Claire leaned over.

The original list remained.

Don't control her.

Don't decide for her.

Don't lie when truth matters.

Stay.

Protect without imprisoning.

Listen when she says no.

Don't become your father.

Let her choose.

Claire smiled.

"You filled in number eight."

"A while ago."

She looked at him.

"And how are you scoring?"

"Poorly."

"Really?"

"I still have controlling tendencies."

"True."

"I dislike approximately seventy percent of the men who speak to you."

"Closer to eighty."

"Probably."

"You occasionally have someone follow me."

"Only when there's a verified security concern."

Claire raised an eyebrow.

"With your permission."

"Better."

Adrian smiled.

Claire scrolled.

There was a ninth line.

Never leave when she needs you.

And a tenth.

Love her without owning her.

Claire stopped.

She looked at Adrian.

He suddenly seemed less confident.

That amused her.

The most feared man on the South Carolina coast could face armed criminals without blinking.

But Claire Bennett reading his private feelings apparently terrified him.

"Adrian."

"Yes?"

"Are you proposing to me through the Notes app?"

"No."

Claire laughed.

"Thank God."

"I know your rules."

"Good."

Adrian reached into his pocket.

Claire's smile vanished.

He placed a small ring box on the table.

He didn't open it.

He simply placed it between them.

Claire stared.

Adrian leaned back.

"No speech."

"Why?"

"Because speeches create pressure."

Claire looked at him.

"No kneeling?"

"You hate public spectacle."

"You remembered."

"I wrote it down."

She laughed.

He continued.

"You don't have to answer today."

"Adrian—"

"You don't have to answer this year."

Her eyes began burning.

"And if the answer is no?"

"I'll be disappointed."

"That's all?"

"I'll still respect it."

Claire looked at the box.

"You're really bad at traditional proposals."

"I've never done this."

"Obviously."

She opened the box.

The ring was elegant.

Simple.

Exactly her style.

Inside the lid was a tiny piece of paper.

Claire unfolded it.

One sentence.

YOUR LIFE. YOUR CHOICE. I JUST WANT TO SHARE IT.

She covered her mouth.

Adrian waited.

No pressure.

No demand.

No expectation.

Just waited.

Claire thought about the man she'd described that afternoon.

She had believed she wanted someone safe.

Simple.

Predictable.

Instead she'd met Adrian Vale.

He was complicated.

His history frightened her.

His instincts occasionally infuriated her.

He would probably spend the rest of his life learning the difference between protecting someone and controlling them.

But he listened.

He changed.

He told her truths even when they made him look terrible.

When she said no, he stopped.

When she needed him, he stayed.

And when he had been given every reason to become his father, he chose something different.

Claire closed the ring box.

Adrian's expression fell.

She stood.

"Claire?"

She walked around the table.

Adrian stood too.

Claire looked into his eyes.

"You failed almost every rule I had that first day."

"I know."

"Dangerous."

"Yes."

"Intimidating."

"Apparently."

"Jealous."

"Definitely."

"Bossy."

"I'm improving."

"Debatable."

He smiled.

Claire placed her hands against his chest.

"But you passed the ones that mattered."

His smile disappeared.

"Claire."

She kissed him.

The terrace disappeared around them.

For once, Adrian Vale wasn't watching exits.

He wasn't calculating danger.

He wasn't making plans.

He simply held her.

When Claire pulled back, she whispered, "Yes."

Adrian stared.

"Yes?"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

A grin spread across his face.

Claire had never seen him smile like that.

He opened the ring box.

Then stopped.

"May I?"

Claire laughed.

"You're asking permission to put on the ring?"

"Rule six."

She held out her hand.

"Yes, Adrian."

He slipped the ring onto her finger.

Natalie and Megan erupted from behind the neighboring table.

Claire jumped.

"What are you doing here?"

Megan screamed.

Natalie hugged her.

Claire turned toward Adrian.

"You planned this?"

His expression became cautious.

"They asked."

"You knew?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise."

Claire narrowed her eyes.

"Technically a violation."

"I'll add it to the list."

Vincent stood several tables away wearing sunglasses.

Claire pointed at him.

"And him?"

"Security."

"At my proposal?"

Adrian looked around.

"Verified security concern."

"What concern?"

"Your friends."

Megan threw a napkin at him.

Claire burst out laughing.

Adrian caught the napkin.

The man who once terrified half the coast looked genuinely confused by it.

Claire leaned against him.

Beyond the terrace, the ocean stretched toward the horizon.

Her life hadn't become simpler.

It had become honest.

Thomas still had years of consequences ahead of him, but Claire visited.

Her mother was healing.

Julian and Adrian were rebuilding a relationship neither had believed they'd ever have again.

The Bennett company was legitimate.

The trafficking network was gone.

And Adrian was becoming something his family had never taught him how to be.

Free.

Not from consequences.

Not from his past.

Free to choose what came next.

Claire looked at the phone still lying on the table.

She picked it up.

Adrian watched suspiciously.

"What are you doing?"

"Updating your research."

She added one final line.

Never stop choosing each other.

Adrian read it.

Then he looked at her.

"That sounds suspiciously permanent."

"It is."

"Is that a rule?"

Claire smiled.

"No."

She slipped her hand into his.

"It's a promise."

Adrian kissed her forehead.

This time there was no hidden message waiting.

No stranger watching from another table.

No family secret waiting behind a door.

No gunshot.

No lie.

Only Claire, Adrian, their ridiculous list, and a future neither of them would control alone.

And for the first time since Claire Bennett had sworn she would rather die single than choose the wrong man, she understood something she hadn't known how to put into words that afternoon.

The right man wasn't the one who passed every rule before meeting her.

He was the one who cared enough to learn why those rules existed, strong enough to change when he was wrong, and secure enough to let her remain completely herself.

Adrian had never been her perfect man.

He had become something better.

Her choice.

And she was his.