as you do.” I look at Miller. “And for giving love one more chance.”
Epilogue One
Miller
Six months later
“I can’t believe it’s almost time for the season to start,” I say from the middle of the sunbed. The soft white curtains dance around us from the warm breeze. I’m lying in the middle, wearing my shorts as Layla lies beside me in her bikini. Her legs are intertwined with mine, and she has her arm lying across my stomach.
“I don’t know if I want to go back,” she groans as we watch the soft waves hit the white sand. We’ve been in Turks and Caicos for over three weeks, just the two of us. I rented us a private villa right on the beach away from everyone else. “Are you excited about the new season?” she asks as her finger draws figure eights on my chest.
“I think if we get better, we might even make a play for the cup next year,” I tell her. We finished fifth in our division and were knocked out in the second round by St. Louis, who went on to win the cup.
“I think so, too,” she says, looking up at me now. Her face looks sun-kissed. “Want to go into the water with me?” she asks me, sitting up, and I just shake my head. She gets off the bed and walks down to the water. My hand reaches behind me under the pillow, grabbing the red box that was placed there by our butler after lunch.
Rising, I walk to the shore, admiring the sunset on the horizon. She turns around and smiles at me as she walks out of the ocean. “Was the water nice?” I ask, holding a towel open for her.
“It would have been better if you came in with me.” She tilts her head up so I can kiss her. In the six months we’ve been together, the only time we’ve been apart is when I’m on the road. She moved all her stuff into my place a month ago when she finally sold her house. “Love you,” she says after I kiss her. It’s crazy how in love with her I am. It’s even crazier that I got her to fall in love with me.
“I love you,” I tell her, the red box in my shorts getting heavier and heavier. “You know that, right?” She looks at me with a strange look on her face. “I mean, I hope you do.”
“Umm …” she says. “I kinda have a feeling.” She laughs. “I think. Is that a trick question?”
“Do me a favor,” I say, handing her my phone. “Ask Google if I love you.”
“What?” She laughs. “How in the hell is Google going to know that answer?”
“Just would you do it,” I urge her, my palm getting sweaty. I wanted to propose to her as soon as the sun started setting because there were candles that spelled out “marry me.”
“Fine,” she says. “Does Miller love his girlfriend?”
“Read what it says,” I tell her, hoping like fuck this worked.
“It says Miller Adams fell head over heels in love with his girlfriend, Layla Paterson, over four years ago. But he had to get his head out of his ass to prove to her that she was the one for him.” She laughs now, looking at me, and I just watch her. She goes back to reading. “Layla Paterson once paid twenty-five thousand dollars to go on a date with Miller. It was on that date that Miller knew she might be the one.” She looks at me. “Is that so?” She shakes her head and goes back to reading. “Miller had to practically beg Layla to move in with him, and when she did, he knew there was only one thing left to do.” I get down on one knee now, but she doesn’t stop reading. “On a warm day in the middle of Turks and Caicos, Miller got down on one ...” She stops reading and looks at me. “Oh my God.”
“Layla Paterson,” I say, “will you marry me?” I open the red box to show her the four-carat square diamond with the infinity band of diamonds. “Will you be my wife and love me forever?” She puts the back of her hand to her mouth and looks over my shoulder at the Marry Me sign now lit up bright. “Make me the luckiest man around and be my wife.”
She nods her head at me as she sobs out. “Yes,” she says,