“Oh my God, we have a house!” Eden yelled and jumped into my arms. “Not yours, not mine. Ours.”

“We sure do.” I stared down at her. “Did you see the note?”

She nodded. “You don’t have to. I mean . . . if you don’t want to. I know that’s not really your thing.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Getting married. We don’t have to if that’s not what you want.”

“Why the hell would you say that?”

Eden shrugged. “I don’t know. I just . . . Delilah told me you said you never wanted to settle down.”

I set her on her feet. “Before you. Every fucking thing changed when I met you, Eden. Stay here. Hold on.”

I headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

Eden came outside as I ran down the stairs to where my bike was parked in the courtyard.

I unlocked the hidden compartment and pulled out the tiny silk bag. It hadn’t cost a fortune, but it was too perfect for her.

I came back up the stairs as she was coming back out the door with her flip-flops on. “I told you I’d be right back.”

“But—”

She stepped inside the apartment and I dropped to one knee. “This isn’t how I planned to do this. Actually, I hadn’t yet figured out how I was going to do it. But I don’t ever want you to think that this wasn’t what I wanted. You’ve always been what I wanted, Eden.”

I pulled the ring from the bag and held it up. A pink morganite stone set in an antique platinum band of vines.

“You . . . you bought that?”

“Yeah. I did.”

“You want to marry me?”

“When you’re ready and not a day before.” Her eyes shimmered with tears as I slid the ring on her finger. “If you’ll have me.”

She nodded. “Always.”

I looked up at the ceiling, wondering if somehow Casso had known. Didn’t fucking matter. He’d given his blessing, and Eden was mine.

The End