Chapter 129. Will You Marry Me?

Dominic’s POV

The entire ballroom was waiting. The soft hum of conversation, the chinking of glasses, the music that had stopped just before my voice sliced through the silence—all of them, all of it, present here to celebrate her. I went numb, my eyes raking over the throngs of people until they scanned the sea for just that one face, and hardened the minute I found her radiating an aura of looking rather more than I had ever seen her.

Leila.

I cleared my throat, smoothing out nerves that had no place in a man like me. Yet there they were, clinging tenaciously to my voice when I spoke:.

“Thank you all for coming out tonight. It is, as it were, a special occasion. For not only is it the birthday of an outstanding woman, but I—” at that moment my voice cracked, a huff of breath, words slowing as I did the work with my eyes, “—have something else to share.”

Her eyes were wide and curious and a little apprehensive, all at once. I’d kept this whole t