I’m just finishing up when I hear Giselle’s feet padding out of the room. “You’re back.” She stops in front of the couch I’m sitting on and gives me a concerned smile.
“I am. I didn’t want to wake you.” I open my arms and she fills the void. Her arms wrap around my torso and her head lands on my chest. I inhale her sweet scent.
“I prefer waking up next to you,” she murmurs.
“How would you feel about waking up next to me for the rest of your life?” I ask, and Giselle stills. Then she sits up, and I immediately want her back against me.
“Killian…” She stares at me as I sit up and reach into my pocket. I pull out the ring box and get down on one knee. I hadn’t planned on proposing tonight, but it feels like it’s the right time.
Giselle’s hands cover her mouth. “Killian…” she says again.
“I know some would say what’s happening between us, this relationship, is probably moving too fast.” She nods slowly, and I laugh. “As you know, I’m a wide receiver. My job is to catch the ball.” She laughs out loud, calming my nerves. “There’s a phrase in football. Going Deep. Have you ever heard of it?”
She shakes her head no.
“It’s when you run down the field for a long pass. You’re serious. Committed. Unstoppable. I’m in this deep with you, Giselle. I’m serious. Committed. There’s no stopping what I feel for you. I’m running down the field to catch the ball. I just need you to throw it.”
I open the ring box and pluck the engagement ring from the felt that’s holding it in place. After leaving Melanie, I went to a few jewelers in the area my mom recommended. After the third one, I found the ring I knew was meant for Giselle. A three carat halo cut diamond on a simple platinum band.
“Will you throw the ball to me, baby?” I ask her, holding the ring up for her to see.
Tears leak from her eyes. I’m not sure if they’re happy or sad tears. And then she says in a voice so quiet I can barely hear her, “You’re healed.”
“What?” I ask. I heard what she said, but I’m unsure what she means.
“Be broken and lonely with me.” She repeats the words I said to her before. “You’re no longer broken.” She swipes a falling tear. “But Killian, I still am.”
It takes me a second, but when I piece together what she’s saying, it all clicks. She thinks by me meeting with Melanie, I’ve been healed.
“Giselle…” I set the box down on the table and take her hands in mine. “Yes, meeting with Melanie helped me find closure, but she didn’t fix me. I’m still broken, baby, but I’m no longer lonely. Since the day you stepped into that limo, I haven’t felt lonely. Nobody is perfect, Giselle. We’re all broken, filled with imperfections, scars from the wounds life has inflicted on us. Being with you has shown me that it’s not about trying to fix the broken, but finding the person you can be broken with. Be broken with me, baby. I can’t play in this game alone. My arms and heart are open. The ball is in your hands. Will you throw it to me?”
Tears fall harder down her beautiful face as she begins to nod, slowly at first then quicker. Finally, she speaks. “Okay…Yes! I’ll throw the ball to you. I mean, I have no clue how to throw a damn ball, but you’ve won a Super Bowl, so surely you can catch just about any pass I throw, right?”
I laugh loudly, loving that my woman just went along with my football analogy. Standing, I take her hand in mine and slide the ring onto her finger. I wasn’t sure her size, so I called Olivia and she was spot on. Giselle eyes the ring for a second before she throws her arms around me and kisses me hard.
“Let’s get married now,” I suggest, shocking the hell out of both of us.
“Now?” she squeaks.
“Yeah, we can meet with my parents for breakfast and then take off somewhere to get married. Just the two of us. I don’t want to wait. I want you to be my wife.”
“Okay,” she agrees, excitedly. “Let’s do this!”
* * *
We’re lying in bed after celebrating our engagement for the second time tonight—with me balls-deep in my gorgeous fiancée. Giselle is drawing letters and pictures across my torso and chest with her sexy thigh draped over the top of my legs and her head in the crook of my shoulder. We haven’t discussed my dinner with Melanie yet, but we need to. I need to. I don’t want to ruin the moment, but Giselle assumed by my meeting with Melanie everything is now perfect when in fact it’s not.