Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
“Not fair to me? Look where we are. Look at the life I live now. That’s all thanks to you.”
“Still. We didn’t get the best beginning. So I wanted to try to make it up to you.”
“What do you mean?” she asks, a nervous little smile beginning to play over her lips.
“I didn’t get the chance to do this right the first time.” It might be the most cliché thing I’ve ever done and completely against my nature. How many times have I witnessed something like this in a nice restaurant, usually while dining with my family? Of course, the girls always thought it was romantic, while I grumbled about how pathetic it was to do something like this in public.
Now, I understand a little better. Now I know how much love it takes to leave a man willing to do this. Now I understand it’s not about me. It’s about making things right for her. Making her happy and giving her the sort of experience she deserves.
That’s what forces me out of my chair and down onto one knee beside her.
“Oh my god.” She covers her mouth with one shaking hand. “You don’t have to do this. We’re already married!”
“Better late than never, right? How many times do you think you’ll have the chance to watch me drop to one knee in a crowded restaurant?” I give her a wink, as a part of me wants to answer for her like an asshole and say never again.
I ignore the gentle hum of anticipation in the air as the people dining around us take notice. “I could have waited until we got back to the lodge,” I murmur, looking up at her and blocking everything and everyone else out. She’s all that matters. “But I’ll never have a more perfect setting. And I want you to remember this as the moment we chose to become one.”
“I was already going to,” she whispers. Tears pool in her eyes, making them gleam greener and brighter than ever in the candlelight.
“Then we’ll say this is all for me,” I suggest with a shrug. “Because I can’t shake the feeling you were robbed. This is how it should have gone. I should have gotten down on one knee and proposed to you this way, with all this beauty around us. And I didn’t want us to start a new year without me making up for what you missed out on.”
I take her left hand in mine. “Aspen, you mean the world to me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, nothing I wouldn’t give you so long as it made you happy. You deserve nothing but the best. I only hope I can live up to that. I promise to try every day for the rest of my life. I will do everything in my power to continue earning your love. Because nothing in the world means anything without you. You’re the only thing that matters, my only reason for being.”
I pull out the velvet box that’s practically burned a hole in my pocket since I got dressed for dinner. How can something so small hold so much weight? “Will you agree to continue being my wife?” I ask with a faint grin as I open the box to reveal the diamond ring inside. Her stunned reaction is exactly what I was going for—five carats, emerald cut and set in platinum. The stone blazes like there’s a fire inside it.
“Will you?” I whisper. “Will you continue making me the happiest man who’s ever lived? All you have to do is say yes.”
It doesn’t really matter if she says yes or not. There wouldn’t be any way in hell I’d set her free. She’s mine forever, and if she ever tries to escape, I’ll grab her by the hair and drag her back to my side.
She doesn’t keep me waiting. “Yes. Yes, of course.” She almost launches herself out of her chair, wrapping her arms around my neck, laughing through her tears as everyone around us applauds. I wonder what they would think if they knew we’ve already been married for over a year.
“Thank you,” I murmur, standing and winding my arms around her. “Thank you for everything you’ve given me already.”
“I love you.” She sniffles as I slide the cool metal band over her finger. “I guess we never have done things the conventional way, have we?”
“No, we haven’t.” I can’t help but grin as she admires the ring, tilting her head from side to side while wiggling her fingers to make the stone sparkle and shine. That alone makes the whole thing worth it.
We’re taking our seats again when the maître d’ approaches. “To celebrate the happy couple, a bottle of champagne.”
“Wow, thank you!” Aspen beams while we wait for our two flutes to be filled. Once they are, I raise one while she raises the other, and we touch them together gently.