Eight years later and she still takes my breath away.
I walk forward and take her hand as my eyes continue traveling over her body, taking in her chestnut hair swept to the side, the minimal makeup which somehow manages to make her look like she’s glowing, the curve of her body, and of course, the way her dress falls around the top of her cleavage, showing off the perfect amount of skin.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her, drawing her into me and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. My hand curls around her back and travels across her warm skin before slipping under the fabric of her waist.
I watch her cheeks flush with the compliment as her eyes travel down my face, across my jaw, and down to my chest. “You don’t look so bad, yourself,” she murmurs.
“Screw dinner,” I say. “I want to take you back to bed.”
She shakes her head. “No way. I went to all this effort. You need to take me out and show me off.”
“How could I possibly say no?” I ask, leading her towards the front door. We step outside into the warm night and I usher her into the car before driving us to the restaurant which I had booked weeks in advance.
The closer we get to the restaurant, the more my palms begin to sweat. My heart races and I hope to God that tonight goes exactly how I have always planned.
I’ve been waiting for this night for too long, and if something goes drastically wrong, it might just kill me. Waiting the last few years to ask this woman to marry me has been the longest wait of my life and I don’t plan on waiting another night.
We get to the restaurant and just as she had requested, I show her off as my queen. People stare and watch as we walk by and I know that makes her feel good even though she’d probably never admit it.
I pull out her chair and help her get seated before dropping down into my own. Waiters come and go and before I know it, we’re halfway through an incredible dinner. “So, what are your plans?” I ask her, knowing we’re bound to talk about this sooner or later.
“What do you mean?” she asks. “For work?”
“Yeah.”
A smile lifts the corners of her lips. “Well, I was actually going to talk to you about that,” she starts. “I got an offer right before graduation. Well, two offers actually.”
“As an associate?” I ask. “Where?”
“Well, one is here in Broken Hill at Davies and Knight which is a really great firm, and the other is in L.A.”
“What? So… you’re taking the Broken Hill one, right?”
She scrunches up her face and my heart begins to race for a whole new reason. “I don’t know,” she cringes. “I…”
“What is it, babe?”
“I’m torn,” she sighs. “I really want to start my own firm, but my gut is telling me to accept the offer at Davies and Knight and gain the experience first.”
“What’s the chance of advancement there? Could you make partner one day?”
She presses her lips together as she considers my question. “I mean, it’s definitely a possibility, considering I kick ass on every case and bring in new clients,” she says. “What would you do?”
“I’d take the offer, gain the experience, and get your name out there. Once people know you’re the best, then build up your own firm. There’s no need to rush into it. Do it when you’re ready and when you have the contacts behind you.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, babe,” I say. “I know.”
“So, I’m accepting their offer?”
“I mean, you don’t have to. You could stay home all day and have a million children.”
She laughs a beautiful laugh that wraps right around me, fusing itself to my soul and becoming one, nearly paralyzing me in the process. If only she knew just how much she affected me. “Yeah…. Not going to happen. At least, not yet any anyway.”
I shrug my shoulders. “Just putting the idea out there.”
She rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her champagne. “I’ll call them tomorrow.”
I smile back at her, raising my glass, knowing there’s no way in hell she’ll remember to do that tomorrow, not if everything goes to plan. I’ll have to remind her at some point.
We finish up dinner and before I know it, I’m leading her back to the car.
Chapter 4
“Where are we going?” she asks as I take a turn that leads away from our home.
“I’m not ready for the night to be over,” I tell her, squeezing her hand. “I thought we could stay somewhere special. Make the most of it.”
“In the city?”
“If you want.”
Her face lights up. “You know, this is one of the best dates you’ve ever taken me on.”
I look across at her with a sly grin. “And don’t you forget it.”
She rolls her eyes and looks back out the window, waiting to see where I’m taking her. She doesn’t have to wait long as I pull up at the best hotel in Broken Hill. It’s a huge high-rise and has the best views of Broken Hill and Haven Falls, showcasing the ocean that surrounds a lot of Haven Falls.
I bring my car to a stop and the valet instantly reaches for my door as another walks around to help Tora out. He takes her hand and leads her around to me before the first guy gets in and drives my car to the secure underground parking lot, leaving me to walk my girl inside this fancy hotel.
I walk up to the front desk and go about booking a room when both me and the lady sitting here know it was booked months ago. Tora keeps her hand in mine as I go about ‘business’ and looks out at the fancy hotel. I doubt she’s ever been here before. She’s never had a reason to and I don’t doubt she’s taking it all in for the first time.
The place is magnificent. There’s a massive indoor water fountain, marble floors, and chandeliers. Anything you can think of, this place has got it.
Once I’m done, I lead her towards the elevator and wait patiently for it to arrive on the ground floor. As we step in, I swipe a key tag and press the button for the top floor. Tora gasps with wide eyes. “The penthouse?”
I can’t help but grin.
“Why the hell not?” I ask. “You deserve the best.”
“Are you sure?” she questions. “You know I’d be happy sleeping out on a park bench as long as it was with you.”
“I’m sure,” I tell her, putting my arm over her shoulder and pulling her in.
The elevator arrives on the top floor and opens up into a dark room that I have no doubt is bigger than the houses we each grew up in.
Tora walks forward, clutching my hand, and starts searching the walls with what little light is coming in from the open elevator. “Shit, where are the lights?”
“I’ve got it,” I tell her, releasing her hand and watching as she walks forward into the room. I wait until she’s in the center of the living space before flicking a switch.
The room comes alight, but not from the lights in the ceiling.
Big block letters, each standing nearly ten feet tall and taking up one whole corner of the room, light up, spelling out the words ‘Marry Me.’
The light coming from the letters is enough to showcase the balloons covering the whole ceiling as pink and white roses take up every available surface.
Tora sucks in a sharp breath, taking it all in, and when she turns back to me, she finds me waiting, down on one knee with a ring in hand and a smile ripping across my face, ready to make her my wife.
Her hand comes up over her mouth as she watches me with watery eyes. “Oh, my god,” she whispers to herself, before glancing back over her shoulder to the huge ‘Marry Me’ sign. “Are we in the right room?”
“You better believe we are,” I tell her, indicating with my pointer finger for her to come on over here.
I watch as she slowly walks forward, probably wondering how the hell all this shit got in here, but all I can think about it how damn beautiful she looks in this dress.
She reaches out a hand and I take it greedily, loving the feel of her skin against mine
. “Tora,” I start. She sucks in a breath as though the anticipation is almost too much to bear. I can’t help smiling at her, knowing that this is exactly what she’s always dreamed about.
She uses her free hand to wipe away a tear and I take that as my cue to get on with it before she turns into a blubbering mess. “When I was twelve years old and mom would say that your family was coming over, at that point, nothing in this world made me happier. I would get dressed into the shirt I knew you liked, I’d make sure I looked good, I’d have mom get out all the snacks I knew were your favorite. You were my best friend and the girl I knew I was falling for. Even then, I knew this day would come.”
Tora’s eyes search mine, taking in every word, but I don’t dare stop here. I’ve got way too much to say.
“I screwed everything up. I was hurt and I wanted you to hurt too. I was mean. I was a bully. For years you hated me and I let you because, in my own twisted way, I knew that I could still give you everything you ever wanted.” I take a breath. “Then a miracle happened. I thought I was lost to you. I thought I’d taken it so far to the point that you could never forgive me. The thought of you ever loving me was like some kind of distant dream that I’d never be able to grasp, but then you moved in and things started to change.”
“I swear,” I laugh. “The day I came and took you from your home is still one of the best days of my life. Knowing you were coming back to me, to the place where I first started to fall for you was like a gift, but having you in the room across from mine was fucking torture. Every day, all I wanted was to grovel at your feet, begging for forgiveness, but I had to wait. I needed to earn your trust back, and I knew that was never going to be easy.”
“I don’t know how, but slowly you came around. You learned to trust me and eventually you even loved me too. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I don’t deserve your love. I don’t deserve a woman like you, standing by my side. I don’t deserve to come home to you every day, but I get to, and I am so fucking grateful for that.”
“You’re the light of my life. You’re the reason I wake up in the morning, and I swear to you, Tora. Every fucking day I will continue to make it up to you. I promise you, I will make you the happiest woman to walk ever walk this earth.” I pause, letting it all sink in. “Tora?” I question. “Will you marry me?”
Tears stream from her eyes as she drops to her knees before me. “Yes,” she cries, crushing her lips to mine. “Don’t you know how happy you already make me?”
“I hoped,” I tell her, not able to get in another word as she brings her lips back to mine.
My arms wind around her and pull her body in hard against mine when I remember I’m supposed to be putting a ring on her finger. I pull back from the kiss and scoop her off the floor before raising off my knee.
I walk through the massive room and place her down on a table, putting us eye to eye. I take the ring which has been patiently waiting in my hand, out of the box. Her eyes lock on the diamond that I bought nearly three years ago and relief washes over me as I finally slide it onto her manicured finger.
“I love you so much,” she says, still with watery eyes. “This… This whole night is perfect.”
“I told you earlier,” I say. “You deserve only the best.”
“But… where the hell did you find those massive light letters?”
“Trust me,” I laugh. “It wasn’t easy.”
“Do we get to keep them?” she questions.
“If you want,” I smile. “We can put them in the living room.”
“Deal,” she laughs. “You know, I’ve always known this is where our relationship was heading and when I told you I didn’t want you to ask until after graduation, I didn’t expect you’d do it literally the very next day.”
“What can I say?” I laugh. “I’ve been waiting years to do it and now that I finally could, I wasn’t going to wait.”
She shakes her head in exasperation. “I should have known.”
“You’d think after eight years together you would be able to figure this shit out by now.”
“You’re an idiot,” she tells me.
“And you’re fucking stunning, especially with that ring on your finger.”
Tora throws herself off the table and into my arms, catching herself around my body. Her arms lock around my neck as her legs attempt to wrap around my waist, but the long silver dress makes it a bit hard. “How did I ever get so lucky?” she asks.
I shrug my shoulders as I walk over to the massive window, looking out over the view of Broken Hill. “It’s because you’ve got a nice ass,” I grin.
“Shut up,” she laughs before sighing as she takes in the view. “This is beautiful,” she tells me. “All of it. The flowers, the balloons, the letters. It’s all perfect. I can’t wait to tell Jesse and Brooke.”
“They already know,” I tell her, grinning as her brows draw down in confusion. “Who do you think set up this room while we were at dinner?”
“Are you serious?” she questions.
I nod. “Jesse wasn’t too impressed about filling up all these balloons with helium, though I don’t doubt he would have sucked in half the tank in the process,” I tell her, recalling the whining I had to deal with yesterday when we went over the plan.
“What do they think?” she asks. “About us getting married?”
“Well, ‘about time’ was uttered a lot.”
“Oh, geez,” she laughs, wriggling out of my arms. I help her to her feet and watch her as she stands before me. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“Are you nuts?” I scoff. “You think I’m going to go in to work the day after I ask you to marry me? No way in hell.”
“So… we can stay up until the early hours of the morning doing whatever the hell we want?”
“Well, we wouldn’t want this room to go to waste,” I tell her, reaching out and trailing my fingers over her shoulder and playing with the strap of her dress, knowing it would take just the slightest flick of my fingers to slide it down her arm.
She catches my fingers and brings them to her lips, gently kissing them before letting my hand go. It falls to my side and I watch as she steps back from me with heat in her eyes.
She takes the strap of her dress and flicks it just the way I wanted to, before doing the same with the other side. But watching the dress fall to the floor in a silver heap with her eyes burning into mine is so much better than doing it myself.
She walks forward in nothing but black heels and a black thong and without a doubt, I’m the luckiest man on the planet. “Take me to bed,” she tells me, taking my fingers and leading me towards the bed. “First, I want you to kiss me like you’ll never kiss me again, and then I want you to make love to me until the sun comes up.”
How could I possibly say no?
Chapter 5
We wake in the morning after having about two hours sleep. Just as Tora had requested, I made love to her all night, until we physically couldn’t go any longer. The sun was just starting to peek over the hills when I told her to sleep.
Little does she know, it’s going to be another huge day. After all, now we have to tell the world that she said ‘yes.’
She’s probably exhausted. The last few days have been massive. She’s had to pack up her home, had her graduation, she’s moved back to Broken Hill, and I sprung a proposal on her yesterday. Anyone would be exhausted, but she just needs to make it one more day. After this, she can sleep until the cows come home.
It’s a perfect day and I can’t help but walk over to the massive window to take in the incredible view before me. The sun is shining and it’s a beautiful day. No matter what the room cost, it was definitely worth the money of having such a spectacular view, but the best view in the room is the one I take in when I turn around to see Tora looking back at me, wrapped in nothing but the white sheet of the bed as her hair cascades down over her.
“Morning,” she grumbles.
“Good morning,” I say as I walk
over to her and press a kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t you go back to sleep? We still have a few hours before we need to get up.”
Tora shakes her head and pushes herself up, holding the sheet up across her chest. “No, I’m hungry,” she tells me. “Do you think this place has room service?”
“I’d be disappointed if they didn’t,” I say. “What do you want?”
She bites down on her lip and gives me a mischievous look. “Everything,” she says.
“Ok, Jesse,” I laugh, reaching for the phone beside the bed. I watch as Tora climbs out of bed with the sheet and walks over to the massive closet, pulls out a white, silk robe before wrapping it tightly around her waist. It’s a little big and falls off her shoulder and the look has me groaning for more.
She turns at the sound and grins before dashing into the bathroom. I want nothing more than to race in after her, but after the night we had and the afternoon filled with hot sex in our bedroom, she’d be sore. Though, that doesn’t mean that I can’t go and enjoy the view while she showers.
With that thought in mind, I race through the room service order and follow her into the bathroom.
She’s just stepping into the shower and it doesn’t take her long to reach out with her wet hands and pull me in with her. After a long, inviting shower, we finally step out just in time to hear the room service guy knocking at the door.
I open the door and let him do his thing before watching him shuffle back out the door.
Tora and I dig into our breakfast and I have to be honest, I’m surprised with how much we both eat.
Tora crashes back down onto the bed, crossing her legs and watching me with a massive smile on her face. I can’t help but smile right back. She looks fucking radiant and when I catch her looking at her ring over and over again, I have to admit, it’s a great fucking feeling.
“I can’t wait to show Brooke,” she tells me. “And my mom. And your mom. They’re going to lose their minds,” she laughs. “Wait…they haven’t already seen it, have they?”
Broken Hill Honor: The Broken Hill High Series (Novella 5.5) Page 3