A small smile casts over my lips as muffled conversations drift across the sea of watchful faces.

“Who the fuck is Grimm?” Keith whispers to Dottie.

“No idea,” she whispers back.

I lean into my chair, grab my champagne glass, and take a slow sip. Aleck’s smile deepens, amused by my nonchalance. I nod, urging him to continue.

“I propose we move in together.”

I lurch forward, nearly choking on my champagne, swallowing it down with a cough.

“I want to fall asleep with you in my arms every night. I want to wake up to you quietly snoring beside me—”

“I don’t snore.” I interject.

“Yes,” he nods. “You do.”

“Yes, you do, honey,” Sondra says with an apologetic smile.

“Whatever. Aleck, we can’t just move in together.” I toss my hands in the air.

“We can, because why not?”

“Because it’s crazy, that’s why.”

“And I’m crazy in love with you. That’s a fact. That’s what I should have told you in your apartment. Fuck, I should have told you at the resort because I’m positive I knew then. That’s what I should have said every time I tried to fight for you and failed. I will love you on days I know I don’t deserve you, another fact. I will love you when it’s hard, and it hurts, fact. I won’t ever leave you or disappear. That’s a fact, Winter.”

Words fail me, and my mouth goes dry. All I hear is my pulse pounding in my ears. My eyes sting from holding back tears until I blink them away and they fall down my cheeks. Sondra releases my shaky hand as I lift it to swipe them off my chin.

“What if I move in with you and everything I do annoys you?”

A broad smile curls Aleck’s lips. “Baby, everything you do, including, but not limited to, wearing shoes without socks fascinates me. Even when you make me so mad I want to pull my hair out by my impeccable roots, I still won’t be able to imagine my life without you. Now stop overthinking this and agree to my terms.”

I look at Sondra, she smiles warmly. Looking back at Aleck, I hear heckling from the crowd, urging me to take him back. Butterflies stir chaos in my stomach, making my limbs tingle, but I know what I want, I know what I deserve.

“Honey, jump on the deal or I will,” Sasha rasps into her microphone.

And Aleck’s eyes are on me, their pale blue is deep now. He squints, holding his confident posture, waiting for me to speak.

“Two conditions, Fox…”

He smiles again. “Name them.”

“One, I want to call you my boyfriend, and I want to be your girlfriend. No games, no expiration dates, or temporary arrangements. I want you to come to Sunday dinners at my dad’s and hang out with my brothers. I want you to sleep in with me on Saturdays and do couples’ things on Sundays. I want us to be real.”