Maia's stomach was in knots as her boots crunched on the snowy path back to Mateo's house. Through all of their planning, not once had she thought about Mateo proposing to her or putting an actual ring on her finger. It might be a fake engagement, but everything was feeling a bit too real, like the fact that she had no idea what Mateo was going to do or what her sister was going to force him to do to make these photos look believable.
Maia smoothed a hand over her curls that were tied up in a high ponytail before she tugged out her phone to check that her edges were still laid like Demetri taught her. Taking a deep breath, she slipped her phone back in her pocket before she opened the door and a laugh sputtered from her lips at the trail of rose petals.
This was definitely Faye's doing. She had a knack for creating a scene with her soap opera dramas. Maia shook her head and followed the red and white petals through the kitchen and out the back door to the stone path that led to the rustic enclosed terrace where she and Mateo spent a few late nights and early mornings crafting scenes for her novel.
The drapes of the terrace were conveniently closed, blocking her view of the atmosphere Faye had created inside. Maia pushed the door open and her heart thumped at the fairy lights draped over the windows encasing the picturesque view of the snow of covered fields and mountains in the background. Her gaze followed the rose petals littered over the coffee table around a bottle of champagne and Mateo was standing by the small fireplace dressed in a pair of charcoal gray slacks and a cream turtle sweater with a smile tugging at his lips.
"Let me take your coat," Faye said, stepping out from behind the plush couch where her camera was set up on a tripod and tugging Maia's coat from her shoulders. "And you can just forget I'm here," she whispered.
"I'm not sure that's possible." Mateo chuckled, crossing the room. "She put x's on the floor where we need to stand," he said, taking Maia's hands aa he guided her to the two black x's on the slate floor centered in front of the mountainous view. "You look beautiful, by the way."
"Thank you," she said, laughing softly. "You look mighty handsome yourself."
Mateo grinned. "Thought I'd give you a glimpse of how I usually dress."
"I like it." She smiled. "We'll be a good compliment to each other."
"I'm glad you think so," he said, caressing the back of her hands. "I, um, I guess I should do this then."
"Yeah," she said, biting her lip as she glanced at Faye standing behind her tripod. "This is a bit awkward, isn't it?"
"Just a bit." He laughed. "This...isn't how I'd choose to propose to you."
"Well if it makes you feel better, I think this whole setup is cheesy."
"Hey! I did my best with what I had!" Faye scoffed. "You're lucky I even brought props."
"I know, I know and you're really good at setting a scene but, it's just...this doesn't feel natural to me."
Faye grinned. "That ring on your finger looks pretty natural to me."
"What?" Maia said, looking down at their hands and frowned at the gorgeous oval diamond ring set in a halo of tiny diamonds. "When did you–"
"Maia," Mateo said, bringing her hand to his lips before he bent down on one knee. "Will you marry me?"
A laugh left her lips as she nodded. "Yes."
"That was perfect!" Faye said, taking the camera off the tripod and beaming as she looked at the photos. "And that was a nice twist with the ring, Mateo. How'd you know she wasn't going to feel it?"
Maia raised an eyebrow. "You planned that?"
"Not really," he said, chuckling. "But I had a feeling this setup wasn't going to do it for you and when you didn't realize I put the ring on, I just went with it."
"Well it worked because you two look like the real deal," Faye said with a proud grin on her face. "Do you mind if I use your office again? I want to get a brief typed up and send these photos off to the marketing team. The agency's already being inundated with calls."
"Yeah that's fine." Mateo nodded. "Make yourself at home, Faye."
"Great. I'll email these to your press secretary I spoke to earlier, what's her name again?"
"Floris and I hope she was civil with you. She's usually pretty short with me."
Faye smirked. "With your background, I can imagine you make her job a bit difficult, but she was cool. I like her."
"Do you need me to help with anything?" Maia said. "I feel bad that you're handling all of this and you haven't slept since you got here."
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm your agent. I didn't come out here for vacation and Mateo hooked up his office with a big pot of coffee and plenty of snacks for me," Faye said, patting Maia's shoulder. "But you and Mateo can help by creating some content for your socials to back up these pictures."
"Yeah, we can handle that," Maia said, taking Faye's hand. "But just like you worry about me eating, I worry about you working too much. You need to sleep at some point."
"I will, I promise. We'll go back to your place once I'm done handling the media, alright?"
Maia nodded. "Okay. I'm going to hold you to that."
"I know you will," she said, squeezing her hand. "Now get on with that content and make it look sickeningly cute."
"We'll try, but I'm with Maia, if you need to sleep, I've got plenty of rooms for you to crash in."
"Thank you and I promise I will if I need to," Faye said as she grabbed her coat from the chair by the door. "But right now I need to take care of this."
Maia sighed as Faye closed the door of the terrace behind her. "She's not going to sleep at all."
"Sounds like someone I know. You two are as bad as each other," Mateo said, threading his fingers through hers. "I like Faye, she's a good sister and a hell of an agent."
"Yeah, she is," Maia said as they crossed the room and sat on the couch. "And I think she likes you too which is surprising since we're in this crazy situation."
"Mm, yeah," he said, reaching for the wooden box of papers and weed under the coffee table. "We had a good talk about things when you left to get dressed. I think she appreciates my honesty."
Maia raised an eyebrow. "Your honesty, huh? I'm guessing you told her how you feel about me?"
"I didn't have to." He chuckled. "She already knew."
"Yep, that's my sister. She's good at seeing who people really are." Maia smiled, slipping her phone from her pocket and taking a picture of the ring on her finger. "I'm glad you two like each other. It makes all of this a lot easier."
"Good because I don't want this to be hard for you." Mateo slid his hand over hers. "I want you to enjoy this as much as you can."
A blush burned over her cheeks at the tenderness in his eyes. "I plan to," she said, biting her lip. "I've always wanted to know what it's like to date a royal."
A grin tugged at Mateo's lips. "Is that why most of your novels are about that?"
"Yes." She laughed, shaking her head. "I told you I get wrapped up in the romance I write and as silly and far fetched as it sounds, wanting a Prince of my own has always been my ultimate guilty pleasure."
