The Rivals - Vi Keeland Page 0,103

“You ready?”

Weston nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

Len connected the cords, and the entire tree lit up in white lights. I couldn’t even take a guess how many thousands had to be strung on it. A few seconds later, the tree started to twinkle. It looked absolutely magical. And I’d been so mesmerized by it all that I hadn’t noticed Weston moved. But when I did, the world seemed to stop.

Everything except the man down on one knee seemed to fade away.

I covered my mouth with my hands, and my eyes immediately began to water. “Oh my God, Weston! And I didn’t want to get out of the car!”

He chuckled. “That was obviously unplanned, but pretty damn fitting, don’t you think? We had to argue right before I came in to do this. We wouldn’t be us if everything was smiles and roses.”

I shook my head. “You’re right. We wouldn’t.”

Weston took a deep breath, and I watched as his chest rose and fell. He took my hand, and I finally understood why his palms were sweaty. They still were. My cocky man was nervous. I lifted my other hand to my chest and covered my racing heart. He’s not the only one.

Weston cleared his throat. “Sophia Rose Sterling, before I met you, I had no purpose. It didn’t take long after you stormed into my life to realize the reason I’d been lost was because you hadn’t found me yet. My purpose in life is to love you. Deep down, I knew that from the first day we stepped foot into this place. But it didn’t make sense. It took me a while to figure out that love doesn’t have to make sense; it only has to make us happy. And you do—you make me happier than I’ve ever been, Soph. I want to spend the rest of my life fighting with you just so we can make up. And I want the rest of my life to start today. So, will you please do me the honor of marrying me, because ‘I would not wish any companion in the world but you’?”

Tears streamed down my cheeks. I don’t know why, but I got down on my knees and pressed my forehead to his. “How can I say no, when you finally quoted Shakespeare right? Yes! Yes! I’ll marry you.”

Weston slipped the most gorgeous, cushion-cut diamond onto my finger. The thousands of lights illuminating the tree above us dimmed in comparison to its sparkle.

In true Weston style, he reached around my neck and squeezed hard, bringing my lips to crash against his. “Good. Now shut up and give me that mouth.”

He kissed me in the middle of the lobby, in front of the big Christmas tree, long and hard. When we finally came up for air, I heard people clapping. It took a few seconds for it to register that they were applauding for us. People had been watching the proposal. My eyes came into focus as I looked around.

Oh my God! Mr. Thorne is here.

And…is that… I blinked a few times. “Is that…?”

Weston smiled. “Scarlett. It is. I flew her in last night to ask her permission to propose. I figured I wouldn’t have much luck with your father, and you value her opinion more anyway.”

We were still both kneeling on the floor, so Weston helped me up. Scarlett and Mr. Thorne congratulated us, as well as a ton of the staff.

I looked up at Weston, still in disbelief. “I can’t believe you did all this. Do you remember the story I told you about the last time a tree was in this lobby?”

“I do,” he said. “The three of them used to decorate a big tree together, right here in this very spot. Grace always hoped our grandfathers would come around some day, and they could all be friends and do it again. That never happened, so she never put another tree in here. That’s why I did this. Our grandfathers are too stubborn to come around, but I think Grace Copeland would be happy that the Sterlings and the Lockwoods have finally made friends again.”

I smiled. “She would be. I’m sure of it.”

Weston reached into his coat pocket. “Oh, I almost forgot. I had the lights hung so it would look nice for you, but we’re going to decorate it together. Just like they used to. There’re a couple of dozen crates of ornaments stashed behind the tree. But I have the first one for you to hang.”

“You