Chapter 161: The Right Reason

"Gio."

"Yes?"

"When are we getting married?"

Giovanni went still for a moment, then slowly lowered his coffee.

"We haven’t decided."

"I know. That’s why I’m asking."

It was ridiculous when Alexander thought about it.

They’d just spent the better part of an hour discussing whether they wanted children, how many they might have, and what kind of home they could eventually raise them in. They’d even established the importance of separate offices.

Yet somehow, neither of them had actually chosen a date for the event that was supposed to come first.

Giovanni regarded him calmly.

"You were the one who proposed."

"And you were the one who accepted."

"That generally leaves the proposer responsible for the next step."

Alexander raised an eyebrow. "According to whom?"

"Me."

Giovanni’s expression remained perfectly serious.

"You’re making that up."

"Probably."

Alexander laughed despite himself.

Their forearms had shifted closer at some point during the conversation. He couldn’t remember exactly when, but Giovanni’s hand now rested beside his on the broad armrest, close enough that Alexander only needed to move his fingers slightly to touch him.

So he did.

Giovanni glanced down as Alexander slipped their fingers together, but neither of them commented.

"All right," Alexander said. "Then let’s decide."

"Tonight?"

"Why not?"

Giovanni’s fingers tightened around his.

That was a good question, actually.

Why not?

Nothing was stopping them anymore.

For once, no Board was waiting for Alexander to decide. No inheritance pushed him toward marriage, no business partnership he needed to secure, and no public humiliation he was desperately trying to repair.

They didn’t have to rush.

More importantly, they didn’t have to wait.

They could marry next month or in several months. They could have a large wedding filled with relatives, friends, executives, and everyone else their families would inevitably insist on including. They could keep it small and private.

Or they could simply return to the Marriage Bureau where this entire mess had started and finally give that poor security guard something better to remember Alexander for.

The thought made him smile.

"What?" Giovanni asked.

"Nothing."

"You’re smiling."

"I was thinking about the Marriage Bureau."

Giovanni understood immediately.

"The guard?"

"The guard."

"You traumatized that man."

"I was the one abandoned at my own wedding."

"He still had to deal with you afterward."

Alexander gave him an offended look. "I was perfectly reasonable."

"I heard the story from you. You were not."

"Whose side are you on?"

Giovanni looked down at their joined hands.

"Yours."

The answer was so simple that Alexander’s planned response disappeared.

He stared at Giovanni for a moment.

There it was again.

That strange feeling he’d been experiencing all night.

It had started when they talked about children, and Alexander realized how easily he could imagine raising them with Giovanni. Then they’d discussed a house that belonged to neither of them yet, because apparently the idea of finding something that would become theirs sounded better than simply choosing between what they already owned.

And now Giovanni was sitting beside him, holding his hand and talking about their wedding as though there had never been any question that there would be one.

Except there had been.

Alexander had created it.

He’d walked into Giovanni’s penthouse when his life was falling apart and offered marriage like another solution to a business problem. Giovanni had accepted, and Alexander had spent months believing he understood why.

Only now was he beginning to understand how little he’d actually asked.

Alexander set his coffee aside.

Giovanni watched him stand.

He didn’t let go of Giovanni’s hand. Instead, Alexander gently pulled him to his feet and took his other hand, too.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying this again."

"You already proposed."

"I know."

"And I already said yes."

"I remember."

Alexander smiled. "I’d still like to do it better this time."

That earned him the faintest smile.

"Go ahead, then."

Alexander stood beneath the covered veranda facing him. Beyond them, the grounds of the Vance ancestral home remained quiet beneath the night sky, while somewhere inside the house, his parents were probably already asleep.

It wasn’t exactly where Alexander had imagined discussing his wedding.

Then again, almost nothing about his relationship with Giovanni had happened the way he’d expected.

Maybe that was why this felt right.

"When do you want to marry me?" he asked.

This time, Giovanni didn’t answer immediately.

His expression changed instead, the lingering amusement giving way to something Alexander couldn’t quite read.

This time, Alexander wasn’t asking because he needed anything from him.

That might’ve been the biggest difference of all.

He didn’t need Giovanni to save his reputation. He didn’t need marriage to satisfy the Vance Board, secure a business relationship, or gain early control of his inheritance.

Alexander had already laid all of that out for him.

He’d even allowed Giovanni to walk away now that the reasons behind their original agreement had changed.

Giovanni hadn’t taken it.

More importantly, Alexander had discovered that he didn’t want him to.

He wanted the man who remembered how he liked his steak and still knew exactly what kind of child he’d been. He wanted the man who could irritate him with a perfectly straight face and somehow make discussions about children and houses feel less frightening than they probably should.

Alexander didn’t know exactly when that had happened.

But somewhere along the way, Giovanni had stopped feeling like the solution Alexander had chosen after Dominic abandoned him.

He’d simply become the person Alexander wanted beside him.

Giovanni stepped closer.

"Are you ready to marry me for the right reason?"

Alexander rested his hands against Giovanni’s waist.

For once, he didn’t have to search for an answer.

"Yes."

Giovanni studied his face.

Alexander smiled faintly.

"I am now."

Something in Giovanni’s expression softened.

"I’ve been waiting for you to say that."

Alexander blinked.

"How long?"

"Does it matter?"

"It does if you’re about to tell me you’ve been patiently waiting while I embarrassed myself for months."

"I wasn’t going to phrase it that way."

"But you thought it."

Giovanni didn’t deny it.

Alexander shook his head, but he was smiling when Giovanni pulled him into an embrace.

He went willingly.

Something unexpectedly comforting about standing there in Giovanni’s arms after spending so much of the night talking about things neither of them could see yet.

Children who didn’t exist.

A house they hadn’t chosen.

A marriage they hadn’t begun.

For once, Alexander didn’t need every detail settled before he could believe in the possibility of any of it.

Giovanni was enough to make him want to find out.

After a moment, Giovanni drew back just enough to look at him.

"Marry me, Alex."

Alexander stared at him.

It was almost ridiculous to hear the question when he’d technically proposed first.

Then again, maybe they both deserved another proposal.

The first one had happened when Alexander’s life was falling apart, and he’d needed Giovanni to help put some of the pieces back together. He’d arrived at Giovanni’s penthouse with practical reasons, conditions, and enough confidence to propose marriage without having asked whether the man even wanted children.

This one was different.

No desperation.

No conditions.

No business justification.

Just Giovanni asking him to marry him.

And Alexander finally understanding why he wanted to say yes.

"Yes, Gio."

Giovanni kissed him.

It wasn’t hurried. If anything, the kiss felt almost absurdly gentle considering they’d just agreed to rearrange the rest of their lives around each other.

When they separated, Alexander remained close.

"So," he murmured, "when?"

Giovanni laughed softly.

"We’re back to that?"

"That was my original question."

"Do you want to wait?"

Alexander thought about it.

A few months ago, he probably would’ve started calculating schedules. There would’ve been Board meetings to consider, corporate calendars to coordinate, public announcements to prepare, and enough logistics to turn a wedding into another company project.

Now?

"No."

Giovanni’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

Alexander smiled.

"I don’t mean tomorrow."

"Good."

"But I don’t see a reason to wait six months either."

"Neither do I."

That was surprisingly easy.

"A month?" Alexander suggested.

Giovanni considered it. "Enough time if we keep it reasonable."

Alexander immediately thought of both their families.

"Define reasonable."

"That may be beyond our control."

"Exactly."

Rosalie alone could probably turn a supposedly intimate ceremony into a logistical operation within forty-eight hours. Once Alejandro became involved, Alexander suspected the guest list would develop its own departments.

Alexander sighed.

"We should tell our families first."

"Yes."

"Before my mother somehow senses it."

"She may already know."

Alexander looked toward the ancestral home.

Considering Rosalie Vance, that wasn’t entirely impossible.

"Tomorrow," he decided. "We’ll tell them tomorrow."

"And the wedding?"

Alexander looked back at Giovanni.

They didn’t need the exact date tonight. For now, knowing they were no longer speaking about some vague future was enough.

"Soon."

Giovanni smiled.

"Soon," he agreed.

Alexander squeezed his hand.

For the first time since he’d walked into a Marriage Bureau expecting to marry Dominic Sebastian, the thought of his wedding didn’t feel like an obligation, a deadline, or the conclusion of someone else’s plan.

It felt like something he was choosing.

And this time, Alexander was certain he was choosing it for the right reason.