I closed my eyes, and I nodded at least a hundred times.
They were happy. So fucking happy. But little did they know the worst and best were yet to come.
Her eyes flashed wide as I dropped to my knee in front of her.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked. “I have no problem buying you something else.”
“Bowen, hurry up and give me back my ring already.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I teased. I was damn near giddy, but my hands still shook as I removed the princess-cut diamond ring from its silk pillow. “They had to cut it off you after the crash, but I had it fixed so you can’t even tell now.”
She lifted her left hand and wiggled her fingers.
With nerves rolling in my stomach, I slid the ring onto her finger, stopping at her knuckle. “Remi Grey, you are the key to my past, the key to my future, and will forever be the key to my heart. I cannot wait to spend a lifetime being the key to yours. I love you.” I paused to smirk. “So fucking much.”
“Oh, Bowen, I love you too.”
As I seated the ring on her finger, an aching chill I hadn’t realized I’d been long since carrying around melted from my bones.
I’d fought an entire war against the universe for this woman.
But with my ring on her finger again and the road to forever laid out in front of us, I could honestly say I’d won.
“I’m engaged,” she announced. “And I’m not freaking out about it.” Kissing me between laughter, she dragged me onto the bed with her. She rolled me to my back, claiming her spot on top as she admired the diamond.
I just lay there, tracing my hands up her thighs, admiring her.
“Holy shit,” she whispered. “You had it bad for me. We’d only been together for what? A few months when you bought this? This thing is a rock.”
“You’re just now figuring that out?”
She smiled down at me, her cheeks pink, love blazing in her eyes. She was all fucking mine.
After slipping my hand under the stolen dress shirt, I palmed her breast. “You’re still not wearing panties, you know.”
“Yeah, I think we should probably leave that detail out when we tell the grandkids this story.”
“Oh, baby, we’re going to have to leave a lot more than that out of this story.” Rocking her forward, I shoved down the one layer of fabric that was dividing us, and prepared to lose myself in the wonderous beauty that was…my future wife.
“Yes,” she moaned, sinking onto my length.
I did love her in my shirt, but I loved the sight of her bare breasts as she rode me a fuck of a lot more. I popped every button off the front.
Remi
“You’ve reached Aaron Lanier. Please leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.” His voicemail beeped.
Juggling a drink carrier holding three bubble teas—mango with cherry pearls—I tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear and walked across the parking lot. “Hey, it’s me. I know you were planning to come visit me in Savannah soon, but I’ll have to take a raincheck. How about dinner tonight instead? I think I finally found myself, and I was not where I was supposed to be. As of yesterday, I am once again a permanent resident of Atlanta. More geographically specific, Bowen’s house. I’m sure you are absolutely stunned but please hold your I told you so until I’ve had an absurd amount of sushi and fill you in on the rest of my good news. Call me back. Love you.”
Tempting gravity, I shifted the carrier to one hand and slipped my phone into the pocket of my cross-body purse. As I reached the sidewalk in front of his office, a whistle caught my attention.
“Well, hello, beautiful,” Bowen said, followed by two beeps from his truck. A sexy smile tipped one side of his mouth as he prowled toward me. “Did you bring that for me or my lobby floor?”
“I had a hunch you’d make a joke. That’s why I didn’t bring you one at all. Me, Oscar, and Emily. You’re on your own for afternoon refreshments.” I smiled like the brat I was being.
It wasn’t true. I’d forgotten about Oscar until I saw that his name had been added to the front door. But Bowen didn’t need to know that.
Taking the carrier from my hand, he dipped low and pressed a kiss to my lips. Before he righted himself, he murmured, “I stand corrected. You make this dress look amazing.”
I grinned with pride. For a man who I’d had to drag out of bed to the mall, he sure did have more than a few opinions when I’d picked out the gray off-the-shoulder sweater dress. I hadn’t tried it on, see the aforementioned part about dragging him to the mall, but I knew it would fit like a glove. The heat in his eyes only served as further proof of how right I’d been.
