“Tristan, yes!” I came, hard and loud as I clenched around him.
He collapsed against me as he came soon after. We caught our breaths until we ended up falling asleep.
I woke up alone though, and confused. I yawned, and tugged on his shirt left behind on the couch. I rubbed my eyes and felt something cold on my skin. I looked at my hands, and was utterly confused. Because there was a huge solitaire diamond on my ring finger.
“What the…”
I jumped up, off to search for Tristan.
“Tristan! Tristan!”
He wasn’t inside. Am I confused? No, I kept checking and it was still there. It felt like it belonged there, but what the hell is going on.
Finally, I found him out on the deck in front of the smoking grill. He was deliciously shirtless, wearing sweats as he flipped burgers.
“Tristan.”
I went up to him, he dropped the spatula and turned to me with a smile.
“Hey, sleepy head.” He kissed me, but I pulled away confused.
“What is this?” I held up my left hand.
“A hand.” I swatted him and he laughed. “It’s a ring, do you like it?”
He held my waist.
“Yes, it’s beautiful but…what—why is it on me?” I asked frantically.
“Because I didn’t want to give you the chance to say no…I want you to marry me, Emilia.”
I gasped. Tears flooded my eyes. I was elated. I was freaking out. And I didn’t know which emotion to feel first.
“You…you want to marry me?” I checked.
He laughed, “yes. You’re so silly. Do you want to marry me?” I nodded slowly.
“Like, right now?” I looked around, checking if there was a pastor hiding or something.
“No, soon. Or however long you want to wait. Let’s just not wait ten years like Levi and Gab.”
I giggled softly.
“Yes. Yes, I will marry you.” I whispered and he pulled me into him.
His kiss lit up my whole body. Giving me everything I had missed and hoped for. I wondered how anything could ever be this perfect. That entire weekend, I don’t think we ever left the bed or put clothes on.
~
Planning a wedding was so much easier when it is not yours, or decorating it at least. It took me seven tries to get the arrangement exactly how I wanted it. Buttercups and lilacs don’t necessarily go together, so it was hard to mix it in. But I was determined to have both our favorite flowers. I mellowed the color difference with baby’s breath and white roses. The azaleas helped too.
I finally got it right, and could focus on other things. Ivy designed my dress from scratch, a beautiful dress very similar to the one I wore at the ball. The only difference was it was white.
“You, look amazing.” Ivy looked over me in the mirror.
The big day was finally here. Because of our work schedule, it did take a year to finally make it to the altar, but it was perfect.
“Thank you, and thank you so much for making it.” I hugged her tight. She looked beautiful in her light purple gown as well. I was so lucky to have a friend like her.
“Can you help me with the train? I need to check the flowers.” She rolled her eyes, but helped me with it.
“I have never seen a bride arranging her own flowers.” Ivy commented as I worked on the altar arrangement. I did hire someone, but I tweaked it just a little bit.
We had a beautiful arch way of buttercups and lilacs we would stand under when we say our vows. I couldn’t wait.
Our relationship was quite the struggle. It took me a month to even find him that first time. And another to let him love me. But I was so ready to marry him.
As I stood across from him at the altar; it all came into focus.
“I do.” I said my part, and he said his.
Those words were so powerful, I meant it in my core. I love him so much, it hurts. But now I never have to hurt alone.
I love Tristan, and he loves me. It is the best and proper ending to our love story.
Doctor’s Fake Proposal
A Bad Boy Fake Marriage Doctor Romance
By Nicole Elliot
One
Cole
“I can't believe you did it again,” my uncle said, his hands trembling from all of his pent-up rage. He was pacing again, I fucking hated when he paced. Reminded me of my father, all those years ago.
“It wasn't that big of a deal.”
He turned on me, I could see the veins pulsing in his temple. “It wasn't that big of a deal? Are you kidding me? You stole a boat! Not just any boat but the prized yacht of one of our biggest investors! And then you spent a night in jail when you got caught. Have you learned anything? Have I taught you anything? I have failed your parents Cole. I failed them! And there's nothing that I can do to stop you this downward spiral of yours.”
I rolled my eyes. “This isn’t a downward spiral, don’t you treat me like I'm one of those Hollywood harlots on some drug addiction. I don't need to go to rehab.”
“Are you sure? Because I'm not anymore. I should've left you in jail this time. See how you liked it.”
“Fine leave me there. And no, I don't need fucking rehab. I don't do drugs.” Okay so that wasn't completely true, but a few recreational activities here or there didn’t make me an addict. I wasn't about to explain that to him, especially when he was in this state. There was no hope in him. And there was no stopping the amount of complaints running straight at me.
“What does that girl of yours say about all this? Was she with you last night?”
Girl? Shit. That's right. At the last family dinner, something my uncle insists that we do every other week, I had lied and told him that I had gotten serious with a girl that I met in college. Totally bought into all the second chance shit. That we dated way back then and now we had rekindled our relationship. I have no idea how he bought that. It was the only way for me to get him to shut up about the fact that I refuse to settle down. And now here it was, biting me in the ass. Why did my lies always catch up with me?
“No, she wasn't there. She doesn’t know anything about this.” Wasn’t that the truth, because didn’t fucking exist.
“How doesn’t she know anything about this? Didn't you call her?”
“No. You are my one phone call, so in prison that's a real thing. It wasn’t like I was playing Candy Crush on my phone while I was sitting there waiting for six hours for you to come pick me up.”
I watched as a small smile crossed his face. Of course, he had made me wait, that bastard. And there I was sitting in the drunk tank with some guy who was singing 80s ballads like it was his job. Not exactly my idea of a good Friday night. Sure the first half of been fun. I walked down to the dock with a bottle of Petron and I got myself drunk. And then I decided to drive a boat, one where I knew where the keys were. So what if he was an investor? I'm sure that he had done things in his youth that he could see that I needed a release, a moment away from it all.
Hell, didn't I need a release.
I hadn’t fucked a girl for at least two weeks, I think that was a new record for me. It was time to move on, Sasha, my real ex-girlfriend had come to me because she didn't think our relationship was “going anywhere”. I don't know what kind of bullshit that was but I was over her real fast. Except I hadn’t gotten a pussy since. So instead I stole a yacht. It wasn't like I even really stole it. I knew the keys were, I only took a few miles out from the dock, and it wasn't like I could get anywhere anyway without a crew.
Word of advice don't ride around on a 64-foot Catamaran by yourself. Everybody got their panties all up in a bunch about it, and the freaking Maritime police had to go and put me in the slammer for the night. I never did find out why rock ballad dude was in there, I'm guessing because the singing was that horrible.
“I've had enough of this Cole, your antics, your lawlessness.”
“What is this the Wild West? I made one mistake!”
He raised an eyebrow at
me and I watched as his arms crossed his chest. He was in the navy suit, like always. Navy suit, red tie. My father always wore navy suits and robin's egg blue tie.
And then there was me, I hated suits. It was one of the reasons I joined the Army. So I could get away from all of this, from the life that they wanted to build for me. I guess that's what happens when you're sixteen and your parents die in a helicopter crash. Find ways to move on. People to move on with.
“You act like it is! Listen this is the last chance I'm giving you. While you use some of that military background you invested so much time into. You gave them ten years Cole, why don’t you utilize some of your skills?”
“What the hell does that mean? Is there somebody that you need shot?”
Truth was, I was a good shot. But that wasn't what I was trained for.
“No. I have a better idea. You use your medic skills. Aren’t you a doctor?”
I sighed heavily. “You know that I am. I finished med school as part of my training. Why?”
“Because that's what you're going to do. You have one month, one month that you will completely dedicate yourself to the children's hospital downtown. For free, and you have one month to get that girlfriend of yours to agree to marry you. If you don't, I’m cutting you off.”
My mouth dropped open. Could he even do that? All that money was willed to me in my parents’ estate. Sure I had been spending a little bit since getting out of the service, but it wasn't his to take away. “What are you talking about?”
“I'm going to put it in a trust. All of the money that was willed to you is shares within this pharmaceutical company. It was one of the reasons that your parents wanted you to become a doctor. At least that part of what they wished for you came true, even if you went about it in different means than they were planning.” He was referring to the fact that I didn't end up at some Ivy League school. Again, they died, I needed a new family. The military provided me that.
“So you want me to donate my medical knowledge? That doesn't just happen. I'm not just going to get some random free job for a month at the Children's Hospital.”
“Sure you are. I'm on the board, I can get you any job I want to. Maybe I should have you start as a nurse, clean bedpans for your indiscretions?”
My blood was boiling underneath my skin. How dare he do this to me? “And my girlfriend? You think I can just make this happen out of thin air?”
“According to you at our last dinner, it's quite serious. She may actually like it if you propose, show her and me that you’re ready to settle down and start acting like an adult.”
Fuck. Not only did I just get assigned the job that I would never want, but now I had to find a girlfriend, hell a fiancé. And as I sat in that gray office as the rain slid down the window outside I looked over the city and thought how the hell was I going to make it through the next thirty days?
Two
Addison
I curled my hair around my index finger just as I did every time I was nervous. It wasn't something I noticed in myself, but my sister, Elizabeth, always noticed and pointed it out.
“What's wrong?”
“What do you mean? Nothing is wrong.”
“Well, you're sweating for one. Two you've got the curlyhaired thing going on, and three you are pounding on that keyboard so loud that I'm sure neighbors upstairs can hear you. So again, what's wrong?”
Stupid big sisters, they always called you out on your shit. “Fine, you know the new security system for the law firm? I want to make sure that our client's files are as secure as possible. I mean without that why would they come to us? You know that discretion is our biggest attribute of the company. But I keep getting denied access to some of my codes. It doesn’t make any sense because I built the system, I have access to everything! I just don't understand why I'm getting locked out.”
Elizabeth stood from the kitchen table and walked around behind me staring at the screen. Sure indiscretion was big of a law firm, but when you and your sister are both coders, you help each other out.
“What about this line here?” She pointed at the screen. The line of code that she was referring to I hadn't written. “I've no idea. I didn’t put that in there.”
She made a face and took the three tiny steps that she needed to take to be into the kitchen of our small apartment.
“You made a face. Why did you make a face?”
She shrugged as she poked her head into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of wine. “I mean it's probably nothing.”
“What is nothing, Elizabeth?”
“Well the last time I had one of my codes changed, it meant that I was getting the boot. Somebody was double checking my work and they didn't like what they saw. I'm really sorry Addison. But I think you're getting fired.”
My mouth dropped open. I couldn't get fired. We were barely affording this apartment with the two of our incomes combined. Manhattan was expensive as hell. If I got fired, I don't know what we would do. I don't know how we would make it.
“Are you sure? Elizabeth focus. Are you sure that's what happened?”
She brought a glass of red over to me and sat down across us at the table and began seriously typing. She turned the laptop screen around so that I could see it and pointed to the screen. There was a picture of a guy younger than us, with black framed glasses and a big dopey smile. “See this kid? And he is a kid. He's fresh out of college, ten years younger than me. He does a great job. He can code faster than I could. Faster and cheaper is what a company is always looking for. That software is being recoded, it's because they consider you antiquated. So instead of trying to update their security system tonight, you should start looking for jobs.”
I rolled my eyes at her. As much as I loved Elizabeth and our sisterly bond, sometimes she had a flair for the dramatic. So I shut my computer, but instead of looking for jobs I grabbed my laptop and my wine and headed to my bedroom. Watching a good rom com and drowning my sorrows in a glass of red would be the only thing I accomplished for the evening.
Three
Addison
“Addison! Come in here!”
I grabbed my tablet and my lukewarm cup of coffee and hustled into my boss's office. He was nearly twice as old as I was, and maybe three times the size of me. He sat in his ancient office chair that someone had gifted to him when he graduated college eons ago and flattened his tie over his exceedingly large stomach. The buttons were bulging underneath it.
“Yes. Mr. James? You wanted to see me.”
He smiled at me as he crossed his hands over his protruding belly. “Yes. Sit.”
I sighed. The grand office Mr. James sat in had a way of making people feel like they were small, the guests’ office chairs were uncomfortable to say the least. I felt the scratchy material against my skin, a tank top was apparently not a good choice for this hot summer day. I set the tablet down in my lap but I clutched onto my coffee like a lifeline. Some peoples would say that I was a caffeine addict, I would say that I was a coder. I guess you would think same difference.
“I noticed that you are working on the security protocols. How's that going?”
I took a sip of my coffee before responding. “Quite well. I mean I noticed some discrepancies in the code, but I'm sure that I can iron out the details.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “I can tell you exactly why you saw discrepancies within the coding.”
Here it was, Elizabeth was right. I was being replaced.
“We’ve been hacked.” I nearly dropped my coffee all over my shiny tablet. Hacked? That was my job. To make sure we weren’t. Shit.
“I'm sorry?”
“You should be Addison. Since it's your job to make sure the security protocols are developed enough that no one can break in. You know our clients prefer their discretion. We’ve violated that trust, we’ll lose at least two clients over it. You know how I like to work on retainer.”
Did he ever. Mr. James hadn't stepped foot into a courtroom in probably fif
teen years He lived off of clients’ previous settlements. Most of the time he never screwed up enough to have to actually work. It was rare that he had to do a settlement nowadays. Losing two clients on retainer was like telling Mr. James that doughnuts had gone extinct. I was in so much trouble.
“I don't understand. I built that all myself, it's ironclad.”
“Apparently it's not strong enough. So I thank you for your time but your services are no longer required here.”
“You're firing me?”
“It appears that way. We can't afford to have issues like this. So while I appreciate your position, and you've been good to this company for the past two years, it's time for you to move on. Maybe somewhere that doesn't need a security system built quite as strongly as we do. Pack your things and leave.”
I sat there for a moment longer unsure of what to do with myself. I had never been fired before, hell I hadn't even quit anything. I was someone who always saw a project through. I could hardly understand where had I had gone wrong.
“Addison, leave. Don't make me call security.”
I nodded just as the tears prickled my eyes. I stood and exited his office as quickly as possible. After walking down the hall and into my shared office I grabbed my things and shoved them in my purse. The only thing I had to carry was my laptop and my coffee. None of the other software techs said anything to me, I doubt they even realized that I'd been fired. We all used to sit there with our headphones in jamming out to music while we wrote code or did research for the lawyers, hacking into companies and finding out things that no one was supposed to know. We weren't really friends, just warm bodies that filled the same room. No one's eyes even met mine as I tearfully walked out the door.
What the hell was I going to do? Where would I go? As I walked out of the building and into the hot summer sun my heels clicked on the concrete and I began walking home. Sure I had usually taken the Metro but I didn't feel like I should just go home. I didn't feel like that was where I belonged. So instead I just kept walking until finally I rounded a corner and saw a pub in front of me with its doors wide open.
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