“Are you kidding me? I’m not going out with you. Do you think I’ve forgotten how you slept with me and left, only leaving me a note? Plus you added insult to injury with your phone call today. No, I’m done with you. My biggest mistake was sleeping with you in the first place. I can’t believe I ever thought I was in love with you.”
Richie wrapped his hands around Keri’s arms and hauled her against him. He wasn’t about to lose her after he just realized how much he loved her. No, Keri couldn’t be trying to dump him. He wouldn’t allow it to happen.
“Let go of me,” she hissed tugging against his hold, but he didn’t let go.
Her little rebellion didn’t impress him at all. It was making him want to kiss her senseless in front of everyone in this room, but he wouldn’t act on his impulse. Instead, he would take her upstairs and give her what he had planned for them tonight.
“No, you’re coming with me.” Richie moved toward the exit door with his hand still around Keri’s arm.
“I’m not playing with you Richie. You need to let me go. I’m going home. I have to find Tate so he can give me a ride.”
Richie stopped so fast that Keri stumbled into him. “Stay away from my brother. He isn’t going to give you a ride anyway. Do you understand? If I had known he was coming to pick you up in the first place, I would have put a stop to it.” He gave her a look and then started walking again until they reached the elevators.
“Where are you taking me?” Keri huffed next to him.
“It’s a surprise. I wanted us to have some privacy for what I want to do with you.” Richie smiled down at her, but she turned her head away.
“I don’t want any privacy with you.”
“Sweetheart, it doesn’t matter what you want at the moment because you’re upset with me; however, after you see my surprise you will be glad you came.”
“We’ll see about that,” Keri mumbled under her breath as the elevator came and Richie walked on with her. During the ride, she kept trying to get him to let go of her arm but when she realized she was fighting a losing battle she stopped.
Richie glanced at her a couple of times from the corner of his eye, but she never looked at him. She was done allowing him to have power over her because she found him sexy as hell. It didn’t matter what kind of surprise he had for her in the room, she wasn’t going to accept anything from him.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Richie walked off. “I can trust you to be a good girl if I let go of your arm?”
“Yes.”
Richie released her arm and continued down the hallway with her behind him. Keri thought about turning around and leaving, but she knew Richie would follow her. So, it was best to just get this over with and then she could go back home.
Stopping at a door midway down, Richie pulled a room keycard out of his pocket. He slid it into the lock and then turned the handle with the light went from red to green. “In here.”
Keri brushed past Richie and walked into the room. She jumped when the door snapped closed behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Richie leaning against it with his arms folded across his chest.
“Did you wear that dress tonight to get my attention or make me jealous?” he asked.
“No, I wore it for me.” She wasn’t about to admit to anything.
“Liar.” Richie laughed as he pushed his body away from the door. “You knew I would get jealous and drag you out of that room. You’ve been in love with me for a while, haven’t you?”
Keri turned back around and put more distance between her and Richie by going over to the window. Wrapping her arms around her body, she looked down at the traffic below. She knew Richie had followed her before she felt his touch on her shoulders.
“Keri, I’m sorry about how I left you the day after we made love. I shouldn’t have done it. Don’t you know how much I love you? I think I’ve always been in love with you, but I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself.”
“You aren’t in love with me. We both know it. There will always be only one woman in your heart and that’s Kristy,” Keri said.
Spinning her around, Richie raised her face up to his. “The love I had for Kristy doesn’t compare to how I feel about you. Let me show you something. I was going to give it to you later, but I think you need proof of my love for you.”
Richie kissed her on the mouth and then took her over to a small table in the corner of the room with a white cloth covering it. He planted a kiss at the back of her neck. “Remove the napkin.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what it is?” Keri tried to contain her excitement, but it was boiling over.
“No, it will ruin the surprise.”
She lifted the napkin and placed it at the side. Sitting on the table in front of her was a stand with a rainbow necklace dangling over a pot of gold wrapped candy. “It’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
“Yes, but there is more there,” Richie said. “Why don’t you dig around in the pot of gold? I’m pretty sure you might find something else.
Sticking her hand in the small pot of gold, Keri felt around until her fingers brushed against something soft. She grabbed it and then pulled out her surprise. Her eyes widened at the velvet ring box in the palm of her hand.
No, this couldn’t be what she thought it was.
Taking the box out of her hand, Richie spun her back around and got down on one knee in front of her. “Keri, I’ve gone over so many ways in my head to propose to you, but none of them seemed quite right. I was going to tell you that I love you more than anything in the world and I was an idiot not to have said it sooner. However, that didn’t seem like the right thing to say and it has been done so much. I wanted to be a little more original than that. So, I thought and thought until I came up with this. I hope you like it, baby.
“My days have been so dark for so long that I never imagined I could find love again, but one day this stunningly beautiful woman smiled at me and it was like seeing a rare rainbow after a rainstorm. Keri, you are my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I promise to make each and every day exciting and new for you like you have done for me. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Richie flipped open the box and the biggest diamond she had ever laid eyes on sparkled back at her.
Keri brushed away the tears that were pouring down her cheeks. “No, I can’t marry you.”
“What!” Richie jumped up from the floor. “Why in the hell not?” Hurt mingled with anger passed across his handsome face.
“Your proposal was so beautiful, how will you be able to top it on our wedding day?”
The emotions that covered Richie’s face changed as the words left Keri’s mouth. “Well, you just have to accept my proposal to see if it will happen.” Taking the ring out of the box, Richie slid it on her finger. “Now, Ms. Keri Walker, are you ready to make an honest man out of me or do I have to get down on my knee and beg again?”
“If I say yes, do you think my boss will give me time off for my honeymoon in Hawaii?” Keri asked as she wrapped her arms around Richie’s neck.
“I think your boss will be so happy for you that he might actually join you there,” Richie whispered
Grinning, Keri wrapped her hands in Richie’s shirt and pulled him closer until his mouth was a breath away from her. “Are you sure about that?”
“I’m damn sure,” Richie answered right before his lips touched hers.
The End
So Much Better Page 8