Page 84 of Lethal Salvation

“You did?”

He got up to go grab the box with the giant cookie he’d made, tapping his pocket to reassure himself the ring was still there.

Instead of taking his seat, he stopped beside Nadia’s chair, and she turned her body toward him. The skin of her thigh brushed his knuckles. She had the softest skin imaginable, and he never failed to be awed by her beauty.

Angling the box towards her, he saw the question in her eyes but as always, she waited for him to speak, patient from the first to the last.

“Nadia, the first time I met you, I felt something that shocked me. I pushed it away because it terrified me. You’re clever, kind, and breathtakingly beautiful. You challenge me in ways I never could have expected and make each day an adventure. I thought that falling in love with you was the scariest thing I’d ever done, but it’s not. The most frightening, heart-stopping thought is not spending every day for the rest of my life waking up beside you. Of loving you and having you love me back.” He took a breath and opened the box. “I love you, Nadia. Will you marry me?”

Her eyes watered and her hands covered her mouth but they dropped to the box where a giant cookie had the words ‘will you marry me’ piped in icing.

“Did you make this?”

“I did. Miss Rose helped me.”

“Oh, Gideon.” She took the box and placed it on the table and then threw her body over him, tumbling them to the floor, where he held her.

“Is that a yes or a hell no?”

“Of course I’ll marry you.”

His lips found hers and he kissed her there on the floor and only hours later, after he’d made love to her, did he remember the ring.

“Shit.” He hopped out of bed and ran down the stairs naked to grab his discarded trousers.

“How did it go, lover boy?”

The sound that came out of his mouth was the unmanliest sound he’d ever made.

“Lotus, what the fuck?” His hands came to cover his cock and he backed up toward the door.

She was sitting at his kitchen table eating the leftover lasagne. “Did she say yes?”

“Yes. Jesus, get out of my house.”

Lotus nodded. “Good, good. Now, you treat her right or next time you’ll only need one hand to cover that package.”

He watched her pick up the pan and disappear through his back patio door with a wave. That woman had serious boundary issues and the man who won her heart would need to have balls of steel.

“Is everything all right?”

He turned to see Nadia wearing one of his shirts. It fell to her thighs, open from neck to tail and he thought she’d never looked sexier. Grabbing his trousers, he dug the ring from the pocket and sank to one knee. “I forgot the ring. So for the second time, will you marry me, please?”

“Yes.”

He slipped the ring, a simple round solitaire over her finger and kissed the tips.

“I have to say I never thought you’d propose to me for the second time naked with an erection.”

“You thought there’d be a second time?”

“I’m half Italian.”

He laughed and scooped her into his arms. “Let’s go explore that passionate Italian side then.”

Racing up the stairs, he’d never been happier and knowing what their future held only made him more excited for it.

Epilogue