“What?” Mom asked.
“I think I figured out why Tess is meeting me here.”
“Why?”
“So I’d be here with you now.”
She patted his arm. “She’s a good woman.”
“Yes, she is.” It was why he was thinking about asking her to marry him. He was just trying to figure out the right time and way. She wouldn’t want anything showy.
They got to the ballroom, and Miles grabbed a glass of champagne for his mother and walked her to a table. She would hold council there as she did most years. People came to her to talk. Miles, on the other hand, preferred to mingle. He went to the bar to order a drink.
Sipping on his scotch, he leaned against the bar, so reminiscent of last summer when he’d dreaded coming here with his mother.
He knew the moment Tess entered the room. He felt her presence. They made brief eye contact, and she gave him a coy smile but didn’t walk in his direction. Instead, she snagged a glass of champagne from a waiter and headed to the silent auction table. He waited to see how closely she would follow the events from last year.
She moved slowly at the tables. When she glanced back to him, he lifted his glass to her before draining it and then snuck up behind her as she placed a bid. “Still bidding on things you don’t plan to win?” he whispered against her ear.
She started at his voice and shifted to face him. “I might win, but mostly I bid to get others to bid more. It’s all for a good cause, you know.”
“Any fancy French soaps? I could really use some.”
She laughed, and he took her hand while she was distracted. “I don’t like pretending we’re strangers.”
“I thought that was the kind of thing that keeps romance alive.”
“Romance and lust is plenty alive in me. Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“It took until I was in the elevator with my mother to realize why you put me off.”
She ducked her head but didn’t say anything.
They made their way around all the tables, made a few bids, and then went to the dinner table where they found Angie. “You better hurry if you want to bid on the coffee basket. Tess thinks it’s hers.”
Tess gave him a gentle shove. “Hey. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“Always,” he said and kissed her.
“I’m glad you feel that way, because I have another reason for wanting to arrive separately.”
“Yeah?”
She inhaled deeply, distracting him with the rise of the swell of her breasts in the low-cut dress. “I wanted tonight to be as special as it was last year when we first met.”
She licked her lips before continuing. “This past year has been good. You’ve brought so much happiness into my life and the lives of the kids. We’re all better for having met you.”
“I feel the same. I love you.”
Her eyes were wide, and it registered she was nervous about whatever she was about to say. “I love you, too, which is why I’m hoping you’ll want to make an honest woman out of me.”
She pressed something in his palm, and he opened his hand to see a gold band.
“Miles Prescott, will you marry me?”
He stared at her, drinking in her beauty and vulnerability, as if there were any possibility he could refuse. He could deny this woman nothing. “I would love to marry you.”
He slipped the ring on his finger and held her face to kiss her. “You couldn’t even let me have that, could you? Always have to be in control.”
“If I left it up to you, who knows how long we’d wait? I want us to start our life together now.” She pulled him close. “Don’t worry. When we get upstairs, I’ll let you have all the control.”
“Sounds like your best plan yet.”
Did you love this book from Entangled’s August imprint? Check out more of our titles here!
Don’t miss Shannyn Schroeder’s next book! Sign up for our newsletter here!
Acknowledgments
This book and series are a new endeavor for me. I want to thank my editor Heidi and my agent Fran for believing that I could pull it off. And as always to my Chicago-North RWA writing pals and our Sunday night Panera supper club–thanks for helping me.
About the Author
Shannyn Schroeder is the author of the O’Leary series and the For Your Love series, contemporary romances centered around large Irish-American families in Chicago and the Hot & Nerdy series about nerdy friends finding love. When she’s not wrangling her three kids or writing, she watches a ton of TV and loves to bake cookies.
Discover more August titles…
Knocked-Up Cinderella
a novel by Julie Hammerle
It was only supposed to be a one-night stand, but now I’ve gone from one-working-ovary to co-parent in the time it took a stick to turn blue. Ian Donovan may be a richer-than-hell venture capitalist, but he’s no Prince Charming ready to sweep me off my feet. Good thing I don’t need him. I’ve been doing fine on my own for forty years, and I’m not about to start changing that now.
The July Guy
a Men of Lakeside novel by Natasha Moore
A summer fling might be the only thing that gets art professor Anita Delgado through the next few weeks. When she meets sexy salvage specialist Noah Colburn, he’s tempted by her offer of a no-strings fling for the four weeks she’s in town. But he’s running for major of his hometown of Lakeside, New York, and the gossip mill is notorious for ruining even the most upstanding reputations.
What Were You Thinking, Paige Taylor?
a Belles of St. Clair novel by Amanda Ashby
After her carefully ordered world imploded, Paige Taylor cracks up. It seemed like a good idea at the time to reinvent herself—move from Manhattan to the tiny beachside town of St. Clair—and take over the local bookstore. Soon Paige discovers that reinventing herself takes more than just a change of address and a pithy quote on Instagram. She needs to face the truth about her life, and that’s something she can’t do alone.
Adventures in Online Dating
a novel by Julie Particka
For Alexa McIntyre, the answer to everything comes down to numbers. Three sons. One divorce. One great life…except her boys are getting older and they really need a man around. Enter the number twenty, as in after twenty minutes with someone she knows whether or not she wants them in her life. So, she hatches a plan to meet any man who remotely strikes her interest—for a twenty-minute date at her favorite coffee shop. It’s the perfect way to find her perfect match in the most efficient way possible.
One Night with a Millionaire (Daring Divorcees) Page 22