“And your mom?”
“Last I heard, she eventually went after him. They both just… left me.” A sob tore out of her, and she breathed in deeply as I wrapped my arms around her and hauled her up until her body covered mine.
“Listen to me, Bella,” I murmured, bringing my hands up to cup her face. “I’m never going to leave you, okay? Never. You’ve got me. I’m yours. Body, heart, and soul, I’m yours. If you’ll let me, we can make it official right now.”
She frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking aboutthis.” I reached for my pants beside the bed and pulled out the box I’d shoved in my pocket in the hopes that I might have a chance to give it to her. “There’s a reason I wanted you to stay in Niagara Falls so bad.”
Flipping the top of the box open, I pulled it up and put it down in the hollow of my throat, right in front of her face. “I chartered a boat to take us to the falls for breakfast yesterday. My plan was to ask you to marry me there, but obviously, we never even got to the first part of the plan, which was to talk to you about what was going on between us.”
She blinked at the delicate ring nestled on the black velvet bed. “Are you sure you still want to do this? Even after everything I just told you?”
“In my heart, I’ve always known you’re the right woman for me, and like I said, nothing is going to change that. If you think I’m the right man for you, then that’s all that matters. Not work. Not even money. Just love. Love is what matters most, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
Blinking away tears, she slid the ring on her finger and scooted up, sealing her lips over mine. “I love you too, and I’m willing to try. You might need to be patient with me, though.”
“We’ve got all the time in the world,” I said against her mouth, kissing her back hungrily, as if I hadn’t spent the whole evening so far buried deep inside her. “All I need to know is that you love me and that you’re going to stop hiding behind work. Everything else, we can figure out as we go along.”
When I kissed her again, she melted into me, and I spent the rest of the night worshiping her and making hundreds of promises that I intended on keeping. It was the first night we spent together in her bed, but it wasn’t the last.
I already knew we were both in for a steep learning curve, but all things considered, we did pretty fucking well at it. For the rest of the night, we made love and we talked. Then we talked and made love.
We didn’t sleep much, but I wasn’t tired at all on Monday morning. I was more energized than ever, ready for whatever the week would bring. As long as I had her by my side, at home at least, since I’d been serious about firing her, there was nothing I couldn’t do.
My next pitch meeting, the first one I’d be flying solo at after everything that had happened, was on Thursday. Isabella helped me prepare, despite my objections that I knew what I was doing, but as I waited outside the gym for the potential buyers to arrive, I knew I wouldn’t have been as ready as I was without her.
And I was ready. I had a good feeling about this one. Today was the day I’d sellParker’s Get Fit. I could feel it in my bones. Which meant that tomorrow would be the first day of the rest of mine and Isabella’s lives, and now that I knew how shitty her formative years had been, I fully intended on making every dream she’d never let herself dream come true.