With that smile on his face, he crossed the room to take me in his arms again. “I love the apartment, by the way.”

I threaded my arms around his neck, smiling back up at him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was going to after the wedding, but …”

“But all hell broke loose. You’re not mad Luke let me in?”

I shook my head, glancing to the bay window with eternal longing. “Not at all. I’m glad you love it. I just wish I could keep it.”

“Why can’t you?”

“I have no job. Luckily, I secured my loans before I quit. And fortunately, I finagled a year’s severance out of Caroline before I walked out.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Well, she couldn’t very well let me sue her, could she?”

He laughed, face tilting back in his surprise. “That’s my girl.”

“But even with that, I shouldn’t take on the mortgage. I’ll need to find a place half this price so I can start my own firm.”

A slow smile spread on his lips. “You’re starting your own firm?”

“With my own terms, including the right to refuse service. If I’m going to make the life for myself that I want, I’m afraid that’s nonnegotiable.”

“What else is part of that life?”

“You. Past that, I couldn’t care less.”

He scanned the room, lifting his eyes to the high ceiling. “Not this apartment?”

“In a perfect world, yes. But I’d rather live in a studio and be able to run my own business than lose my shirt on my dream apartment.”

A pause. “What if you could have it all?”

My brows quirked. “How?”

“I don’t know if you remember, but I’ve recently discovered I’m in possession of a hefty sum of money.”

“I couldn’t let you pay for my apartment, Kash.”

“Not even if I lived here?”

I frowned. “You want to rent the apartment from me?”

A laugh, soft and amused. “I want to live here with you.”

Surprise opened my face, my lids shuttering.

“I know it’s soon,” he said. “I know it’s crazy. But I have the money and means to make your dream come true. And in doing that, my dream can come true too—every morning, I can wake up to you. This place can be yours, Lila, if you want it.”

“Ours,” I breathed. “It can be ours.”

“It can be ours,” he echoed. “If that’s what you want.”

I was so overcome, I couldn’t answer.

“It’s too much,” he backpedaled, suddenly nervous and reassuring at once. “I don’t want to rush you, Lila. I don’t want to lose you. I only thought—”