What had I been thinking, doing it in a restaurant too?
Sophia and I are different. She’d taught me, right from the beginning, that breaking with tradition could be a beautiful thing.
“I’ve been thinking about your new hotel in Phoenix,” Sophia says. Her voice is soft, a bit dreamy, and it cuts through my plan-making. “You know, with the zoning issue? I think you could—”
“Are you talking about work right now?” I say.
“Yes. Why not?” She looks up at me, arching an eyebrow. Her skin is rosy from the steam and I have to resist the urge to kiss her.Marry me,I think. “It’s one of our favorite topics. You helped me on my project last week, and it’s only fair I return the favor,” she says.
I had, just like she does with mine. We don’t work together anymore. Exciteur’s project with the Winter ran its course, and it did so beautifully. Four of the ten franchise hotels are now up and running, and one has already broken even.
“It is. But we have the entire spa to ourselves. Look,” I murmur, pulling her closer to my side, “at that view. The leaves have just come in.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It is,” I murmur, looking at her. I should have brought the ring down here. I should have put it in the pocket of my bathrobe. But then again, she already knows what it looks like.
I’d asked her about marriage a few months ago. It was to test the waters, because I knew she’d been in an unequal relationship before, and I never wanted to put her on the spot again. Never wanted to assume and pressure. We’re partners.
The conversation had been raw and honest and she’d cried before the end.I want us to get married,she’d said.One day.
I’ll still propose,I’d told her.When you least expect it.
Over the past couple of months she’s suspected it. She’s even guessed a few times, especially in Barbados, when we would have beautiful sunset-lit dinners by the beach. But I’ve kept reminding her that I meant what I said.When you least expect it.And now?
I don’t think she’s expecting it at all.
“Sweetheart,” I say.
She looks over at me. “Yes?”
For a moment I can’t get my words out. They’re stuck in a tight throat, and I stare into her blue eyes, trying to find my composure.
Her smile falters. “Isaac?”
“I’d planned on doing this at dinner,” I say.
“Oh,” she breathes, her eyes widening. “Oh.”
The warm water around us moves with swirling motions, propelled by the jet streams below, and all the words I’d carefully prepared slip away. “You’re the funniest, smartest, most brilliant person I’ve ever met. I didn’t know… I didn’t know it could be like this, that relationships could be like this.”
She gives a tiny nod. Me too,it says, and my chest feels painfully tight.
“I’ll always listen, I’ll always be here… and I promise I’ll always be onyourteam. No one else’s.”
“I know,” she whispers. Her eyes look glazed.
“This was supposed to be done over dinner tonight,” I say and run a hand through my wet hair. “But I can’t help myself. I want to do this too badly. I love you. More every passing week, as unlikely as that seems. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t get down on one knee here…”
“You don’t have to,” she whispers.
I smile. I’d suspected as much. She’d told me, months ago, that she’d had a charade of a marriage once.I want us to be real,she’d said.
“Sophia,” I say. “Sweetheart… I want us to spend the rest of our lives together. Will you marry me?”
She nods, slow at first and then faster, her eyes welling over. But she’s not saying a word. I reach out, my hand on her upper arm.
“Yes,” she says. “Of course, yes.” She locks her arms around my neck and I tug her onto my lap, our bodies molding together beneath the surface of the warm water. “Thank you,” she whispers against my ear. “I love you.”