I believe him. After all, he makes me beg too.
The sex is that good I keep coming back, even when I know I should walk away.
13
“You’re free today?” I ask as he doesn’t get out of bed like he normally would. It’s Sunday and today I visit my parents for lunch. Gunner groans lying next to me. I lean down kissing his back and up to his neck until I reach his hidden face. “Please get dressed, I want you to come.”
“Where?” he mumbles.
“To meet my parents.” I pull back as he finally sits up.
“Why?”
“You said you would. You’re free. Please come,” I beg, showing him my puppy eyes but he shakes his head.
“We need to talk,” is all he gives me back.
I look at him, confused when he slides off the bed. He’s naked, his hair’s not tied back so his curls play on his shoulders. Walking to his pants, he pulls out a small box and comes over to me, gets down on one knee and my heart starts racing. Fast.
What is going on?
This can’t be happening.
No. No. No.
“Everly, we need to talk.”
Words don’t form so I simply nod my head. He opens the box and inside is a very large diamond. Too large. Will that slide straight on my finger?
“I know it’s soon, but I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”
My heart is screaming, yes. Fucking say yes.
My head is trying to work out why this man is naked and down on one knee in front of me.
We haven’t been together for long. My mother and father were married after three weeks of meeting. But there’s a difference. It was arranged.
My hand flies to my mouth.
Oh shit! My father won’t like this.
He wants me to marry someone of his choosing.
“Everly,” Gunner says breaking me out of my panic attack. He takes the ring out of the box and lifts my hand. “Say yes.”
“Yes.” I breathe the word out in a huff.
Did I just say yes? I did, didn’t I.
He slides the most gorgeous ring on in one go, then stands and starts to get dressed. My eyes are trained on that ring on my hand. Tears form and I know it’s from pure happiness. I know it’s because I love this man, even if he hasn’t said it back to me.
Damn! I’m stupid. I know.
Sometimes a girl has to be stupid.
Looking up, he’s standing in front of me fully dressed.
“Now we can go to your parents’.” He offers me his hand, and I take it, sliding my ring hand into his. He clasps it firmly and we walk out. It’s moments like this—ones I never saw coming—that make me the happiest. I didn’t even know if I wanted marriage. All I did know was that it was going to be pushed upon me at some stage by my father. But now, with Gunner, I want to breathe the same air as him for as long as possible.
“Do you love me?” I ask, turning to face him as we sit in the car.
“Did I not give you a ring?”
My door opens, and I didn’t realize the car’s come to a stop. I’m too intrigued to know what he will reply to my question.
Perhaps a ring is his way of saying he loves me.
Still, there’s no words.
No, three little words, I am craving to hear.
“Miss Thorne, your parents are in the sitting room waiting for you,” Paul, the driver, speaks, to which I give him a small nod.
Gunner’s hand stays possessively on mine.
I messaged my mother to inform her I was bringing someone with me. Someone they need to meet. Turning to look at Gunner, I want to see if he’s nervous. Instead, all I see plastered on his handsome face is his usual hard look.
“You okay?” I ask pulling on his hand but stopping before we walk in the front door. He nods, turns to the door and walks through it with me still in his grip.
I spot my mother straight away. She’s dressed in a perfectly steamed dress that you just know cost more than some people make in a week, and my father has a glass of scotch in his hand as he reads a newspaper in his lap.
They both look up when we step in. My mother regards me with warm eyes as she looks between myself and Gunner. My father stands, walks over, and shakes Gunner’s hand.
I’m baffled. Why is he shaking his hand and smiling at him the same way he smiles at me?
“Papa?” I ask confused.
He leans in, kisses both of my cheeks, then reaches for my hand and looks at the ring.
“I couldn’t be happier. You’ve made me a happy man, Everly.”
Shocked, I look to my mother who’s wiping away tears as she steps in for a cuddle.