“That’s something we’ll never know.”
“I do know.” She gazes up at the ceiling. “We would’ve ended up hurting each other—maybe even hating each other.”
“Maybe not.”
“You had so much on the line opening the first Club Wicked in New York, you didn’t need to worry about me too. Then me being pregnant would’ve added more pressure, until one of us broke.”
“Doing it alone couldn’t have been easy either.” I look away from her. “I’ll never understand why you didn’t reach out to me.”
“To do what? I was living in California by then.”
“To help you out.”
“How? You were just getting the New York club off the ground; you couldn’t have come out to L.A. And I had no intentions of coming back to New York and living under my father’s rules, plus it still wasn’t safe, and I would never have put Portia in that kind of danger.”
“I could’ve done something.”
“I believe you would’ve wanted to, but be honest, up until two days ago, you were working nonstop and not taking any days off in an established club, so back then, when you were just starting out—no, it would have been an impossible situation. I know I made the right choice. Like I said, we would’ve ended up hating each other.”
“I searched for you for years. You really did a good job of staying under the radar.”
“I have my father to thank for that. Nobody can secure a fake identity like a mob boss.” She rolls her eyes, and we both laugh.
“We’ve finally come full circle.”
“You still haven’t answered my original question.” I suck in a breath that pulls at my stitches and blurt out, “Will you marry me?”
She turns toward me, cups my cheek, and gazes into my eyes. “There’s no one I’d rather be with than you.” She leans in and brushes her lips with mine. “So, yes, I’d be honored to marry you.”
I deepen the kiss, then pull back. “You’ve made this the best Christmas ever.”
A strong wind picks up outside as the sky darkens. “Looks like it’s gonna rain.” Not a usual occurrence in Vegas, and when it happens, everyone likes to comment on it.
“I realize I asked you to marry me without a proper ring.”
“Do you really think that matters to me?”
“I had something for you, but with all the craziness, I left it at Wicked.” The diamond necklace is still in my desk drawer.
“What’s important is that we’re all together, and that’s never going to change.”
“Now that you’ve said yes and made an honest man out of me, maybe we can see about adding to this family of ours.”
“What if I told you we didn’t have to wait that long to add to our family?”
His brow furrows. “You’re . . .”
“Pregnant.”
“Shit, you’re kidding?”
“You’re happy, right?”
“I’m fuckin’ thrilled. How far along are you?”
“Four months.”
“Four months? Why didn’t you tell me before this?”
