Chapter 50 The press of lips against my cheek wakes me up from a deep sleep. I smile, reveling in the familiar feeling against my skin. I stretch underneath the blankets, trying to wake myself up more. We were up late last night for New Year's Eve. We spent it at a party in Manhattan with our closest friends. I don't think we got home until around four in the morning. "Good morning," Ryker whispers, his words said against my ear. "Hopefully it's afternoon with how late we were up," I respond, opening my eyes to meet his. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNøvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. He's perfect. I'll never get tired of waking up to him. It's been six months since we were sent to the Hamptons together and I still have moments where I can't believe he's mine. "I want to show you something," Ryker tells me, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. "What is it?" "Come to the living room and you'll find out," he responds, a sexy smirk on his lips. I love waking up to him every single morning. Since the moment we confessed our feelings, we've lived together. We've had to spend a handful of nights away from each other because of our busy schedules, but we try to keep it to a minimum. I hate being away from him. He's become my home. My safe place. I never want to be anywhere else. "Cami," Ryker says, pulling me from my thoughts. He presses a kiss against my shoulder, giving me goosebumps. I smile but push the top half of my body off the mattress. I look around, remembering just last year when I looked around this space and he was nowhere to be found. I thought I'd never see him again, something that broke me in ways I didn't even want to admit. Now, I have him staring at me with so much love in his eyes that I can't help but lean in and kiss him. One thing I've never had to do is question this man's love for me. He's constantly shown up for me, every single day. He's proven over and over again that I'm not hard to love and has made me the luckiest girl in the world. I'm so happy that this year on New Year's Day, he's mine. "You know it was just Christmas. Why do I have a surprise today?" Ryker smiles. He holds out his hand for me to take, and I gladly place my hand in his and let him lead me to the living room. "Because I wanted to give you this surprise today." I give him a curious look as he leads me out of the hallway and into the living room. On the coffee table is a plate filled with donuts. "The donuts," I whisper, remembering the tradition he had with his mom. He gives me a smile and nods. "This year is a raspberry rosemary old-fashioned donut. Not the most outrageous one they've done, but I think it'll be good." I step closer to him and wrap my arms around his middle. I know how important the tradition with his mom was to him. "You should've woken me up," I tell him, feeling terrible he had to go out alone. "I would've gone with you." He smiles. "I was fine going alone. It was kind of like I could feel her, as weird as that sounds. All I needed was to know that you'd still be in my bed when I got back." "I wouldn't dream of being anywhere else." I'm about to sit down and grab a donut before Ryker stops me. He holds my hand, but lightly. I swear his hand might be shaking, but I could also be making it up. "Cami," he begins, his voice hoarse. My heart starts to race because of the intense way he looks at me. He always looks at me with so much love, but this look is different. The love and adoration is almost pouring out of him as his eyes stare into mine. "Waking up next to you this morning, knowing I was starting the year with you, I..." His words fall off for a moment as he gathers his thoughts. "I just have never been so happy in my life." I smile because there is something special about knowing that we're starting the year by each other's side. We didn't get the chance last year, but this time, we will. "I'm so happy too, baby," I tell him. I truly have never been happier in my life. Everything has fallen together perfectly. Some mornings, I wake up and can't believe any of this is real. Ryker's dad has spent months getting him ready to take over Davenport Media, and he'll officially step down next week and hand the company over. I took Ryker's idea and ran with it. I created some incredible relationships while in the Hamptons. Pembroke had an amazing pool of potential new clients. It was easy to create my own PR firm. Everyone else knew what my dad didn't. I was a damn good publicist. There's already a waiting list of potential new clients for me now that my current workload is full. Life has been crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Ryker and I have been by each other's side the entire time. There have been good days and bad days, but we handled it together. I'm working my dream job, in my dream city, and I have my dream guy. The last six months have brought so many changes, but I'm thankful for every single one of them. They've led me to this moment right here. "I had all these plans on how I wanted to do this," he begins before taking a deep breath, "but I woke up this morning and didn't want to waste another second." He drops to a knee and all the pieces click together. "Ryker," I whisper, emotion already clogging my throat at the sight of him on one knee. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a blue ring box. The color reminds me of the hydrangeas at the Hamptons house. The ones planted by his mother. "I thought I could wait until this summer when we were back in the Hamptons. I thought that would be perfect since that's where it all began for us. But then I was thinking this morning, as much as I love how our story unfolded in the Hamptons, our story really began one year ago. On New Year's Day. Right here. And then I thought about it and I couldn't wait any longer to ask you this." He opens up the ring box and I gasp. The most stunning ring sits inside. It's a large, oval-cut diamond on a gold band. I try to look at the ring, but I only glance at it a moment before my gaze moves to Ryker's once again. I can't look at anything but him. "I love you, Camille. I love you in a way that completely consumes me. No one's ever made me feel the way you do. My heart is yours. It'll always be yours. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want the rest of my life to start right now. Say yes. Be my wife." Tears pool in my eyes before falling down my cheeks. I try to open my mouth to speak, but I can't even form words. I thought I was prepared for this moment. I envisioned how he'd propose so many different times. I thought I knew exactly what I'd say back to him and how I'd keep it together. But I can't. I cry tears of happiness. I look at the ring-the one I recognize as being his mother's-and a wave of joy consumes me. My shoulders tremble and my words come out shaky. "You haven't even asked the question yet," I point out, wiping the tears on my cheeks. He laughs as his eyes go wide. "Fuck," he mutters, his cheeks turning pink. I love that he blushes for me. I love everything about this man. He takes my hand. I don't know if it's mine or his that's shaking, but our intertwined hands tremble. "Camille, will you make me the luckiest guy in the world and marry me? Please, baby?" I smile and nod my head, dropping to the ground with him as I press my lips to his. "Yes," I mutter in between peppering kisses against his lips. "But just because you said please." He laughs and kisses me back with an intensity that I feel throughout my entire body. I don't know how long we kiss on the living room floor. Time seems to still and everything else fades away as I kiss Ryker Davenport-my future husband. The love of my life. My forever. Eventually, he pulls away and slides the ring onto my finger. We both stare at it for a moment, tears staining both our cheeks at this point. "She really would've loved you," Ryker notes, his thumb brushing over his mother's ring on my finger. "She'd be so proud of you," I respond, something I try to mention often because I know how much making her proud matters to him. "I love you," Ryker tells me, the truth of it evident in his voice. "I love you more," I respond, leaning in to kiss him again. "No you don't." "Yes, I do." "Are we about to have our first fight as an engaged couple?" he asks, a teasing tone to his voice. I laugh before pressing another kiss to his lips. This man is mine. My fiancé. If you had told me a year ago, when I left this condo sad and afraid to open up to anyone ever again, that I'd be back a year later, engaged to the man I swore I'd never see again, I would've laughed in your face. But life has a funny way of working out. He got brought back into my life and I'm so grateful he did. He's my forever. Falling in love with Ryker might've been bad for business, but it was the best thing to ever happen to my heart.