’m nodding before he even asks the question. “Yes, of course I will yes.”

Eric slips the ring on my finger and kisses me, standing so that he’s holding me close, my toes barely touching the ground. I kiss him back, showing him exactly how much I want this and want him and how happy I am. “I never want to be apart from you either,” I say tearfully. And then I slap his arm. “You did all this without me knowing.”

“I’m very stealthy,” he says, kissing my nose. “But I’m glad you were surprised.”

“I mean, yeah,” I say. “I had no idea. I thought the dress might be for dinner or something, but not this.”

“Speaking of dinner,” he glances at his watch, “we have reservations.”

“Or,” I say, “we don’t have to.”

He looks at my face, searching. “You don’t want to go?”

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