The lights of the Chicago high rises light up the dark room, windows showcasing the view from edge to edge, thirty stories up in the air with the bustle of people below.

I gulp down the lump in my throat and shift trying to get more comfortable. My shirt is too stiff around my neck. The tie too suffocating. The jacket too restrictive. I miss my track pants and t-shirts, but Skylar is worth wearing this thing for the rest of my life.

“I don’t understand. Why are we here?” Skylar’s voice is faint.

“You know Dax, always impulsive. He wants your opinion about this place in case he buys the condo.”

“What? Why would he buy a condo? It is a nice area.” Their heels click on the hardwood floor. Lights flicker on in each room. “I thought you guys were thinking about staying in Vermont?”

“Well, family issues and all.”

Demi sure sucks, I can even tell she’s lying.

“What’d we miss?” Grady walks in.

“Oh, I love the view of the lake,” Mia gasps. I hope Skylar does too because it cost a small fortune to get a lease on it with such short notice.

“Maybe we should move to a city,” Grady says.

My head falls back in exhaustion. If she doesn’t step in here soon, my heart is going to stop.

“Nah, I’m a Vermont girl. Plus, neither of us would survive in a place we can’t strap on our boards and ride.”

“True. I need the snow,” Grady agrees.

“Chicago has snow,” Skylar says.

“No fucking mountains though.” Dax’s voice joins the group and the door shuts. “Seriously, that neighbor guy is nosey. I don’t think this is the place for us, babe.”

“Yeah, I agree. We sure will miss you, Sky, but we’ll visit often.”

“I’ll visit, you’ll visit. It’ll be fine...why are you leaving? Aren’t you going to at least look at the bedrooms?”

“Oh, I guess.” Demi must turn back around. Dipshits can’t put together a plan to save their lives.

Lead her in here. They have one fucking job. Okay, well more than one, but this is the most important.

The light turns on above my head, shining down on the sprinkled red rose petals scattered across the wooden floors.

They shut the door behind her and Skylar turns, walking over and placing her hand on the knob. Her hair is thrown into a ponytail and she’s wearing yoga pants, gym shoes, and a hoodie. She’s never looked more beautiful.

The fact she’s not pounding on the door to escape is a good sign.

“It’s too late,” she says to the back of the door.

“Please just listen to me. One last dinner and if you want to leave me, I won’t stop you.”

She turns, and her gaze shifts to the small table set in front of the window with takeout Chinese food containers and chopsticks along with two bottles of water.

She bites down on her lower lip, her eyes never reaching mine. “If I sit down and eat, you’ll let me go then?”

“Yes.”

“A half hour. That’s it.” She walks to the table, sits down and crosses her arms over her chest. “Why are we eating in the bedroom?”

“Because I had to make sure you wouldn’t run.”

She cocks one eyebrow at me. “Of the two of us, I’m not the runner.”

“True.” I sit down across from her. “Hungry?”

“Nope.”

“Did you get my message?”

“Nope.”

“Missed call?”

“I didn’t miss it.”

I knew she’d be hard, but either I don’t know her at all or I’m a bigger douchebag than I realized. I guess it’s the latter.

“Sky, I’m so sorry.”

She holds her hand out to me. “Stop. I’m done with the sorry. If you can’t handle a relationship more than friendship, I’ve decided I don’t want either. I’m not sure what all this is about, but it’s over, Beckett. We had a nice run. Friendships die all the time.”

“Yeah, they do and ours died. I’m not here to earn your friendship back, Skylar.”

She stares blankly at me.

“I’m here to win your heart. I understand it won’t be easy. I understand if you never want to talk to me again, but that’s why we’re here. This condo is mine. If you’re in Chicago, I am too. I mean I’ll have to travel, otherwise, I can’t afford this place. So, during qualifying and training, I’ll have to be in Park City, but we’ll make it work. Somehow. It doesn’t matter.”

“What makes you think I’m staying in Chicago?”

“I saw the letter. I saw the girls congratulating you.”

She shrugs in an ‘okay, you have a point.’

“Anyway—”

“Why do you think I’d still see you even if you are here?”

Her position hasn’t changed. She’s closed off and I can’t say I blame her. I used to be the same way. Until she taught me a better way.

“I’m hoping with enough begging you will.”

Another shrug and she crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“I know you don’t want to hear I’m sorry, so let me try to phrase it differently. I want you. I need you. I could sit here all night and grovel for you to accept me back into your life. To take the chance and move on, but honestly, there’s only really one thing I want to do tonight.”

“What’s that?”

I fall to my knee, opening the ring box that holds the engagement ring I bought after I landed. I pop open the box and her arms fall to her sides.

“No, Beck. Don’t.”

“Now, Sky, is that the story you want to tell our grandchildren one day? That I fell on bended knee and you told me to get up?”

Her lips tick up but quickly fall back straight.

“Don’t do this just to keep me in your life.”

I leave the ring box on the table, sliding across the floor, clearing a path through the rose petals. “You are so special. You’ve always been special. It’s always been you. The one who taught my battered heart to trust and to love. See, Sky, I grew up always feeling like I wasn’t worth sticking around for. I was so worried you were going to find out what an idiot I was. That I wasn’t worth your time. That’d I mess this up somehow, and the fact that I made you feel that way...” I run a hand through my hair. “This ring isn’t because I want you in my life. I mean, I do, but I’m not proposing to you because I think I have to. I want to cherish you, nurture you, start a family, and make a home together because if we’re going to do this, we’re going all in. We already know everything there is to know about one another. We’re putting everything on the line, all our stakes on the table and I’d never bet against us because me and you, we’re meant to be together.”

I blow out a breath after my declaration, hoping my rambling made halfway sense.

“Ask me again?” she says, her voice soft.

I dare a smile and pluck the ring out the box. The two-karat pear shape diamond sparkles on the silver band. It’s simple and elegant and suits her perfectly.

“Skylar Walsh, will you please marry me?”

She looks at the ring and purses her lips. “I have three conditions.”

I chuckle. “Sure.”

“Do you, Beckett Myers, promise to never run away again?”

“Only if you’re chasing me with a butcher knife.”

She nods. “Do you, Beckett Myers, promise to never have to say sorry to me again?”

“Well, I could, but I’d hate to start our life with a lie. I’m gonna fuck-up, you know that.”

She nods, accepting my answer.

“Last condition, Beckett Myers. Do you promise to never rent or buy a piece of housing without talking to me first?”

“Why? This is perfect. The university is right over there.”

She drops to her knees and places her hands on my cheeks. “I’m not sure why we need to be by the university when I’ll be skiing in Park City.”

“What?” I pull back, wide-eyed.

“I’m not retiring. Not yet.”

“Shit, I guess I need to sublet this place.” I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. Sky, will you be my wife? Put me out of my misery.”

She holds out her left hand and I place the ring on it, the fit perfect. I’ll have to thank Mia for sneaking into her room to scour her jewelry box and find her ring size.

“All right Myers, you’re mine.”

“No, you’re mine.” I smash my lips to her mouth and she giggles as we fall to the floor.

It might’ve taken me forever to get here, but with Skylar in my arms, I can’t be upset because I ended up exactly where I should’ve been the entire time.