Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
I bite her lower lip and cup her jaw, continuing to kiss her as I move in a fast rhythm, relishing how damn good she feels.
“You’re mine, Willa Elizabeth,” I whisper. Her eyes open, and she stares at me with those big, brown eyes that never fail to pull me under her spell. “For now and always, you’re mine. I want you to be my wife. I need you with me always, Wills.”
She plunges her fingers into my hair, holding me close.
“I am yours,” she says as I tip my forehead against hers. “And it would be the biggest honor of my life to be your wife.”
I stop and gaze down at her, shocked at what just happened.
I proposed.
She said yes.
There was no ring, no fancy dinner or flowers. Just my heart and hers, making the promise of a lifetime.
***
“My car will finally be done on Monday,” she announces thirty minutes later. We’re sitting in my dark kitchen, eating the leftover pizza. She’s wearing my black T-shirt and panties, and her dark hair falls in loose waves around her shoulders.
She’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Okay.”
“It’s about time.”
“It’s fine.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “It’s time for me to have it back. They’ve been working on it forever.”
“Keep the Range Rover,” I reply. “I don’t use it, Willa. And you love it.”
“I do,” she admits with a sigh. “But that’s a lot. I can’t afford to pay you for it.”
I stop eating and narrow my eyes at her. “You’re going to be my wife. What’s mine is yours anyway.”
“No way.” She shakes her head. “I’ll be signing a prenup.”
“Fuck that.”
“I will not fuck that. I’ll sign a prenup. Max, your financial planners would deck you for even considering not having one.”
“And I’d fire them.”
“This is not an emotional decision. It’s business, and it makes sense. If you think you’ll get half of Dress It Up, you have another thing coming.”
My lips twitch as I watch her take another bite of her pizza. “We’ll talk about it later. In the meantime, keep the car. You can sell the other one.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” she says, echoing me. “Did you propose because of all the wedding talk at dinner tonight?”
“No,” I reply, shaking my head. “I’ve wanted to for a long time, but I didn’t want to rush things. I just know that I need you. You’ve owned my heart for all of my adult life, Willa. I need you, and I guess, in that moment, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”
She leans on her stool, offering her lips for a kiss. I oblige her, holding onto her neck as I take the kiss deeper, tasting pizza and Willa.
“I’m sorry it wasn’t more romantic,” I say when I pull away.
“Uh, the man I love proposed in a moment of passion because he couldn’t hold it back any longer. I think that’s damn romantic.”
“You deserve the pomp and circumstance,” I reply, echoing the words she used earlier. “The ring and the hoopla.”
“I do enjoy some hoopla,” she agrees with a grin. “And I won’t let you get off easy with a small wedding like Jenna’s, but that’ll all come in time. The important part is right here, in this kitchen.”
“You, me, and pizza?”
“Yep. And Alex, of course.”
“Do you think he’ll be okay with this?”
She takes a bite, chewing and thinking it over. “I really do. I know it’ll be an adjustment, but you’ve merged into our family so easily already. He goes to you as often as he does me for things like bedtime and help with homework. He loves you.”
“I love him, too.”
“I know,” she says. “If it were any other way, we wouldn’t be here.”
I nod, and then an idea takes up residence in my mind.
“Question.”
“Shoot,” she replies.
“Where are we going to live? We can’t keep two separate houses forever.”
“Good question.” She finishes her pizza but tosses the crust back in the box, and I rescue it, eating it in two bites. “It would make sense to live here. Your house is bigger and worth much more than mine.”
“But yours is important to you,” I point out. “You’ve lived there a long time, and you’ve made it a special place for you and Alex.”
She nods. “Thank you. I do love the house, and it’s the only home Alex has known. The property is beautiful, but so is living on the lake, so we can’t go wrong either way as far as that goes.”
“I have a suggestion.” I push the pizza box away, take Willa’s hand in mine, and lead her over to the couch, tugging her down onto my lap. “How would you feel about eventually selling both of our properties and building our dream home, on the lake, together?”
She blinks rapidly, processing the idea. “You would want to sell this house? I thought this was your dream home?”