“Oh, that,” I say with a wink, not wasting a second as I drop down to one knee and retrieve the velvet box I thought to grab from my top drawer, just in case. “Something I should have done a long time ago.”

“Oh. My. Gawd.” Darci appears to have pulled herself out of her stupor as she brings a hand to her chest.

“Lyle…” Sammi wrings her fingers. “You’re too late.”

“I heard everything,” I say, flipping the top open to reveal the antique, oval-cut diamond I’ve been holding on to for damn near two years. “Marry me, Li’l Bit.”

“This is crazy.” She chews her bottom lip, appearing to mull it over. “You can’t be serious right now.”

“I assure you, love. I have never been more serious about anything in my entire life than I am of wanting to make you mine forever.”

“You just heard me admit to cheating on my fiancé…”

“I’m pretty sure he wasn’t your anything, if memory serves. The idiot broke up with you.”

“Still…I wanted to marry him and slept with someone else, and that doesn’t bother you?”

I can’t contain the wry grin that curves my lip, because even if they hadn’t split up for a time, why would her cheating on him bother me in the least? “No.”

She sucks her tongue to her teeth, throwing her arms out. “Why?” She snorts. “Why would you want to marry me, knowing all that?”

“Because even after all this time has passed, you listened, Jailbait.”

Her eyes narrow. “How do you figure?”

“Clearly, he never had your heart.”

“No.” Her voice is a hoarse whisper. “That’s always belonged to you.”

I shift my weight around, my knee beginning to ache on the hard floor. “I’m here to claim what’s mine.” I take hold of her left hand and ask again, “Marry me.”

She tries to pull away, but I tighten my grip, not giving an inch. I was just seconds away from losing her for good. There’s not a chance in hell I’m leaving this church without making her my wife.

“I—we can’t. So much has changed.” Her eyes fill with tears, and I swear, a part of me dies at the sight of them. Sammi Deluca should never cry, especially not because of me. “You’re Mr. World Famous. Girls throw their panties at you on stage, and I’m just—”

I rise to my feet, gripping her chin with my free hand and tip her face up to mine. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence with anything other than ‘amazing.’” Because that’s what you are, Li’l Bit. Fucking. Amazing.”

“But what will people think?” she asks, nibbling on her plump lower lip. “No one will believe it—that a manwhore like you settled down with a nobody like me.”