Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Like the gentleman he is, Micah pulls out my chair before taking the seat adjacent to me. Once our drinks have been delivered and we’ve placed our food orders, Micah shifts toward me, his eyes meeting mine. “I was going to wait until the end of the meal to do this, but the tension between us has me wanting to talk to you now.”
I know what he means. We went from us flirting and kissing and making out, to me hiding in my room and crying at the thought of marrying him.
“What is it you’d like to talk about?” I ask, sounding more formal than intended.
Micah reaches out and takes my hand in his and then brings it up to his lips, giving it a gentle kiss that acts as a key starting the engine to my heart. A simple kiss shouldn’t cause such a disturbance in my body, yet it does.
“The moment I saw you on that stage at Wanderlust, I knew I had to have you in every way possible. I know that sounds crazy and a tad bit stalkerish,” he says with a chuckle, “but it’s the truth. I’ve only known you for a short time, but I’m attracted to everything about you. The way you’re passionate for dance, how hard of a worker you are. Your determination to come up in a world that’s hell-bent on keeping you down. The unconditional love you have for your sister and the way you selflessly put her first every day.”
He squeezes my hand, and I choke up at the way he sees me. Nobody has ever really seen me before… not like that, not until Micah.
“I love how determined you are, which is not to be confused with stubbornness. It’s simply that you have goals and dreams and expectations that you are hell-bent on achieving. You want so much out of life and you’re willing to fight for it. You could’ve easily slept with the members of Wanderlust and made a shit ton of money, and nobody would’ve faulted or judged you for it, but you refuse to go against the bar you’ve set for yourself.”
“I don’t want to be like her,” I murmur.
Micah smiles and palms the side of my face. “Hellcat, I don’t know your mom, but from what I do know, you couldn’t be like her if you tried.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips, and I sigh into him. I might not be happy with the situation, but I can’t ignore the way I feel when I’m around him. The way his touch lights up my body and his words spark such emotion in my heart.
He reaches into the pocket of his jacket and pulls out a black velvet box. My pulse quickens, knowing what that is.
“In the short amount of time I’ve gotten to know you, I’ve fallen hard,” he says, his gaze searing into me. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Sienna.”
My breath hitches at his words and tears pool in my lids. “I… I—”
“Shh,” he says calmly. “I know, you’re not there yet. And the situation doesn’t help. You’ve had so many choices taken from you and I hate that, but I need you to understand that while we’re getting married sooner than planned…”
“It was never planned,” I choke out.
Micah chuckles. “Trust me, Hellcat, marrying you is part of every single one of my plans.” Tears track down my cheeks and Micah gently wipes them away. “This is my choice,” he says. “Nobody is forcing me to do anything. I’m choosing you. And if you agree to marry me, I’ll keep choosing you every day for the rest of our lives if you let me.”
“But you said you wanted me to choose you, too,” I remind him. During our first date at his penthouse, he told me that this was a sentiment we both shared.
“I know,” he says, his voice turning solemn, “and my hope is that one day you will. But right now, your safety comes first. In order for you to fall in love with me, you need to be alive, and us getting married seems to be the only way to ensure you stay that way.
He pops open the box, exposing a beautiful diamond ring. “I want to give you the world, Sienna. Starting with me in a black tux and you in a white dress. And I promise that when I say, ‘I do,’ it’s because I love you and want you and desire nothing more than to spend forever showing you just how much.”
A sob escapes past my lips at his admission, at the fact that he’s always listening, absorbing, taking in what I say. I hate that I’m being forced into this, that even if one day I do fall in love with Micah—which, at this point, he’s making it damn near impossible not to—it will always feel marred. Still, I can’t deny that Micah cares about me, that his feelings for me are genuine. He’s made those feelings and his intentions clear from the first time we met and he’s never, not once, faltered from them.