Page 82 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
She nodded and then backed away, wiping her own tears away from her face. “I know. I love you, too. I’m not sad, really. I’m crying cause I’m happy.”
“Well, let’s see if I can go make shit right with Ashley, and then maybe you’ll have both of us around.”
“A Dweller?” She drawled out dramatically. “I guess she’s pretty cool. I mean, she puts up with you, so I guess we can keep her.” A wide smile spread across her face.
“You’d better be careful. You’re one of those disgusting Dwellers now.”
“Touché.”
“And all fancy-pants learning French. What’s next on the list? German?”
“Actually, I’m thinking of going with Portuguese next since there are similarities to the Spanish and French, so I think I’ll pick that up quickly, and then I want to tackle Mandarin.”
His smile dropped, and he gave her a steady look as he studied her face. “I’m really proud of you, Zumi.”
She blushed and held the envelope to her chest. “On that note, I better go. That was way too much sweet, mushy shit out of this mouth.”
Zumi laughed as he walked away to embark on step two of his three-step plan.
* * *
He pulled at the top of his shirt as he stepped out of the elevator. He didn’t even remember being this hot in the desert, but a few emotional conversations and his body temperature was rising off the charts. Ashley hadn’t been ignoring him since their conversation at the hospital, but there had been a cool edge around them ever since, like a void had been wedged between them that he couldn’t fix with his normal tactics.
“You can do this,” he mumbled. Raising his hand, he knocked on the door, and felt like it took a year for him standing there, waiting for her to answer, before he finally heard faint shuffling from the other side of the door. Just like every time he saw her, when the door opened, his breath was stolen from his chest.
“Kes, I wasn’t expecting you.” Her eyes raked over his suit, and the heated look she tried to cover made him smile.
“May I come in for a minute?”
“Yeah, of course.” She stepped back to greet him in, it felt like only yesterday that he’d crawled through her window for the first time. “You look….”
“Dashing? Debonair?”
The sound of Ashley’s laugh had him half hard and ready for more, but he forced the urge down. “I was thinking handsome, but those words work. What’s going on?”
“It took me a little longer than I thought to get what I needed to organized, so I didn’t want to say anything to you until I was ready.” He held his hand out toward her living room. “Did you want to sit down?”
“The suit comes with high-class manners? Now I am suspicious.”
“No, that’s a total act, but it does come with an apology.” He followed her into the living room and proceeded to pace a small line from one end to the other, all too aware of her eyes following him.
“Kes….”
“No, please. Let me get this out. I just need to have it right in my head.” Taking a shuddering breath, his nerves went off the charts as he approached her. Kes lowered himself down onto one knee, and Ashley gasped, her face frozen with the shock. “Breathe, Baby Doll.”
He waited until she laughed and started to breathe normally before continuing. “Ashley, I have not always been a good man, and I regret many things, but none as much as the time together we have lost.” He held out his hand for her to place hers into his. He leaned forward and kissed the back of her shaking knuckles. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t honest with you, and I’m sorry that it took you calling me out again on my bullshit to see the scared jerk I had become. You were right when we were teens, and you told me that I was scared of being seen for who I really was. And you were right again at the hospital. You, Ashley, make me a better man simply by being the beautiful and honest soul you are.” He paused, reached into his pocket, and then held out his closed fist to Ashley, but didn’t open his hand. “Today, I’m going to do two things that I should’ve found a way to do years ago. The first starts right now.” Opening his hand, he held out the little paper lotus he’d made, but this time, it had a diamond ring nestled in the center. “You are my world. I forgot what it was like to feel my heartbeat until I found you again, and I can’t picture a future that doesn’t have you by my side. Whether we have a month, a year, or a hundred, you’ll always be the woman I want to be married to.” Tears traveled in two streams down her face, but the smile and light in her eyes made him smile back. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
Ashley opened her mouth, and a soft sob was the only sound that came out, but her head nodded furiously up and down.
“Is that a yes? Or should I leave and try again?” he teased.
“Oh, shut up. Of course I’ll marry you!”
Leaning in, she cupped his face, and he groaned at the feeling of her lips. She was perfect, but he had to back away or he was going to push her down on the couch and screw up the rest of his plans. It was so very tempting, and his willpower almost caved as she nipped his bottom lip.
“Fuck, I want you so bad.”
“Now, that’s the Kes I know and love.”
