Page 37 of Top Shelf

I look down at my hands. That, at least, is something we can agree on. Because the problem in my head is still a mix of numbers and clauses and deadlines, and Heidi Grant is not a piece that fits simply because I need her to.

“I respect her,” I say.

“I know.” Reid’s voice is quiet. “Make sure she can hear it.”

Carina comes back with coffee she does not need and a face that says she has regrouped into full opposition. “You’re not gonna do anything today though, right?”

“No.”

“Or tomorrow.”

I pause.

“Viktor.”

“I will think.”

Reid lifts Ivy’s discarded block from the table and turns it in his hand. “Thinking might be better than whatever this first instinct of yours was.”

Gremlin jumps onto the couch beside me, sniffs my sleeve, then bites the air near my hand without touching me. I stand before she can escalate.

“I should go.”

Reid rises too, handing me my coat from the chair by the door, and Ivy reaches up and waves her hand at me.

“Bah!”

“Bye bye, Ivy.”

At the door, Carina’s voice floats through and stops me.

“Viktor.” Her expression when I turn is no longer only irritated. “If you do bring this… this proposal to her, you make sure you remember no is a complete answer.”

“I will.”

“And don’t make her feel cornered.”

“I will not.”

She holds my gaze for a long second, then nods.

Outside, the air is cool. I walk down the front steps and pause beside Priscilla with a sigh. Yes, the plan is ridiculous, but it is also the first one that hasn’t disappeared as quickly as I had thought of it.

I climb on, slide my helmet over my head, zip up my jacket, and kick back the stand. The engine roars to life, and I don’t waste time setting off. I have things to do and plans to make.

Because on Monday, I will go to the clinic.

And ask Heidi Grant to marry me.

Chapter seven

Heidi

“Ihave a proposal for you.”

Viktor Karlsson’s voice echoes through the waiting room, and I look up from the tablet in my hand at the same time Sloane looks up from her keyboard.

The entire front area of Moreno Clinic seems to pause, which is ridiculous because there are still phones ringing, a patient filling out intake forms, and someone muttering quietly at the coffee machine near the windows.