It turns out, Aiden and I had different definitions of dating. I thought we’d go out to dinner. Go to the movies. And sex. I assumed there’d be sex.

Sex was about the only common element between my idea of dating and Aiden’s. My version of dating included Aiden picking me up at my door, taking me somewhere suitable, and dropping me off at the end of the evening. Simple. Classic.

Aiden’s version varied widely, but it was rarely simple, and it almost always involved my spending the night. In Winters House. In a hotel room. Sometimes that hotel room was in Paris. Or London. Once, it was in Tokyo. Tokyo. Who goes to Tokyo on a date? Apparently, Aiden Winters does. Before Aiden, I’d only used my passport once, on a short trip to Canada with my mother.

I tried to stay firm on my resolve not to move into Winters House. At first, I compromised with both Aiden and my brother and agreed to stay in Chase’s condo. Chase wanted me there because he had the ridiculous idea that I shouldn’t live alone in the big city.

Cue my eye roll.

Aiden, because he didn’t want me to sign a lease he was sure he could convince me to break. I was too smart to bet against Aiden, and I didn’t really want to move twice, so I’d stayed put.

Night by night, date by date, more of my things had made their way into Aiden’s suite in Winters House. The first time Mrs. W consulted with me on the grocery list Aunt Amelia had snickered and said, “You might as well just pack your things and move in, Violet. If Aiden doesn’t talk you into it, Helen will.”

Aunt Amelia was the only one who called Mrs. W by her first name, Helen, and it was a mystery how she got away with it when the two of them didn’t quite get along.

That was just one of the mysteries of the Winters family. They were a lot to get used to, especially after growing up in such a different household. In the Westbrook home, quiet obedience was prized. Not at Winters House. They were loud and argumentative and nosy. And fun. Almost always, they were fun.

Aiden got his way by the end of the summer, but not because I agreed to move out of Chase’s condo. I was tricked into it. In a way. Chase and Lucas had hit it off. Maybe it was because they were both outsiders. Lucas and Riley were already tight, partly because they worked together at Sinclair Security, and Chase fit right in.

He started hanging around Lucas and Charlie’s renovations after work and on weekends, helping out here and there. He’d always loved learning new things. I think after spending all day in front of a computer terminal, Chase liked the chance to work with his hands.

He liked it so much, he ended up falling head over heels for a run-down cottage they’d bought after it went into foreclosure. The place was a mess, but it was within walking distance of the shops and restaurants on Highland Avenue, was on a decent sized lot, and had an oversized detached garage that could double as a guest house or home office.

Lucas and Charlie planned to have it ready to move into by early fall. Everything was going right on schedule until Chase’s condo sold faster than we’d expected and there was a delay on materials for the new house. Suddenly, Chase and I were homeless.

We moved into Winters House temporarily. Well, temporarily for Chase. By the time his new place was done, we’d been living in Winters House for over a month. All of my things were there. For the first time in years, I felt like I was home.

Even Chase told me to stay put. He’d been showing me around the new house when he’d stopped in the kitchen and said, “You’re not coming, right? You’re going to stay with Winters?”

Relieved that he wasn’t going to argue about it, I said, “I think so. I want to. Why? Do you think I should? Or are you just trying to get rid of me so you can be alone with your new girlfriend?”

He’d scowled before rolling his eyes. “She’s not my girlfriend. Yet.”

He was having a hard time convincing the object of his affection to give him a chance. She was gun shy, but Chase was persistent. My money was on him. No woman could resist my brother for long. He’d win her over. Eventually.

He poked me in the arm. “I don’t need to get rid of you to get the girl. Any woman who wants to ditch my baby sister isn’t the right one for me.” Then, more seriously, “You know I always have a place for you. Always. But Winters loves you. He’s going to ask you to marry him. I don’t know why he hasn’t yet. And I know you don’t want to move out. Just make it easy and stay where you are.”

So I did.

Aiden and I were slowly working out a rhythm. He was who he was. I called him the king of the universe as a joke, but I wasn’t far off. When I really thought about the number of people who depended on him for their livelihood—not just the employees of Winters, Inc., who numbered in the tens of thousands, but the businesses that relied on his company through complex agreements and contracts—the amount of responsibility was mind-boggling.

It was my mission in life to force him to put his crown aside and just be a man.

That didn’t mean we didn’t argue. Constantly. He tried. He really tried. And he was learning to compromise. In one of the biggest ironies of my life, I’d landed my dream job and it ended up being with WGC, Winters Gaming Corp., the gaming and technology company run by Aiden’s youngest brother Holden and youngest cousin Tate.

Who would have guessed that a tech company would require a snail mail application? In fact, it was the very application that had led me to the contract hidden in Aiden’s desk and LeAnne Gates. After that disaster, I’d completely forgotten about the stamped envelope I’d left sitting on Aiden’s desk. Mrs. W had mailed it and I’d been called in for an interview.

It turned out WGC had issues with corporate espionage. Their flagship game was a huge seller and competitors would do almost anything to find out what was coming up. Even for a position like bookkeeper they did their hiring off-site and through an intermediary. I didn’t know who the job offer came from until I’d signed an ironclad nondisclosure agreement.

When I found out, I’d assumed Aiden was behind it and I’d been furious. He’d been as surprised as me. Holden and Tate were the only ones who had any idea I’d applied for the job, and they knew exactly who I was when they offered it to me.

I hadn’t been sure about taking it. On one hand, the salary and benefits were good, and the flexible hours would let me go back to school part-time. On the other hand, I wasn’t comfortable accepting favors in the form of employment. Holden and Tate swore I was the best qualified applicant, but I wasn’t sure I believed them.

In the end, I took the job. I’d been there five months and it was everything I hoped it would be. WGC was laid back, the employees dedicated and passionate, with a sense of humor. Half the time they acted like work was play and it made every day in the office entertaining.

Two days a week I commuted to Athens, an hour away, and attended classes towards my Master’s Degree in Accountancy at the University of Georgia. My compromise was the car and driver Aiden sent with me. I’d insisted I could take the bus. In fact, we’d had a knockdown, drag-out fight about it.

Providing me with a car and driver was a ridiculous waste of money, in my opinion. I could drive myself, but the bus gave me two hours a day to study. Aiden pointed out that I could do that far more comfortably in the spacious backseat of his Bentley.

It was Charlie, the master of fighting with Aiden, who tipped the balance. We’d been arguing—again—our disagreement getting more heated as the fall semester grew closer, until she pulled me aside and said, using the nickname she’d picked up from Chase, “Vivi, choose your battles. Don’t waste your energy on the car thing. Let him have his way and fight him on something really worthwhile. Trust me. It works better if you save your disagreements until you really need them. Do you want to take the bus that badly?”

“But it’s a waste of money,” I’d protested.

It was one thing when Aiden was with me. Then I didn’t question the private plane or the hotel suites. But this was different. This was just me. I was perfectly fine taking the bus.

Charlie just poked me in the shoulder and laughed. “Seriously? Not to Aiden. First of all, he’s not even going to blink at what a car and driver costs two days a week. Second, he’d spend any amount of money to make sure that you’re safe and comfortable. Let him. It’s just money. He’s got enough of it.”

So I gave in. Charlie was right. Aiden didn’t love me because I was a pushover. He loved me because I stood up to him, but there was nothing wrong with choosing my battles wisely. And I had to admit, if only to myself, that the Bentley was a whole lot more comfortable than the bus.

Really, after six months, we only had one ongoing issue. We couldn’t settle on a plan for our wedding.

Not that Aiden had asked. Not formally. There was no ring and no date. I wasn’t fishing for one. In my opinion it made more sense to wait at least a full year. Wasn’t that the conventional wisdom? You should be with someone for all four seasons before you commit for life?

I couldn’t help being cautious. I think Aiden worried that I still didn’t trust him, but that wasn’t it.

I struggled to put it into words. My whole life had changed. Before I met Aiden, I was adrift, tethered only to Chase, mostly alone in the world. And then there was Aiden and his big, messy, affectionate family. My life had been quiet and a little lonely. Overnight, it seemed, it was full, bursting with friends and love, so much so it felt like a dream.

A tiny part of me was afraid I’d wake up one morning and it would all be gone. Moving into Winters House, marrying Aiden—those things were so big. So permanent. So final. Deep in my heart, I feared taking that kind of step would break the spell and I’d wake up alone.

I hemmed and hawed on wedding ideas. Aiden’s brother Jacob and his fiancée Abigail were in the final stages of planning the wedding to end all weddings. I knew I didn’t want something like that.

I didn’t know what I wanted. A small destination wedding? Something at Winters House? Winters House had seen its share of weddings in the last few years; Tate and Emily, Charlie and Lucas, Gage and Sophie, and most recently Annalise and Riley, though they’d married at their house in the woods and not in the main house.

I wanted something different. Not a big splashy society event—just the idea of that gave me the shudders—and not something at home.

Something different. I just couldn’t figure out what that was.

I even had a dress. Crazy, I know. Who buys a dress before a proposal? Me, it turns out. I didn’t mean to. Buying a wedding dress was the last thing on my mind when I joined Abigail, Charlie, Maggie, Sophie, Emily, Jo, and Annalise at the bridal shop to pick out bridesmaids dresses.

Abigail wanted her future sisters and cousins-in-law to make up her wedding party. The lot of us were quite a crowd. The shop was closed just for us, and there’d been champagne. A lot of champagne.

I blamed it on the discount. When the wedding dress of my dreams was sixty percent off because of an almost invisible tear in the silk—it was like a sign from the heavens. I couldn’t say no.

Annalise talked me into trying it on, and once I saw myself in the three-way mirror I knew this was my dress. Strapless white corded lace with a low back, the bodice sparkled with a spray of hand sewn beads. And the skirt…the skirt was a confection. Yards and yards of that delicate corded lace, it bloomed from the tight basque waistline, the train flowing behind me.

The dress was fit for a queen. Romantic and elegant, it made a statement. With my summer tan and my hair pinned up, I looked regal. Timeless. For the first time, looking at myself in the mirror, wearing that dress, I felt like I could be Aiden’s bride.

The rest of the girls agreed, and I ended up with a wedding dress hidden in the back of Charlie’s closet. She said she didn’t trust Aiden not to peek and ruin the surprise. I’d agreed.

Time marched on, and still, we were in limbo. Just before Christmas, Aiden talked me into a long weekend in Las Vegas. He had some details to wrap up for his project with Dylan Kane, and we both wanted to get away for a few days. This time I skipped the meeting with Dylan, opting to give myself an early Christmas gift of a spa day.

While Aiden went over reports and toured the site, I got a massage, some kind of seaweed mud wrap thing, a facial and a mani-pedi. By the time I wandered back to our suite in my robe I was relaxed and glowing.

Aiden was waiting for me, along with a chilled bottle of champagne and that same Harry Connick Jr song we’d danced to all those months ago. Before I could think about changing out of my robe, he took my hand and pulled me into his arms.

That was Aiden. He still worked too much, though he was getting better, but he never forgot to take the time for romance. We danced, my cheek against his chest, his arms holding me close. The song ended too soon. I expected another, but the room fell silent.

Aiden dropped to his knee. My heart went crazy in my chest, pounding so hard the rush of it filled my ears. I’d been waiting forever, and still some part of me hadn’t believed this moment would come.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small black velvet box. His fingers wrapped around mine, pulling them to his lips for a kiss.

“Say yes.”

A smile curled my lips. Typical Aiden.

“Not until you ask,” I countered.

“Be mine, Violet. I want to spend every day of my life making you as happy as you make me. Say yes.”

He still hadn’t asked, but I could let it slide. Usually, I was more than happy to bust his chops, but not now. Not for this.

Aiden didn’t have to ask. I was already his. There was no man I’d ever love the way I loved Aiden. I thought about teasing him a little longer, but the emotion, the longing in his eyes, filled my soul, and I said the only word in my heart.

“Yes.”

He rose to his feet, flipping the lid on the velvet box. Still holding my fingers in his hand, he worked the ring free and tossed the box on a nearby table. My mouth went dry when I got a good look at the ring.

I hadn’t thought about the ring. Not really. The dress, absolutely. But not the ring. If I had, I wouldn’t have imagined this. A brilliant round center stone surrounded by a geometric bezel frame on a micropavé band, every bit of the ring sparkled.

The frame and band were set with small glittering diamonds and the center stone was…let’s just say it was big. Really big. The round stone and the angles of the surrounding frame had an art deco look, as if the ring was from the twenties.

Aiden slid it on the ring finger of my left hand. “It was my mother’s, and my grandmother’s before her. Now it’s yours.”

“What about…” I didn’t want to say her name, not in the middle of Aiden’s proposal, but he had been married before.

He shook his head. “I never even thought of it. I should have known it was a mistake when I never considered giving her this ring. And with you, I never thought of anything else. I imagined you wearing this ring the last time we were in this room.”

“You didn’t,” I murmured, transfixed by the sight of all those diamonds on my finger. This was more than a ring. It was his legacy. His history. Our future.

“I did. You were trying to figure out how to get away from me, and I was already planning to keep you.”

I laughed a little, dizzy with love, happiness fizzing in my veins like champagne. Aiden hit a button on his phone to restart the music and pulled me close. His lips grazing my temple, we swayed together.

“If you want, we can do it here. Tomorrow.”

Startled, I leaned back. He was serious. “But the family and…”

“They’re here. Charlie has your dress.”

I just stared at him, completely at a loss for words. They were here? Charlie had my dress? How long had he been planning this? Before I could get my thoughts together, Aiden explained.

“If this isn’t what you want, we’ll figure out something else. Anything. But if you want to get married now, Dylan reserved the garden chapel. I checked it out this afternoon. It’s beautiful—stained glass and flowers. I took pictures for you.”

“What if this isn’t what I want? What if I want to wait?”

Aiden pressed his mouth to mine in a slow, sweet kiss. “Then we’ll wait. We’ll make a party of this weekend and take our time deciding exactly what you want for your wedding.”

“But you want this?” Everything was moving so fast, I couldn’t quite catch up.

“I want you to be my wife. That’s it. I’d prefer to do it sooner rather than later, but I can wait if that’s what you need. I would have married you months ago if I hadn’t thought the idea would scare you away.”

A laugh bubbled up. “It might have.” I looked at the sparkle of the ring on my finger, brilliant against Aiden’s dark suit coat. Then I looked into his warm, brown eyes, so full of love.

I didn’t want to wait either. And I didn’t want a big wedding. I just wanted Aiden and our family. And I wanted it now. This weekend. Here.

“Yes,” I said, the laugh still caught in my voice. “Yes. Let’s do it now. Everyone’s really here?”

“They got here this afternoon. I had to charter an extra plane, but we managed to get everyone. My family, Chase, Annabelle, the Sinclairs.”

“Perfect. That’s perfect.” I didn’t need to see pictures of the chapel. I trusted Aiden. And this was exactly right. We didn’t need a fuss, we just needed our family and each other.

“Where are they now?” I asked, looking around, half expecting the whole crew to jump out and surprise me.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Aiden swept me up into his arms, just as he had that first night in this room, and he carried me off to bed. “Tomorrow you can celebrate with our families. Tonight, you’re all mine.”

And I was. That night, the next, and every night that came after.