“I love you too,” I gasp, as tears try to strangle me, as emotion tries to overwhelm me. “So much. I wanted to say it…”
“Me too.” He smiles, truly smiles. “I’m so happy you feel the same.”
“Of course I do,” I tell him firmly.
“Good, because I always thought I’d find a woman. I always thought I’d lay eyes on her and just know. But it never happened. Maybe I was crazy, maybe I was deluded… but then I saw you. You changed my life forever. You change it, for the better, each and every second we’re together. So Kelly Jones…”
He opens the ring box and the whole room blurs with tears, a sob rising up and making my throat tight. I bring my hands up to cover my mouth, as though any second I’m going to melt into fully-fledged tears.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I cry, wiping my eyes to take in the sight of the ring.
It’s a glittering diamond, big enough to be proud but delicate enough to be elegant, a wonderful mixture I would’ve chosen for myself. It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.
“Yes, yes, yes.”
He takes my hand and slips the ring onto my finger, tucking the box into his inside jacket pocket as he rises to his feet. He moves toward me, holding me pinned by his gaze, his heat enveloping me as he moves closer and closer.
“I love you so much.”
He leans down and claims my lips with his, as hot and fresh and exciting and new as the first time he did it, and yet we clash as naturally as though we were made to kiss each other. It’s an intoxicating combination, one that will never stop fascinating me.
He lifts me off my feet and I giggle through the kiss, savoring the feel of his hands on my hips. And I also savor the feeling of the ring on my finger, the metal kissing me coolly, reassuringly, telling me this is my forever man.
The fantasy we created in the photographs has come true.
“I love you,” I gasp when the kiss breaks off. “I can’t wait to be your wife.”
“I can’t wait to be your husband,” he growls, his breath shivering over me.
“Forever.”
He grabs me harder. “Forever.”
Epilogue
Kaleb
I drive down the alleyway toward the private garage, remembering what it was like when I brought Kelly here three weeks ago to propose to her. She probably had no idea about the nerves swirling through me as we made the walk I’m making now… toward her office door, hidden in this secret nook in the city.
My mind was full of scenarios where she narrowed her eyes at me when I flung the L-word at her, tilting her head as though I’d gone insane, as though she had no clue what I was talking about.
But then her features flooded with joy and I felt like a fool for ever doubting she felt the same.
These past three weeks have been like heaven, Kelly quitting her job and working full-time at the office, dedicating herself to her freelance work while working on her own ideas. I’ve been taking meetings all over the city, keen to get a charity cause started on my home turf.
I don’t need to run anymore. I have my woman.
I’m right where I need to be.
I use my key to open the office and I walk inside.
My heart swells when I see that she’s covered the empty sections of the wall with photos from our first photography session, the one that got this all started. I wander around the office, a big smile on my face as I take in the sight of us.
My favorite is the one where I’m holding her as she leans against my chest her eyes closed as if she trusts me to protect her from the world. The photographer did an amazing job making us appear naked in an intimate moment.
I study it for a long moment, wondering where my woman is.
Her sketching materials are on the desk, but she’s not here. I begin to walk over to the opposite corner, where the door to the bathroom is.
But then she calls out from the garden. “Out here, Kaleb.”
I stroll over to the window to find her on her knees at the flowerbeds, gardening gloves on, a happy look on her face. She’s wearing a summer dress that casts a spell on me, flooding my manhood with tension at the sight of the fabric dappling her curvy form.
“You know I can pay somebody to do that,” I say as I push the glass door open and join her.
I stand over her, staring down as she looks up, getting a perfect view of her cleavage. We’ve had sex most days since the proposal, but I’ll never get tired of the sight of her heaving breasts, of the way they seem to beckon me, round and tempting and made for palming and feeding our children.