So it was no wonder that Henry’s caginess lately had bothered me. I’d walk in on him on the phone to someone and he’d abruptly stop talking and end the call. Or he’d be on his laptop when I got home and he’d shut it and push it away, avoiding me when I asked what he was up to.
He’d been a little distant, preoccupied, and when I asked him what was bothering him, he said nothing. We both knew that was a lie but rather than fight about it like normal, his behavior bothered me so much, I wanted to pretend everything was okay by not pestering him.
It appeared, finally, that Henry might be ready to talk about what was going on.
“What’s happened?”
He gave me a shaky, apologetic smile. “I know I’ve been preoccupied lately, and I’m sorry if I’ve worried you.”
“Henry…”
“You know,” he laughed but the sound was also shaky, “I thought when I decided to do this, it would be easy because it’s you and me. I know how we feel about each other… but I guess in every decision we make, there’s that tiny percentage of doubt in the back of our minds. And in this case that doubt, that fear, is paralyzing because if this doesn’t go my way, it could ruin everything. It could ruin what I’ve come to consider as everything. You,” his grip on me tightened, “you are everything to me.”
No… no way… “Henry…?” I tried to keep the hope out of my voice.
He licked his lips nervously, something I had never seen him do, and I found it adorable. He’d roll his eyes if he knew I thought of him as even remotely adorable. “I thought about where and how and when… and everything I thought seemed too grandiose and cheesy and so sentimental, it lost true sentimentality. I thought about our first date at a pizza place,” he grinned, “and our second getting drowned in the rain on the Hop-on, Hop-off tour. I knew from the moment I met you that you were the one woman I wanted to be real with, to be me with, and I knew for some reason I can’t explain that I could be. I didn’t have to hire a Town Car and take you to the opera or a concerto, wear a tux, and buy you diamonds. Nothing had to be a game, a show of money and charm. It could be real. It could be simple. And as it turned out, be fucking extraordinary in its simplicity.”
His eyes brightened now and tears spilled down my cheeks as the months, the ups and downs, the reality of being in love with him flashed by me. Because he was right. Our lives together felt extraordinary. I felt so goddamn lucky to have him.
Henry slid off the bench, getting down on one knee in front of me, and my heart threatened to explode out of my chest. I watched, happiness I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling building inside of me as he reached into his overcoat and pulled out a blue velvet ring box. He watched me, not once looking away, as he opened the box and revealed an engagement ring. The most beautiful engagement ring I’d ever seen.
It looked vintage. Tiny diamonds lined delicate scrollwork in the metal that swirled to a peak atop the band where a single bright diamond winked nestled in its grasp.
“It was my grandmother’s,” Henry said. “My mother thought it might suit and when I saw it, I knew it was perfect.”
His mother? “Penelope?”
“She’s coming around, Sunshine.” He grinned. “And she’s pissed that I’m not doing this at a garden party, or in Paris, or on a gondola in fucking Venice… but I felt like this had to be a moment only for us. Somewhere real. No grand gestures, no flash mobs, no fireworks. We don’t have ordinary lives, you and I. People photograph us and put us on front pages, and they like to think they know who we are. Grand gestures and fireworks are part of our lives; they’re not extraordinary to us. But when we get home and we close the door behind us and it’s just you and me… that’s our extraordinary, right?”
I nodded, hardly able to make out his face I was crying so much.
“I was born into a life of privilege… but I never knew true wealth until I met you, Nadia Ray. Will you make me the richest man on earth by doing me the honor of marrying me?”
“Yes!” I sobbed, throwing myself at him, his laughter vibrating against my lips as I kissed him. I must have looked ridiculous crying and laughing as I peppered his face with kisses but I didn’t care.
Eventually, Henry had to gently push me away so he could slip the ring on my finger.
“It’s perfect. It’s so perfect.” I clasped his face in my hands and kissed him with a little more restraint.
We were smiling so hard, I thought our faces might crack. Henry’s arms wrapped tight around me and I noticed his eyes shift over my shoulder. He gave me a rueful smile. “We’re being photographed.”
I snorted. “I guess I won’t get the chance to tell Lexie first after all.”
He chuckled and helped me to my feet. Our coats were soaked but I didn’t care. “She already knows.”
“What?” We turned to walk toward the path and I discovered Henry was right. People passing must have seen him down on one knee and stopped to be nosy.
They clapped and shouted congratulations to us as we passed.
“Lexie and Caine already know,” Henry continued once we’d gotten through the small crowd and headed toward home. “I asked Lexie for her opinion on the ring.”
“I thought you said you knew it was perfect,” I teased as I held up my hand to stare at the stunning piece of jewelry.
“Like I said before, I felt this weird niggle of doubt about everything.”
“There was no need.” I squeezed him close.
“Really? Because it apparently didn’t even cross your mind that my secretiveness was because I was going to propose.” He arched a brow at me. “What did you think I was hiding?”
I knew what he suspected I thought. “I didn’t think you were cheating.” I shoved him, annoyed. “Are we really going to argue seconds after getting engaged?”
“Not if you tell me what you thought I was hiding.”
“I didn’t know. I thought maybe something was really wrong at work and you didn’t want to worry me.”
“Oh.” He relaxed but I still glowered at him.
“Trust goes both ways, you know.”
“No.” He shook his head. “We’re not arguing. We don’t need to argue to get me hard,” he promised, and not quietly. “You saying ‘yes’ gave me a surprisingly substantial erection.”
I threw my head back in laughter as he grinned happily down at me. “God, I like you,” I repeated words he’d said to me many times.
“Good.” Henry drew me to a stop outside
the gardens to kiss me. “Because you’re stuck with me.”
We kissed on the sidewalk until some grumpy person who clearly wasn’t getting laid knocked into us and told us to get a room. Breaking apart, we laughed quietly against each other’s lips.
And then it hit me that those lips were my lips forever.
That he was mine forever.
“By the way,” I whispered, “seriously epic proposal.”
“Yeah?” His expression softened.
“You started us off as we mean to go on… not needing all the bullshit people tell us we need. Because if one day something happens and we lose all the material stuff that makes us privileged, I know we’ll be okay. As long as we’ve got this,” I tugged on the lapels of his coat, pressing his body against mine, “we’ll make it through the good and the bad.”
He nodded and then I saw a twinkle of mischief enter his eyes. “You know, my mother is going to want the biggest, most expensive society wedding you can think of.”
I shrugged. “Then we’ll give it to her. The only thing that matters is that you and I get married, right?”
“She’ll drive you nuts.”
“Henry… do I get you at the end of it?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “You get me now, during, and after.”
I shook my head at the innuendo in his voice but said, “Then let her drive me crazy. All I care about is you.”
Henry’s hands curled around mine and he leaned his forehead against mine.
We closed our eyes, the sounds of the city disappearing around us, as we just breathed.
Together.
Always.
Read the first two chapters of PLAY ON, the latest USA Today Bestselling adult contemporary romance from Samantha Young…
Nora O’Brien chased a dream from Indiana to Scotland, so sure it was the right thing to do. Three years later she was left in her adopted country with nothing to her name but guilt and regret.
Until Aidan Lennox entered her life.