I sighed. “Yeah. Where am I gonna get it then?”
“From me.”
I snorted. “No. We’ve already been over this. Besides, if I’m not taking money from Hadley and Salem, what makes you think I’d take money from you?”
“If you married me, it would beourmoney. Officially, anyway. It’s already yours, you just haven’t realized it yet.”
“You think I’d marry you just so I could feel okay about taking your hard-earned money and putting it into a business with a slim profit margin and only a moderate chance of success? Mr. Perkins’ words, by the way. I should’ve thought more about that stuff instead of living on vibes and a prayer.”
“You thought about those things already and chose to focus on how to offset that.”
“I’m still not marrying you for money.”
“Then marry me for love.” His eyes burned bright. “Marry me.”
I swallowed. “That wasn’t a question.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
“I can’t marry you.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” I said weakly. “You don’t have a ring.”
“I don’t?”
“I’m not moving back to New York,” I said.
“I know that.”
“So you don’t need to propose just to keep me here. I’m staying no matter what. With or without the bookstore.”
“Come here, Freckles.”
I stalked toward him.
“Reach into my shirt pocket,” he commanded.
I extracted a velvet ring box. Taking a deep breath, I opened it.
On a black velvet bed rested a dainty diamond solitaire with small diamonds embedded around the entire band.
“Marry me because you love me. Marry me because you want my last name and my babies. Marry me because you can’t breathe without me. Because I can’t breathe without you, Poet.”
I looked away from the diamond ring that had grown blurry through eyes filling with tears, I stared up at him.
My throat was tight with emotion, rendering me speechless. So, I held out my hand to him.
He took the ring and slid it onto my waiting finger.
It was a perfect fit.
Of course it is.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he lifted me into his arms.
And then my fiancé took me to bed.
