by Lauren Love
Melinda and I exchange a grin and sit back down.
In the bag there’s a watch, a pair of gloves, and a small velvet box.
I look at Melinda and she looks back at me.
Holy shit, we both mouth the words at the same time.
“It might be earrings,” I say.
She shakes her head. “Open it.”
“What if it’s not for me?”
Melinda just gives me a look but before she can say anything, the doctor is walking towards us, smiling broadly.
“He’s going to be fine. A few months of rest and he’ll be back on his feet.”
He rattles off some medical jargon that I only half understand and asks that we take turns sitting with him rather than both at once.
Something about not stressing him.
“You go first,” I say to Melinda but she just glares at me.
Taking the velvet box she drops it in the bag and shoves it into my hands, then she spins me around and pushes me towards his room.
“Get your ass in there and take your proposal like a woman.”
Chapter 19
Kaden is asleep when I enter his room so I place the plastic bag on the table next to his bed and sit in the chair. I’m flicking through a fashion magazine, not really reading when he says my name.
I shift my chair closer and take his hand.
“Hey, you.”
“What’s in the bag?” he asks.
“Oh, um, just some stuff they found in your pockets when you were brought in. Gloves, your watch — a little box.”
I meet his eyes then look away quickly.
He’s just been in a major accident; he doesn’t need me pressuring him.
“Pull out the box,” he says.
I do and hand it to him with trembling hands.
“Did you look in it?”
I shake my head.
“Will you open it?”
Unable to speak, I simply nod and open the box.
I think I’ve lost the ability to breathe.
I knew what might be in the tiny velvet box but knowing and seeing are two different things.
Cased inside is a thin platinum band of pavé set diamonds with one huge princess cut stone in the middle.
“I should have asked this years ago. There’s nobody else I want to spend my life with but you.”
He takes the ring out with his free hand and I let him slip it onto my finger.
It fits perfectly and glimmers like the brightest stars.
“It’s beautiful,” I manage to croak.
“Will you marry me, Claire Snow? I know we have a lot to work out but—”
“Yes!” I cut him off. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He pulls me closer and I lean down to kiss his mouth.
When I pull back, his eyes are drooping again and I sit, still clasping his hand between mine, barely able to look away from the ring.
“Sleep, my love,” I whisper, kissing each of his fingers.
“But…” he protests.
“It’s ok,” I hush him, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Chapter 20
Six months later…
Kaden was back on his feet in no time, and just over two months and seven days ago we became husband and wife.
I still can’t quite believe it but when I wake in the night wondering if it was all just some wonderful dream, I look at the two sparking rings on my hand and the matching band on his and remember every wonderful moment all over again.
Kaden booked a world cruise for our honeymoon but we’ve barely seen any of the ship or entertainment.
Our first class cabin is all the entertainment we’ve needed since we boarded, only emerging to eat and use the bathroom.
My good friend Olivia quit her job and slid seamlessly into fashion design.
In fact, she designed the dress I wore for both the wedding and the reception. I just received an email from her saying that she’s been flooded with requests since the four-page spread of our wedding in Vogue and a bunch of other magazines and tabloids.
Luke went to India and he’s still there I think. I heard he’d written a Broadway play, but I’ll have to wait till after my honeymoon to get any details.
Melinda is still a wealthy heiress and a lady of leisure but I don’t hate her nearly as much as I used to and I think she might be starting to like me a little too.
Just a little.
“You’re thinking again,” Kaden growls, wrapping his arms around my middle and pulling me against his hard naked body under the covers. “You know my rule about thinking on our honeymoon.”
I smile impishly and wriggle my bottom against the growing hardness.
“You might need to remind me.”
He flips me onto my back and looms over me.
His hair is mussed, his eyes droopy with sleep, and his lips full and soft.
“I think I’m going to need a lot of reminding.”
“I’ll never let you forget,” he growls against my lips before showing me all over again.
END
About the Author:
Lauren Love loves her wicked, lustful alpha males...
But she also loves writing about real women.
With magazines and advertising filled with perfect caricatures of what it is to be female, Lauren wants to create something more believable but still entertaining and fun. She likes to write about men and women who are floored but also strong, beautiful but not fake, sexy but not cheap.
She writes about people connected by more than just amazing sex, but by an inner link joining them together emotionally and intellectually.