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I snort out a laugh. “Yes.” Then I groan. “See? This is exactly why Ryan can’t propose today.”

He shakes his head. “She could just have her nails redone and take a picture later if she needs a photo that badly. Besides, Ryan isn’t proposing today. You can calm down.”

I narrow my eyes. I’m not sure I believe him.

“Now get out of my room,” he says. “I need to get dressed.”

I’m reminded that he’s standing next to me in his boxer shorts. My gaze begins to dip down, but I fight to pull my eyes back up to his. He watches me, his expression hard.

“Fine,” I tell him. I turn to leave his room. He closes his door behind me. I stand there for a moment, thinking about how hard he tried to get me out of his kitchen. The ring has to be in there.

I head back into his kitchen and open the freezer. I think about how he was leaning against the refrigerator when I was in here before. Maybe he was trying to keep me out of here. It’s the last place I would expect to find a ring, which makes it the perfect hiding spot. I check the ice tray, behind some frozen dinners, and inside a box of frozen Girl Scout cookies.

“Looking for a snack?”

His voice is right behind me. I almost jump out of my skin. I turn around, my eyes wide. He rolls his eyes when he sees the look on my face. I guess I give myself away.

“Or something a little more sparkly?” he guesses.

I close the freezer door behind myself and lean against it. I cross my arms over my chest.

“You’re not gonna find it,” he says. “And I just told you that you don’t need to bother. He’s not proposing today.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Your first guess was right. I was being nosy and looking for a snack.”

“Oh yeah?” He raises an eyebrow. It’s clear he doesn’t believe me. “Find anything you like?”

“Thin mints.” I hold up a chocolate mint-flavored cookie I snagged when he snuck up behind me, then pop it into my mouth.

His mouth twitches. “Hope you enjoy freezer burn. Those have been in there for a year.”

I shrug. “Tastes perfectly fine to me. What kind of psycho keeps Girl Scout cookies in the freezer for a year and doesn’t eat them?”

“I don’t snack much,” he says. “I bought them to support a coworker’s daughter.”

I consider that for a moment, then turn around and pull the box of cookies out of the freezer. “We’re taking these with us,” I decide.

“You ready?” He turns toward the front door. He’s wearing a coat even though it’s not cold outside. His hands are tucked into the pockets. If I had to guess, the ring is in one of his coat pockets. With his hands shoved into both of them, I can’t tell which pocket it’s in. This is going to be harder than I thought.

I think of how I can get close enough to reach into his pocket without him realizing that’s what I’m doing. The first image that comes to mind has me standing only inches from him, one hand on his waist, the way we stood only a few minutes ago in his bedroom. But in this image, our mouths come dangerously close while I sneak my other hand into his pocket and pull out the ring box. My body warms with the thought.

“Earth to Priscilla,” Oliver says.

I shake the image out of my head, startled by how easily it popped into my mind. A blush comes over me. I push my hair away from my face in an attempt to cool myself down.

“Ready to go?” he asks again.

I know that I can’t act on what I was thinking about a minute ago, so I do the next best thing that comes to mind.

“Here, catch!” Before he has the chance to react, I toss the box of cookies at him. He pulls both hands out to catch the box before it hits him. I steal a glance at his pockets before he can cover them back up. I can see a small bulge on the left side. It’s about the size of the ring box. Now I just have to figure out how to get it out of there.

He opens the cookie box and pulls one out.

“Hey. Those are for the road.” I step up closer to him and grab his arm as he brings the cookie up to his mouth.

“They’re my cookies,” he argues.

I reach one hand toward his left pocket, but as I do so, he raises his arm up higher. It will be too obvious now if I continue reaching into his pocket, so I put that plan on hold and reach for the cookie instead.