Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“Really?” I ask, leaning on his desk, my hands on the wooden surface behind me. “Now I’m intrigued.”
He pulls a velvet box from his drawer and opens the lid, and nestled on the black velvet is a stunning diamond butterfly necklace. I’m stunned and touched, not just by the gift, but by the idea that he has seen this necklace over and over and thought of me.
I push off the desk and face him. “It’s gorgeous, Tyler. I love it. Thank you.” I remove it from the velvet and he takes it from me and helps me with the clasp at my neck.
When I turn to face him, I touch it where it rests on my skin. “I can’t wait to see it in the mirror.”
He folds me into him, his body warm against mine. “Do you want to know why it reminds me of you?” he asks.
“Very much,” I say, eager for him to explain how I inspired such an intimate gift.
He strokes my hair. “I think of you like a beautiful butterfly who spreads her wings and the world celebrates. I used to tell myself I’d crush your wings and destroy you if I ever touched you.”
My heart squeezes and I’m reminded of what he said earlier about his father and the torment of being his son. I touch his face. “That will never happen, Tyler. It didn’t happen.”
He captures my hand. “You know what else a butterfly represents?”
“Tell me,” I urge, feeling as if this is him leading me some place I don’t yet understand. “To many, a butterfly is a beacon of growth and new beginnings,” he says. “That’s what you are to your clients. But it’s also one of the many things you’ve become for me, Bella. A new beginning.”
He reaches into the desk again and retrieves a velvet ring box, and my heart is now running a marathon while I stand still. “What is this, Tyler?”
He opens the lid and shows me the stunning ring inside, the jewel sparkling in the overhead light. My eyes jerk to his. “What is this? What are you doing?”
“New beginnings, Bella. You say you’re going to do this with me, then really do it. Marry me.” He goes down on his knee. “Be my wife, Bella.”
My eyes go wide and adrenaline surges through me, and not in a good way. I shut the lid in full rejection. “No. No, I haven’t thought this through after all. I can’t do the ring thing. I can’t.”
I try to move away from him, but he’s on his feet already, and catching me to him, his hand on my lower back. “What just happened?”
I swallow hard and then just tell him exactly what I feel. “I just—I have the little girl fairy tale dream, Tyler. That one day a man falls in love with me and me him, and then he goes down on one knee, and asks me to marry him.”
His eyes soften and he cups my head. “God, woman. How do you not know that I love you?”
My heart stops. “What?”
“I love you. I can’t believe I didn’t say it before I even got the ring out. This is the one and only time I ever plan to propose. I’m not practiced at this, baby. I’m a little nervous here.”
“You’re…nervous?” I ask incredulously.
“Hell, yes. Of course, I’m nervous. I’m asking you to spend the rest of your life with me, Bella. I love you. You have taken my life by storm for the better. I’m no longer okay without you and you are not saying yes.”
I resist the words, afraid again, and I hate that, but it’s too real an emotion to ignore. He could feel pressured into doing this after all my resistance. “We just started seeing each other, Tyler.”
“I know. And standing there at the ring case, I told myself it was too soon, but we’ve known each other for five years and it feels right. It’s not going to feel less right six months from now.”
“But you wouldn’t do this now, if not for the contract.”
“That’s not true. I could have carried the ring around for six months and secretly hoped I’d find a way out of this. I didn’t want to wait and when you just told me you’d do this fake thing with me, that’s not what I want us to be. You’re killing me. If you don’t want this—”
Emotions blast through me and I wrap my arms around him. “You know you’re the reason I had so many crappy dates, right? You’re always there between me and them. I just needed to know this was real and you weren’t backed into a corner. I love the necklace, I love the ring. I love you so very much.”
“Bella, put me out of my misery and just say yes.”