Page 14 of Second Chance to Fall
To keep him from trying to hump me as I eat, I pull the envelope from my pocket.
“Have something for you.”
“What’s this?” he asks as I hand it over.
“Open it and see.”
“A check? Made out to Landon Walcott. Ah…” he trails off, his gaze focused on the long rectangular piece of paper. When this continues for longer than I deem necessary, a bubble of concern rises in my chest.
“What’s wrong? You expected to get a partnership payment, didn’t you? I know you handling the business side and all, but I just wanted to give you the first one myself.”
“Sure. Of course.” Landon sounds preoccupied. “It’s just that it might a moot point.”
Huh?
“What do you mean?”
He glances at my half empty plate. I’ve stopped eating because this seems more important, whatever this is.
“Well, I was going to wait until we were done with dinner, but since you’ve brought up the partnership, now’s as good a time as any.” After that, he sets his own plate on a side table and drops down to a knee on the cream pavers that make up his patio.
What the hell?
Wondering if he’s searching for something or even if he’s hurt himself, I lower myself next to him.
“What are you looking for?”
“A wife.”
“Awhat?” Something goes wrong in my head and in my stomach. The hunger I felt just a little bit ago abruptly abating. I wish I hadn’t scarfed down that hotdog with such speed.
“Stand up, gorgeous girl. I’m trying to determine if you’d be willing to become my bride.”
From his back pocket, he draws out a powder blue box with a hinge. As I watch, he opens it, revealing a ring. Only it’s not a solitaire with a raised setting that’ll snag on the gloves I wear when I cook. It’s a flat assembly of clear white diamonds that swirls all the way around, every millimeter of the thing glimmering as its facets catch the glow of illumination offered by the patio lights.
It’s breathtaking.
“You’re proposing to me?” I ask, my voice too loud and too high-pitched, but I can’t help it.
“That is what it generally means to gain a wife.” His words might seem smart-assed on the surface, but the sentiment beneath them is one hundred percent authentic, the warmth in his eyes reflecting his soft smile. I’m lost to him. I’ve been lost to him for a long, long time now.
“I’ve been yours since the ripe old age of eighteen, Vi. Thought it was high time to celebrate that by making this formal.”
That makes my heart flutter, so there’s really no point in resisting. I reach for the box, taking the ring from the silky pillow within and placing it on the third finger of my left hand.
“So, we’re engaged then?”
“If that’s what you’re agreeing to.”
“Oh, I don’t think there’s any doubt that I’m agreeing.”
His smile becomes brighter than all his patio lights combined as he drags me out of my chair and lifting me up so far that his arms go under my ass, he dances in circles around the backyard. It’s a wonder he doesn’t trip and make us both take a header over the furniture.
“Put me down, you lunatic,” I holler without heat, and he slides me naughtily down his front, letting me feel the erect state he’s in.
Speaking of yummy…
“Any chance we can revisit the entire bending you over the glass table initiative again?” he asks with mischief wreathing his features. I make a big show of studying that table as if to measure how much of a load it might be able to bear.
“Well, husband-to-be, I’m amenable if you are.”
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