THE VALENTINE PROPOSAL

LIORA

The silence at the dinner table was so thick I could barely breathe. Everyone stared at me like I'd just confessed to murder. Zyler's face was red. Nuala looked like someone had slapped her. Diella sat there with a satisfied smile playing on her lips.

"Is this true?" Zyler demanded. His voice cut through the quiet like a knife. "You proposed to my son in a public lobby after catching your boyfriend cheating?"

I opened my mouth but nothing came out. What could I even say? Yes, I did that. Yes, I'm exactly as pathetic as it sounds.

Everett's hand found mine under the table. He squeezed once.

"It's true," he said. His voice was calm. Too calm. "Liora proposed to me in the lobby of Montague Tech. And I said yes."

Nuala made a small sound in her throat. "Everett, please tell me this is some kind of joke."

"It's not a joke." Everett looked at me when he said it. His gray eyes held mine. "The way we met was unconventional. I'll admit that. But my feelings for her are real."

My heart stopped. Was he acting? He had to be acting. This was all part of the deal. But the way he looked at me made my chest tight.

"Real?" Zyler stood up so fast his chair scraped against the floor. "You expect me to believe you fell in love with a woman you met five minutes ago? A woman who was clearly using you to get revenge on her ex boyfriend?"

"I wasn't using him," I said. My voice came out smaller than I wanted. "I was upset and I wasn't thinking clearly but I wouldn't—"

"Wouldn't what?" Zyler cut me off. "Wouldn't see an opportunity and take it? My son is one of the richest men in the city. You proposed to him in front of witnesses so he couldn't say no without causing a scene. That sounds like manipulation to me."

"Dad, that's enough." Everett's voice had an edge to it now.

"No, it's not enough." Zyler walked around the table. He stood over me. "This engagement is an embarrassment to our family. You will end this circus immediately and marry Diella like you were supposed to."

The room spun. I gripped the edge of the table.

"Like I was supposed to?" Everett stood up. He was taller than his father. "I never agreed to marry Diella. You and Mom decided that for me."

"Because Diella is appropriate," Nuala said. Her voice was quiet but it hit harder than Zyler's shouting. "She understands our world, Everett. She knows how to handle the media and the society functions and the expectations that come with being a Montague."

She looked at me. Not with anger. With sadness.

"I thought when you finally settled down, you'd choose someone who could stand beside you as an equal. Someone from our circle who understands the pressure and the responsibility."

The words hurt worse than anything Zyler had said. She wasn't calling me trash. She was saying I wasn't good enough. That I'd never be good enough.

Diella reached across the table. She put her hand on mine. "Liora, I know this must be overwhelming for you. Being thrust into our world so suddenly with no preparation. No one would blame you if you wanted to step back from all this."

Her voice was so sweet. So concerned. But her eyes were ice cold.

"You don't belong here," she said softly. "And you know it."

Something inside me cracked. I pulled my hand away. "Excuse me. I need to use the restroom."

I didn't wait for permission. I just walked. My heels clicked on the marble floor. I found the bathroom down the hall and locked myself inside.

The tears came immediately. I braced myself against the sink and let them fall. My mascara ran down my cheeks in black streaks. My hands shook so badly I could barely turn on the faucet.

What was I doing? These people were right. I didn't belong in their world. I was a girl from a state university with student loans and a cheating ex boyfriend. I had no business sitting at that table pretending I could fit in.

Diella was right. I should step back. Take whatever settlement Everett offered and disappear before I got hurt worse.

The bathroom door opened. I hadn't heard a knock.

Everett stepped inside. He closed the door behind him.

"I didn't say you could come in," I said. My voice was thick from crying.

"I know." He leaned against the door. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" I gestured at my tear stained face.

He didn't answer. He just watched me with those gray eyes.

"I can't do this," I said. The words tumbled out. "They hate me, Everett. Your parents, Diella, probably everyone at that table. They think I'm a gold digger who trapped you."

"I don't care what they think."

"Well I do." I grabbed a tissue and tried to fix my makeup. It was useless. "Maybe they're right. Maybe I should just end this now before it gets worse."

Everett crossed the bathroom in two steps. He took the tissue from my hand. "Look at me."

I didn't want to. But I did.

"My parents' marriage ended because my mother left my father for someone she thought was more suitable," he said. "Someone from the right family with the right connections. Someone appropriate."

He said the word like it tasted bad.

"It destroyed my father. He loved her completely and she threw it away for someone who looked better on paper. That's what they want for me. A marriage that looks perfect from the outside but means nothing on the inside."

His hands were on my shoulders now. Warm and steady.

"I don't want to live like that," he said. "I don't want to marry someone because she went to the right schools or knows the right people. I want to marry someone real."

My breath caught. "Everett—"

"They think love is about matching tax brackets. But that's not love. That's a business transaction."

He was so close I could see the small scar above his left eyebrow. I'd never noticed it before.

"We should get back," I whispered.

"Do you want to go back?"

No. I wanted to stay here in this bathroom where it was just us. Where I didn't have to pretend or perform or worry about being good enough.

"They're waiting," I said instead.

Everett's thumb brushed my cheek. Wiping away a tear I didn't know was still there. "Let them wait."

Then he kissed me.

It wasn't like the kiss in the conference room that was for show. It wasn't like the kiss in front of Flynn. This was different. This was desperate and real and it made my whole body feel like it was on fire.

My hands went to his chest. I could feel his heart beating fast under my palms. He pulled me closer and I let him. I forgot about the dinner. I forgot about Diella and Zyler and Nuala. I forgot about everything except the way his lips felt on mine.

When we broke apart we were both breathing hard. His forehead rested against mine.

"We should get back," I said again. My voice was shaky.

"Yeah." But he didn't move.

Neither did I.

Finally he stepped back. He fixed his tie. I tried to fix my makeup again but gave up. There was no hiding that I'd been crying.

"Ready?" he asked.

I nodded. I wasn't ready. But I followed him anyway.

We walked back to the dining room together. Everyone looked up when we entered. Zyler's face was still red. Nuala looked tired. Diella's smile was gone.

"We're leaving," Everett said.

Zyler stood up. "If you walk out that door with her, there will be consequences. I'll block the Ashford merger. I'll make sure the board questions every decision you make. I'll—"

"Then I'll deal with it." Everett's voice was final. "I'm not ending my engagement because you don't approve."

"You're choosing her over your family?" Nuala's voice broke.

"I'm choosing myself," Everett said. "For the first time in my life, I'm choosing what I want instead of what you think I should want."

He took my hand. We walked toward the door.

"This isn't over, Everett," Zyler called after us.

Everett didn't turn around. "I know."

Diella's voice followed us into the hallway. "See you soon, Liora."

It sounded like a threat.

The drive home was quiet. I leaned my head against Everett's shoulder. He didn't pull away. His arm came around me and held me close.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"For what?"

"For not making me feel small."

His arm tightened around me. We didn't talk about the kiss. We didn't talk about the boundaries we were crossing. We just sat there in the back of the car as the city lights blurred past the windows.

Something had shifted tonight. I could feel it in the way he held me. In the way neither of us wanted to let go.

The contract said three months. No real feelings. Separate lives.

But sitting there with his arm around me and my head on his shoulder, I knew we were already breaking every rule we'd made.

And I didn't care anymore.