“How’s your ice cream?” he asked.
Trying not to cry as I waited for him to break up with me, I looked down at my cone. I frowned when I saw something on top of it. I stared at it for a long moment before I could process what it was.
A diamond ring.
I jerked my attention to him. He shifted in his chair, looking uncomfortable.
“I love you, Terra. Marry me.”
I gaped. How had I totally misread him?
He gave me a sheepish smile. “Your silence is killing me.”
There was one reason to say no and that was because we were already breaking work policy by dating. But there were so many reasons to say yes, the foremost of which was that I was totally, irrevocably, in love with him.
“Yes.”
He let out a breath. “You scared me.”
I plucked the ring from the ice cream and wiped it clean. He took it from me and put it on my finger. I pulled him to me for a kiss because I just had to tell him I loved him, but the words were too difficult to form with all the emotions running through me.
When we pulled apart, he gave me a lopsided smile. “It’s a done deal now. No getting out of it.”
“I don’t want out of it,” I managed.
“You might change your mind when I tell you that I’ve put in my notice at work.”
My jaw dropped again. “You're quitting?” As it turned out, I’d gotten that part right. “Why? Is it Lyle?”
“It’s because I don’t want us to be a secret anymore for one. And two, yes, Douche McLean is a factor.”
I studied him, wondering what he had planned. He wasn’t impulsive so he must have something else lined up. “You’re not one to quit without a backup.”
“You know me so well. See, we’re going to live happily ever after.” He licked his cone to keep his ice cream from dripping.
Mine was starting to melt too, so I licked the soft, cold confection.
His gaze tracked my movement. “Later, will you do that to my dick?”
“Can I put ice cream on it?”
He shivered. “Maybe.”
“Tell me your plans,” I said wanting to know what the man I planned to spend the rest of my life with had up his sleeve.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it to me.
I studied it and then looked at him. “It’s a business license.”
He nodded. “When Douche McLean stole my idea six months ago, I knew I needed out. The fact that he took my idea told me I had the goods, so I started by doing a little freelancing and then set up an official business.”
“That violates your contract.”
He lifted a brow. “And sleeping with you violates it too.”
Oh, right. “Six months? You started this six months ago?”
He nodded. “It solved two problems for me.”
“Oh?”
“One, getting away from Douche McLean, but more importantly, being able to be with you without worrying you’d lose your job.”
I looked down at the paper again. “When did you have time?”
“All those nights I was working. A few weekends.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I turned to him again. I wasn’t hurt per se, but I was a bit bothered that he kept something so important a secret.
He shrugged. “Maybe it wouldn’t work out. Eventually, I wanted to surprise you. Surprise!”
I laughed. “I am surprised. I thought you were about to break up with me.”
His smile dropped. “Fuck no. Jesus…I love you Terra. I want to spend my life with you.”
“I’m so relieved because I don’t think I’d ever recover if you left me.” It had been shocking how quickly he’d become important to me.
He gave me that lopsided grin again. “So, you love me too?”
“So much. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.” It was true. He was the first man, the only man, I’d ever completely opened up with, and let myself be vulnerable to.
He kissed me, and I loved the coolness of the sweet ice cream mixed with his hot mouth.
“So, now you’re your own business-man?”
“Yep.” He pulled out another piece of paper. “Just so you know you’re not marrying a bum.”
I studied the financial report he handed me. Shocked, I looked up at him. “That’s nearly six figures. In six months.”
He nodded. “I’ve used it to pay off my student loans and car. I’m debt-free with a business set to hit nearly seven figures in the next year.”
“Brayden.” Pride swept through me. “You’re amazing.”
“There’s more.”
I laughed. “I don’t know if I can take more.”
“I want you to build it with me. You don’t have to. If you’re happy where you are, I’m okay with that. But I’ve seen you work and I know that together, we can kill it. We can make all our dreams come true. Together.”
I felt giddy with joy and the excitement of all the possibilities that life held in store for me with this man by my side.
“You don’t have to decide now,” he said. “Right now, I’ve got what I want and that is you saying yes to marrying me.”
We were in a public place, but I didn’t care. I launched myself into his lap and wrapped my arms around him as I kissed him for all he was worth.
“This is a good start on forever,” he murmured against my lips.
From that moment on, everything had gone as planned. I continued to work at my job until we married, three months later. Then I went in full time with Brayden, and we built a multimillion-dollar company within a few years. Our marriage was solid, steady, sexy. We had Lanie, and when my maternity leave was to come to an end, I couldn’t bear to leave her in day-care. Brayden supported my desire to be an at-home mom. Two years later, we had Noah. All was going perfectly, until it wasn’t. I couldn’t pinpoint where things got off track.
