Nick pushed slowly to his feet, climbing up off his knee, his lovely face flashing red and blue in the haze of the oncoming police cars. “Well, I’m glad it’s sinking in,” he laughed. “I wish we had champagne. Wait. Scratch that! You’re pregnant. No alcohol.”
“I just... I’m shocked, Nick. I don’t need any fancy wine or champagne or flowers. I just need you. I had no idea you could be so spontaneous, so...heartfelt. That means way more to me than going out to some fancy dinner to recite a rehearsed proposal.”
He peered into my eyes. “I want you to know this has nothing to do with the company or a flash drive or anything like that. There is nothing fake or pretend about this. I’m really asking—”
Before he could finish, within the next second, I was airborne, leaping full force into his arms. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I thought my face might split apart from the force of my smile. The entire world seemed to come together in a single crystalline moment as I stared down at him in the rain. Streams of water ran through his wavy hair, dripping from my lashes onto his.
“Being a good dad starts with being a good husband,” he said. “I’m going to be the best husband and the best dad. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for our family. We’re going to have a solid rock-hard marriage and a stable, loving home, I promise you that. I’ve put my old life behind me. My new life starts now...with the woman I’ll love for the rest of my life.”
The only natural thing to do at that point was to collide in a kiss. I loved kissing Nick, especially in the pouring rain, and that kiss was our most breathtaking yet. I ran my hands through his wet hair as his mouth consumed me. I couldn’t deny what I felt, what I was sure he felt for me; it was magic. It was as if my entire life had led up to that fairytale moment. My Prince Charming was there, in my arms, where he belonged. I loved the way he looked at me, touched me, and kissed me. Nick was the man I was going to share the rest of my life with, and I was ready to give him everything I had to offer.
We kissed with so much passion, intensity, and fire that even a hurricane couldn’t have put out the roaring fire brewing between us. I kissed him with everything I had, with the inferno of every heated emotion coursing through me. I loved that man, and I gladly would have soared up to the moon and back for him. In fact, he sent my heart soaring that high with every glance of his blue eyes.
It might have been freezing outside, but his mouth was warm. He forced mine open with a strength and passion that took my breath away as one hand came up to cup my face. My eyes snapped shut, and I ran my fingers through his hair, wrapping my legs tightly around his waist.
It wasn’t until I felt him flinch beneath me that I realized something was wrong.
“Oh gosh!” I exclaimed, untangling myself from his body and dropping down to the wet pavement. “Nick, I’m so sorry! Your chest! I didn’t even think—”
He only laughed, pulling me back toward him. “I just asked you to marry me, Abby Wilder. I just asked you to be my wife.” He ran the tips of his fingers down my sides. “You really think a couple bruised ribs are going to stop me?”
They wouldn’t, but in spite of what he said, I feared a couple police cars might.
No sooner had we come back together than we sprang apart again. We sprinted into the rain hand in hand as the bar behind us was stormed by what looked like half of New York’s finest. The sounds of the drunken disclaimers and denials were drowned out by our uncontrollable laughter as we tore down the street, seemingly without a care in the world.
There we were, running in the rain, with strobes of lightning punctuating every sloppy footfall. Every so often, Nick’s finger brushed across my ring, and every so often, mine did the same.
Maybe fairytales do come true after all, I thought with a smile as I ran with the man I loved, ran to a future I couldn’t wait to experience.
Chapter 23
By the time we got back to the penthouse, the sun was already beginning to lift into the sky. The walls were tinted pink with the coming dawn, the timer on the coffee maker sprang automatically to life, and the bubbling sounds of the hot tub echoed cheerfully in the air.
Louise had long since left. Nick admitted to me that he paid her to stay and watch me while I was out. I guess he was worried and wanted to make sure I had someone looking out for me while he was out. And she pretended like she was only staying for the free cable. I chuckled. I’d fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. Max, the bodyguard, was stationed safely downstairs. There were no stylists pounding down our door, no unexpected visitors or lingering guests. For the first time in what felt like a long time, the two of us were finally alone.
Nick laid me down gently on the bed. It was obvious all along that he was in a hurry to get me there, just so he could sweep me off my feet and preemptively carry me over the threshold, but now that we were there, his movements became tender and relaxed.
He unbuttoned his shirt with one hand and slipped the wet garment off his muscular shoulders. With his other hand, he tugged my soaked pajamas carefully over my head. His pants were soon to follow, then his shoes and mine. Before long, there wasn’t a stich of clothing in sight.
His eyes swept me over me before he lowered himself slowly to the bed. First, he greeted my shins with kisses, followed by my knees and the side of each thigh. He lingered for a while over my stomach, pressing his lips tenderly against the skin with a secret smile before he traveled upward once more, pleasuring my ribs, my breasts, and the hollow of my collarbone.
A trail of warmth followed his every touch, radiating out like some kind of supernova that was bringing me back to life. He didn’t neglect anything: not my jaw, my cheeks, my eyebrows, or even the tip of my nose. Then, finally, he reached my lips.
A soft moan escaped me as his hands wrapped around my lower back, his thumbs rubbing little circles into my hip bones. He was hard, hard and ready, yet he carefully took his time, savoring every moment and drinking in every detail, just like I was.
“You know,” he whispered in my ear as his legs eased mine gently apart, “I’ve never done this before.”
The mood was temporarily shattered as I let out a bark of laughter. When his twinkling eyes met mine, I shook my head with a grin. “I’m sorry, but even if I’d never picked up a magazine or a newspaper or—I don’t know—walked outside, I still happen to have personal knowledge to refute that. Talk about Mythbusters!”
He laughed quietly, trailing a leisurely finger up between my legs. “I don’t mean sex. Of course I’ve done that.” One finger was joined by another, then another, but when I arched my back, he pressed me down. “I mean that I’ve never had sex with my actual fiancée, the woman I intend to make love to for the rest of my life.”
All our momentum momentarily stilled as he stared deep into my eyes.
“I love you, Abby. I’ll never stop loving you.” He planted a soft kiss against the back of my hand. “Not for a single second.”
It was as much a promise as it was a caress. I stared up in a trance, temporarily dazzled by the Manhattan prince I’d come to call my own, but then his lips twitched up into a mischievous grin.
“And now, wife-to-be, I’d like to fuck you.”