A Ghost Encounter: My Time with Simon "Ghost" Riley

Part Ninety-Eight: Yes

Simon chuckles too and gives me the most heartfelt smile I've ever seen.

"Remember that surprise I was telling you about?" he asks me.

"Yes?" I wait in anticipation.

He turns his key, starts the engine, and winks at me. "You'll have your answer, don't worry."

Rolling my eyes I buckle my seatbelt and Simon drives us to this so-called "surprise".

After a forty-minute drive, we arrive back at the Task Force 141 base.

"This is my surprise?" I pout playfully, but let my disappointment shine through.

"Don't be a smart ass, sweetheart," Simon chuckles and we exit his truck. "Come on." He grabs my hand and we begin walking.

After a few minutes, I notice we're walking to the airplane hangar. When we get inside, I see a table with a bouquet of flowers and a present on top.

"What is this?" I ask curiously as we approach the table.

Simon picks up the present and says, "Open."

I give him a silly look and then open the present to find keys inside.

"Don't tell me you got me a car," I laugh, my tone incredulous.

"No." He shakes his head and chuckles. "They're for a house."

My heart starts racing.

"A house?" My brows furrow and I ask anxiously, "What are you talking about?"

"Our house." He looks at me with love in his eyes.

"Our...house?" I say slowly, trying to process the news.

He bought us a house.

Without saying anything Simon gets down on one knee.

The air around us stills and all there is in this moment is him and me.

"This is where we first met." He looks around the hangar. "When you, Price, and Laswell came into the hangar and I saw you I thought to myself: there's no way this young and pretty little thing will be able to keep up with us." He gives me a cheeky grin which in turn makes me chuckle.

Simon pulls a small box out of his pants pocket and opens it to reveal an elegant and beautiful ring.

My heart skips a beat and my entire body warms.

"But you proved me wrong." He smiles at me. "You are strong, way too smart for your own good, and you have a beautiful heart." His voice breaks. "I love you. Fuck, I am so in love with you and I never thought I'd say that. I never imagined the day when I'd be able to have something like this." Tears start to form in his eyes. "I was cold—a shell of a man—and I never let anyone get too close. But with you, I couldn't stop it. I just couldn't help myself. And I don't want to live another day without you, without calling you mine." His voice trembles and he bites his lip. "Breanna Roberts, will you marry me?"

My knees buckle, threatening to drop me to the ground. Warm tears are streaming down my face.

"But...but the Task Force and-"

He cuts me off.

"Already done," he says softly, smiling. "The team knows. I've resigned."

"What?" I raise my brows, and my shock is evident. "Simon, you can't. That's your life! I could never ask you to do that. That's..." I shake my head, processing and trying to find the right words.

"No." He shakes his head softly. "You. Us. That's what I want." He takes a steadying breath. "I told you that I decided that a few months into being in Las Almas. Since then it has always been my plan: to leave the Task Force and start a life with you. But when I came back, and when I found you broken and hurting, I knew it had to wait," he sniffles. "I didn't want to seduce you back into this relationship with me. Why do you think I haven't done more than just kiss you? You needed to want me to, and I needed you to be better, not for me, but for yourself."

My heart is thundering in my chest and it's taking everything in me not to collapse.

"Will you marry me, Sergeant?" Simon repeats his earlier question, his tone soft and vulnerable.

I'm being presented with what I've always wanted: a life, a happy one, with someone I love and someone I can trust.

But I'm so fucking scared. I've spent the majority of my life alone, unable to trust others, and being miserable. My mind can't help but wonder about all the things that could go wrong...

"Yes," I chuckle through my tears, wiping them away.

But my heart can't help from yearning for all the things that could go right. If I keep living my life in fear, holding myself back, then I'll never get what I want; and I'll never be happy.

"Of course, yes!" I cry happily and Simon places the ring on my finger.

He stands, kisses me, and picks me up to spin me around.

"I was afraid you'd say no," he chuckles. "The team made bets."

Idiots...haha.

"Of course they did." I smile happily.

"Let's go home." He kisses my forehead, grabs my hand, and leads us out of the hangar. "One last surprise."