Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 140874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
“Sophie,” he said softly. “Do shut up. I’m trying to propose.”
Propose? My head went light and my chest got heavy. My eyes flared hot and watery, and my skin tingled.
It was the single best anxiety attack I’d ever had.
He eased his arm from beneath me as he reached with his other hand for something in the nightstand drawer. I sat up, certain my face was bright red from the blood pounding into it.
He leaned back on the pillows, turning a small clam-shell jewelry box like a Rubick’s Cube in his nervous hands. “Sophie… I love you. I’ve tried to think of a thousand different ways to say this poetically, but I really feel that the unadorned truth is utterly necessary right now. And if you don’t want to marry me, if you think it’s too old-fashioned an institution or against your principles, then that’s fine. Nothing has changed. I just needed to tell you… I love you so much that I regret having memories that don’t include you. I look back on my life before I met you and I see where you should have been. Some of my greatest achievements, the things I am most proud of, seem empty because you weren’t there beside me. You are the other half of me. And I would be so incredibly grateful if you would marry me.”
I lunged forward, grasped his head between my hands and kissed him hard. And by hard, I mean, our teeth scraped together unpleasantly. But I didn’t care.
I gasped when our mouths parted. “I love you so much.”
He smiled against my lips, his arms wrapping around my back. “Do you want to see the ring?”
I nodded.
He rolled me smoothly beneath him, settling between my thighs as my nightgown rode up. Braced on his elbows, he opened the box and handed it to me. Inside, a huge, cushion-cut yellow diamond flared brilliantly, surrounded by a border of smaller white diamonds, set in flawless platinum. It was absolutely gorgeous, and absolutely me.
I held out my hand, and Neil slipped the ring from the box onto my fingertip, sliding it down easily over my knuckle. It was a bit loose, and I giggled.
“At least it’s not too small,” he said with an embarrassed laugh.
“I’ll get it sized.” I kissed him again, letting him pull my hand to his chest and cover it with his own palm. I looked down at our entwined fingers. “You’ve had this with you the whole time?”
He nodded, smiling ruefully. “It was in my pocket when we went to the lake. I thought I would propose to you there, but I chickened out.”
“This is so beautiful. Really. I love it. And so romantic. I’m not as good with words as you—”
“Says the woman whose first book is being published in three months,” he teased.
“Okay, that was a little dumb of me. But I feel the same way. I can’t imagine not waking up with you every morning. This last year with you was the best and the worst year of my life. And I want that. I want all the good parts, and all the bad parts, as long we’re together while we’re going through them. I have never felt so safe with anyone, or as sure about anything as I am with you.”
“So…this is a yes?” he asked with an arched brow, and I realized I hadn’t given him a definitive answer. “I want to make sure, in case I need to take this back to the jeweler.”
I laughed and raised my head up to kiss him. “Yes. Absolutely.”
He laced his fingers with mine as he pushed my hands back on the pillows. “I like the sound of that. ‘Yes.’ I wonder how many times I can make you say that word tonight.”
With a lift of my hips, I rubbed myself shamelessly against him. “Do you mean ‘yes, Sir,’ or just ‘yes?’”
“I’ll take either.” His grip tightened on my hands, and he sank his teeth into my neck.
My squeal of laughter drew out into a long moan as he nibbled and sucked at the hyper-sensitive spot behind my ear.
“I think I’m going to spend a very long time with my head between your legs tonight,” he murmured against my jaw.
“Oh, fuck yes,” I gasped. We’d been together a year, and he could still drive me crazy with just a few well-spoken dirty words.
“That’s two.”
He slid down my body, his big hands bracketing my ribs and working my silky nightgown up. He kneaded my breasts through the slippery fabric.
Before I’d gotten together with Neil, I’d been convinced that I just wasn’t made for long-term relationships. I’d dated guys casually and gotten bored of them within months. Now, I was in the longest relationship of my life, and I couldn’t get enough of my boyfriend.
Fiancé. Holy fuck was that amazing. Just thinking about it gave me a heartgasm.