Page 108 of Boss Me
His left eye twitched. He would definitely hate how I threw my socks on the floor. I’d have to stop that…eventually.
“But I need to pay for some things.” Cooper had probably paid cash for his mansion, so he wouldn’t have a mortgage I could split with him—not that I’d ever be able to afford that. “Groceries. Nights out. Though nothing as swanky as tonight.” I glanced inside at the crystal chandelier that dominated the main dining room.
“I’ll let you buy my smoothies. They weren’t the same when you weren’t there.”
Blueberries was on the tip of my tongue. But I held it in. Better to keep some secrets so he still needed me.
“And”—he looked at me through his lashes, and my heart gave a giant thump—“I’ll let you pay for half of our engagement party. Well, half less the value of the time you’ll put into planning it.”
“En-engagement?” My lips were too numb to function properly. “Are you proposing? Tonight?”
“No.” He leaned back in his chair, all smug ease. “Not tonight. But soon.”
“We’ve been dating for less than a month. We can’t get married.”
“Of course we can. I’ve been in love with you for months.” He raised his eyebrows.
“Months? Since I started working for you?”
“Well.” He looked down at the tablecloth. “Since I pulled my head out of my ass over—” He shook his head. “I can tell from the way your eyebrows are scrunching that it’s too much for right now. I can be patient.” He leaned forward and put his lips right next to my ear. “In some things.”
He leaned back to smirk at me just as the waiter approached with the dessert menus.
“Would you gentlemen care to—”
“Just the check, please.” My voice was too high, and my cheeks flamed.
“Of course.” He disappeared.
“No dessert?” Cooper’s hand landed on my knee under the table.
“I’ll wait until we get home.”
“I like the sound of that. Home.” And he kissed me, closed-mouth and sweet. But it held the promise of more. More nights like this, the two of us holding hands and kissing in public. And more nights alone, the sheets tangling around us. More years together after I learned to pick up my socks and after he learned to like seeing my socks on his floor.
That kiss on the veranda meant forever.
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
COOPER
I couldn’t have been prouder.
Ben still wore his graduation cap from the ceremony earlier, the tassel hanging over the left side. He stood sandwiched between his parents in front of the gazebo while his sister, Mimi, snapped a photo with her phone.
Clutching my glass of seltzer, I strode over. Mimi should be in the picture, too.
“Cooper, c’mere, c’mere.” Ben took off the cap, shoved it onto Mimi’s head, and tugged me in close. “Engagement photo time.” A few hours into the party that spilled out from a heated tent in our back yard, his breath smelled like beer.
“I thought I’d get a picture of the four of you together.” But I ran my fingers through his hair, fluffing it up where the cap had flattened it.
“Oh. That too. But this first.” He tucked an arm around my waist and turned us to face Mimi.
“One, two, three.” Mimi clicked the shutter. “You two look great. I didn’t even have to remind you to smile, Cooper. Mom and Dad, you get in, too.” It had taken a few months of proving myself, but Mimi had finally accepted me into their lives.
It may have had something to do with my introducing her to the foundation director. It seemed that Ben wasn’t the only Levy-Walters who wanted to support children’s causes.
