Page 189 of Checkmate
Like a fool, he’d followed her request.
He should’ve figured out a long time ago that she wasn’t the woman for him. She wasn’t even close.
No.
The perfect woman was currently in his arms and crying happily into his shoulder. His only regret was that he hadn’t found Erica earlier and had wasted time with someone who did not deserve him.
Standing, he supported Erica’s weight, lifting her with him. Pulling back from her, he ran his fingers through her hair, pushing it away from her beautiful face.
Her smile was radiant, her eyes warm and open as they sparkled up at him. He was still holding the jewellery box, pressing it against her back as he held her close.
God, he loved this woman.
“God, I love you,” he murmured, dipping his head to capture her lips in the sweetest of kisses.
“Let’s hear it for Marcus and Erica!” Martin said, ringing the bell to an accompaniment of cheers. “Next round is on the house. Get your drinks in, you lot!”
Another cheer went around the room, this time in celebration of the free booze. Marcus could feel it when the attention shifted from them. The normal hum of pub life filled his ears, rather than the silence before.
With the pressure off, he felt like he could breathe.
“Do you want to see this ring, then?” He asked Erica, whose eyes had still not left his face.
“Yes,” she said, laughing as she wiped her eyes. “Yes, please. It looked beautiful from what I saw—”
“Reviews are coming in guys!” Marcus frowned, looking up as a media manager from the London Group approached him. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember this guy’s name. But every time they saw him, he clutched his tablet as his life depended on it.
“Everything looks positive so far,” he continued, obnoxiously tapping away at his tablet. “Our hashtags are trending, we’ve made the top of—”
“Matthew!” Erica interrupted. “Can this wait? We’re sort of in the middle of something.”
“Oh, yes?” Matthew said politely, smiling between them. “What’s that, then?”
“I...” Erica looked up at Marcus and frowned. “Well—”
“I just asked Erica to marry me,” Marcus said, a tic in his jaw as he stared down at Matthew. “And you’re sort of killing the mood.”
Matthew looked between, drawing his eyebrows together as he noted their embrace and the tears staining Erica’s cheeks. His eyes dropped to her hand, clicking his tongue.
“No ring? Marky boy, you can’t just propose on a whim, there needs to be a ri—”
“Matthew, if you don’t remove yourself from my presence in the next five seconds, I’m going to have to grab Agnes’ famous cricket bat.”
This time, Matthew’s eyes widened as he nodded, dropping the stylus for his tablet. “Yup. Right-o. Right you are.” Fumbling, he bent to retrieve the stylus. “I’ll just come back later, yeah? Congratulations.”
Erica giggled, hiding her face in Marcus’ neck to disguise the sound. Matthew backed away, fiddling away with the damn tablet once more as Marcus turned his attention back to Erica.
“That was mean,” she chastised him. “The poor boy looked terrified.”
“Ah, he’ll be okay.” He chuckled. “I’ll create an ‘I’m sorry, Matthew’ hashtag and all will be well.”
“You’re terrible,” she laughed. “But you’re probably not wrong about the hashtag. Now. About that ring.”
“Ah yes,” Marcus said, finally releasing her and opening the jewellery box once more. Taking her hand, he kissed her ring finger before sliding the ring onto it. Warmth filled his heart as he watched her admire her ring, her delicate fingers tracing the stone. She looked as if she was the luckiest woman.
He didn’t know about that.
But he was certainly the luckiest man in the world. And with her promise to be with him forever, he was going to make sure she felt just as lucky. He’d do it every day for eternity.
