Bennet stops and takes both my hands in his, turning to me, staring down with his blue eyes blazing. A vein twitches in his neck and his features are bent into a deep frown, but there’s something behind it… a glint of hope, of happiness.
Is he nervous? It’s a strange thought.
“I wanted to do something special,” he says. “But after what just happened, I can’t wait any longer. I was going to take you on a helicopter ride. Or to a rooftop. Or hire a carriage. But when you get right down to it, Rory, we’re so much more than big romantic gestures. What we have, goes bone deep, right down to our souls. What we have, it’s… it’s eternal.”
I blink as tears begin to slide down my cheeks, warm against the autumn cold. “I feel the same,” I whimper.
“I love you,” he growls.
I flinch, as though the words have physically struck me. Starlight erupts in my belly and flows through me, sparking and multiplying until every single atom is flooded with warmth.
“I love you too,” I croak, struggling to hold back a cry of joy. “I love you so much.”
“I’ve loved you ever since we almost kissed,” he goes on, his voice cracking with emotion. “I love you more than I ever thought I could. If seeing my parents killed broke me, if it shattered some part of me… then you, Rory, my sweet Rory, you made me whole.”
“Oh, Bennet. I’ll always be there for you.”
“You better be.” He smirks, taking a step back. “Or it could make this very awkward…”
My hands fly to my mouth when he falls to one knee, staring up with that hope in his eyes. His eyes are fixed on mine as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ring box, opening it to show me a glinting ice like diamond, set within a gorgeous white gold band.
The rock glitters up at me, as bright as his eyes, the color reminding me of his hair.
“Lorelei Clark,” he says, his voice catching, “will you marry me?”
I don’t even have to think about the answer.
Conviction swells up inside of me, the sort I’ve never felt before. I’m more certain than I’ve felt about my desire to be a writer all my life… and that’s the most certain I’ve ever felt about anything.
This breezes past that and into a completely different realm, sparkling and exciting, a life as well as a career.
“Yes,” I say quickly, realizing his eyes are swirling with anxiety at my silence. “Yes, yes, it couldn’t be anything other than yes! I love you so freaking much.”
He smiles warmly and takes the ring from the box, both of us laughing when I accidentally offer the wrong hand. Quickly switching, I give him the correct hand and he slides the ring onto my finger, where it fits snugly and comfortably.
Leaping to his feet, he takes me into his arms, pressing me against him and crushing us together. I gasp and then find his lips, wrapping my arms around him, squeezing him somehow tighter than he holds me.
Our kiss causes electricity to spark through us, waves and waves of it, as we fuse closer and closer together.
“And don’t worry,” Bennet whispers, his lips brushing mine. “Just because our engagement was a quiet affair, it doesn’t mean I won’t be giving you a wedding to remember.”
I smile and shake my head. “I don’t need that. I only need you, us, our family.”
“I love you, Rory. I’ll never stop loving you.”
I hold him even tighter, wishing I could sink into him and fuse together… even more so than we already have.
“I love you too.”
Epilogue
Three Weeks Later
Bennet
We sit in the living room, a light rain pattering against the glass. The world is dark outside, but in here soft lamps light up the space… the space which is rapidly becoming more homely, as my fiancé and the sexiest roommate in the world has started to decorate it.
She sits beside me, laptop resting on her juicy thick legs. My body is still sore from the mind blowing sex we had a little while ago, when my perfect woman decided to take the lead, sitting atop me and riding me like the sexy minx she is.
Now she’s just finished a Skype call with her friend Yasmin. I made myself busy while they talked. Rory said I didn’t have to, but there’s nothing worse than a tag-a-long boyfriend… well, fiancé. So I went to the gym and worked my body until it burned.
These last three weeks have been like heaven. No, not like heaven.
They’ve been heaven.
I’ve focused on the logistics of my business, sending my best employees to the West Coast and up and down the East instead of heading out myself. I’m not sure what I’ll do in the future, but I knew I wanted to be close to Lorelei in the weeks after our engagement. I knew I needed to be close to her, that being apart would cause me near-physical pain.