Page 19 of Crave

I stareddown at my ring. It was perfect—an oval diamond set on a rose-gold band. I was engaged. I couldn’t even believe it. Only a few weeks ago, Grant would barely speak to me. It was a strange turn of events, but I embraced the joy of it all.

“Are we camping up here? Did you bring any equipment?”

“No, I have a reservation in Tiburon. I just wanted to propose here. It’s always where I wanted to propose. Beats the hospital.”

Ouch. I wished I had never broken up with him that day and let him propose to me. Our lives would be so different now. “I agree. This was the best proposal. Super romantic and meant even more to me because this is where you first told me you loved me. It was perfect. We should get married up here, too. But I want to wait until Joaquín gets exonerated so he can be here.”

He gave me a halfhearted smile and clenched his teeth. I was too happy to fight with him.

“Let’s get going.” Grant was already on his feet and grabbing blankets to fold them. I stood to help, and when everything was stashed back in his bag, we headed to the rental car and drove to the hotel. Grant didn’t let go of my hand once.

He treated me to a romantic dinner, before we retired to the room, made love, and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Hours later, I woke to the sound of my phone beeping.

Mitch: We need to talk.

Fuck. Mitch? Grant still didn’t know that I had gone with Mitch to Rafael’s or that we had done drugs there. Or that Mitch had kissed me and I’d kissed him back. Or that he’d been the one who had driven me to Temecula to find Julián. Oh my god, Grant would freak. I never planned to keep it from him forever. I just hadn’t found the right time to drop that bomb on him. Seeing Mitch recently was different from seeing him at the club. I’d gone behind Grant’s back after Grant had found out who I really was.

Me: Stop texting me. If it’s important, you can tell Grant.

Mitch: This is urgent, Mia. Please call me. It’s about Joaquín.

I deleted his texts, my heart beating rapidly against my ribs. I would tell Grant tomorrow about going to Rafael’s with Mitch, and about Mitch driving me to Temecula. Then, after I had begged for his forgiveness for lying to him . . . yet again, we would find out what Mitch needed to tell me. And we would do it together.