“That depends,” he said, eyes not leaving hers. “Are you willing to marry me?”
Olivia’s breath caught and Connor knew he’d surprised her. Well, good, because she’d nearly given him a fucking heart attack. Five minutes ago he was contemplating life without her. Now she was here in his house, dressed in clingy black leggings that made him want to rip them off her and get those gorgeous legs wrapped around his. And she was saying she wanted to move in with him?
“You want tomarryme?”
“I know this is a shit proposal, but it’s going to be the only time I’m the breadwinner, so I’m going for broke here. Yes, I want to marry you, Livvy. I’m a caveman at heart. I want to put a ring on your finger. Make you mine. If you’d accept a tattoo across your forehead sayingProperty of Connor Harris, I’d go for that too. And to be clear, I’d tattoo my own forehead withProperty of Olivia Davies.” He took a breath, rested his head against hers, emotions running so close to the surface, he couldn’t guarantee he wasn’t going to start blubbing. “I love you. My daughter loves you. There’s never going to be a time when I won’t love you. Marry me, marry us. I promise, far from standing in the way of whatever you want to do with your life, I’ll support you, help you achieve it. No more crappy takeouts when you come home late and exhausted. No more not taking care of yourself. Yes, I’ll force you to rest, to relax at the weekends, but you’ll work better for it, smarter.” He took her face in his hands. “Go, take on the world. I’ll be right here, cheering on your successes, supporting you through the dips. Loving you. Always.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Yes,” she stated firmly. “Yes, I want to marry you.” And then, as if she hadn’t just upended him, hadn’t just made him the luckiest man in the whole frigging universe, she kept on talking. “I got up this morning and I didn’t feel excited. All I felt was dread. This was supposed to be my dream, but I didn’t want to go to the airport. All I wanted to do when I stepped into the cab was go toyou.” She gave him a watery smile. “So I did.”
He ducked his head, planted a trail of soft kisses across her face. “And I’ll never be more grateful.”
“No, I’m the one who’s grateful.” Her hands reached up to slide over his. “You showed me a whole life that I didn’t realize I wanted.Needed. Yes, I enjoy my work, I want to keep doing it, but what I have with you? That’s everything, Connor. It’s all the things I wanted in life—challenge, stimulation, reward—plus a whole lot of things I didn’t realize I was missing out on. The feeling of being loved, of having someone in my corner fighting for me, even when I don’t think I need it.”
“Stuart needed to be told,” he muttered.
She smiled. “Maybe he did. But the point is, you were looking out for me, and I’m not sure anyone has ever done that. My sisters, my exes, they all took my words at face value when I said I didn’t need help, but you ignored that. Without making a big deal of it, you took care of me. Leaving food in my fridge, listening to me when I griped about Stuart, going to talk to him when he was out of line, being there for me when Mia was sick, getting me to relax at the weekend, even practicing for my interviews.”
“Yeah, me and Ellie deserve some of the credit for you getting the job.”
She laughed. “You do, you really do. You taught me that being in a relationship can befreeing, not stifling.” Tears began to fall down her cheeks. “And more important than everything else, you taught me how to love, Connor. And I love you so much. You and your daughter. I want to be part of your family. You are both my dream now.” Her voice started to crack and she swallowed. “I want to be there for Ellie’s play, for when she wins her first show-jumping competition, when she gets her first boyfriend. Help her work out what she wants to do with her life. And I want to be there when you figure out how to capitalize on your Instagram influence, support you as you continue to show Aaron how bloody good you are. Cheer you on when you open your restaurant.”
“Aaron’s going to promote me to manager when Pat retires next year.”
Her eyes lit up. “That’s fantastic, I’m so proud of you. But I’m also ashamed that my work drama took the edge off your success. I won’t let it happen it again.” She kissed him softly on the lips. “I want to spend every day making sure you realize how incredible you are. How dedicating your life to bringing up your daughter is far more impressive, far more important, than anything I have ever done.”
“Christ, Livvy.” He choked out the words, tears burning his eyes. “I really, really want to kiss you now, but I’m scared if I start, I won’t be able to stop.” Unable to resist, he captured her mouth, owning her with a few possessive, hungry strokes of his tongue before pulling back. “I love my daughter to death, but right now I wish she were a long, long way away.”
Olivia’s eyes fell to his mouth, and lust coiled in his belly. “One more kiss,” she breathed.
He couldn’t refuse her anything. Angling his head, he pressed his mouth to hers again, his tongue slipping past her open lips and sweeping inside her mouth, seeking her heat, her taste. Needing more, he ran his hands down her sides and around to her bum, slid them beneath her firm buttocks, and lifted her against him. “More,” he grunted. “Fuck, I need more.”
“Dad!”
He froze, pulse hammering, his dick a rod of steel pressing against his zipper. “What?”
“Am I allowed to talk?”
Resting his forehead against Olivia’s, he groaned. “Yes, if it’s quick.”
His eyes met Olivia’s, and they mirrored everything he was feeling; Heat, arousal, frustration, amusement. Love.
“I’m hungry,” his daughter shouted.
“So am I,” he muttered, making Olivia laugh. “It’s not funny,” he complained, hips thrusting restlessly against her. “I need to be inside you.”
“Later.” She gave him a soft look. “We’ve got the rest of our lives to enjoy each other. For now, you need to ask your daughter if it’s okay for me to live with you. For us to get married.”
Reluctantly he drew back and adjusted himself. Then, because he had absolutely no doubt about the answer, he marched straight into the living room and asked in a voice loud enough for Olivia to hear. “Turnip, do you want Olivia to live with us, yes or no?”
“Yessssssss!” she squealed. “Are you going to get married? Some of my friends have a mum and dad who are married and some of them don’t. I guess it doesn’t matter ’cause we can be a family anyway, can’t we?”
“We can.” He bent to hug his daughter. “And Livvy’s agreed to marry me, so we’re going to do it the old-fashioned way.”
At the sound of a ladylike sniff, he turned around.
Olivia stood in the kitchen, wiping her eyes.
“Hey.” He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms.
