“I Needed a Fake Girlfriend for the Office Party,” the CEO Muttered—Then She Slid Me a Note That Said “Pick Me”
Chapter 11
Two years after their first office party, Ethan proposed.
He didn’t rent a stadium.
He didn’t hire a photographer.
He didn’t organize a public spectacle.
He took Lena back to the oak tree outside the university where she had studied before joining Carter Group.
They sat beneath it.
She had no idea what was coming.
“Why are we here?” she asked.
“I wanted somewhere quiet.”
She smiled.
“You hate quiet?”
“I used to.”
He reached into his pocket.
Lena froze.
“Ethan.”
He laughed.
“Relax.”
He pulled out a small box.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I remembered something.”
“What?”
“The first time I asked you for a favor.”
“You mean when you asked me to be your fake girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
“You were terrible at asking.”
“I know.”
She laughed through her tears.
He opened the box.
“I thought I needed someone for one night.”
He took her hand.
“But I found someone I want beside me for every night after that.”
Lena covered her mouth.
“Ethan…”
“I can’t promise we’ll never argue.”
She laughed.
“I know.”
“I can’t promise I’ll always know what to say.”
“You definitely won’t.”
He smiled.
“But I can promise I’ll keep choosing you.”
He knelt.
“Lena Brooks, will you marry me?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she pulled the old note from her purse.
Ethan stared.
“You still have it?”
She smiled.
“Of course.”
She unfolded it.
Pick me.
Then she looked at him.
“I did.”
She reached down.
“And I still am.”
“Yes.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger.
They kissed beneath the tree.
The same place where Lena had once wondered whether Ethan would ever notice her.
Now there was no pretending.
No uncertainty.
No carefully prepared story.
Only two people who had taken a ridiculous situation and turned it into something real.
