“I’m good to go,” Silas interrupted. “Joseph, go ahead and take a knee.”
Wait a minute. I jolted upright. My breath stalled when Joseph’s hand darted inside his pocket and he sank down, his other hand clasped on Noemi’s.
“Wait.” Her voice trembled. “What are you doing?”
She wasn’t paying any attention to the furious clicks of Silas’s camera. Her focus was only on the man down on a knee who produced a small black box.
“Wait,” Joseph repeated. “I haven’t heard you use that word in a while.” He pulled the box open, revealing the diamond ring nestled in black velvet. It twinkled under the bright lights, and she gasped.
“Wait! Oh my God, you can’t do this.”
Confusion blanketed his expression. “I can’t?”
“I mean, my father. He’ll be upset you didn’t ask his permission first.”
A coy smile stretched across Joseph’s lips. “I already asked him, baby girl.”
“You did?” She looked concerned. “What did he say?”
A tight laugh escaped him. “He said no.” Her mouth fell open as if she were about to speak, but he cut her off. “He said he knew it wouldn’t stop me, and it was your decision to make. His daughters are the most important thing in his life, and although I don’t deserve you, as long as I spent the rest of my life trying to, he’d allow it.”
“Allow it?”
“Yes.” He smirked. “I had to bite my fucking tongue, but I did it.” His expression melted into one that was intensely serious. “I love you, Noemi. More than anything. Marry me.”
Her throat bobbed as she appeared to swallow hard. “Is that an order?”
“Only if you say no.”
Emotions welled in her eyes. “Yes,” she gushed. “Yes. Wait, no.”
The pleased look on Joseph’s face shattered. “What?”
“I have a stipulation, and you won’t like it.” Her teeth skimmed over her bottom lip for a second. “I can’t take your last name.”
She was right, he did not like that. His jaw set. “Sure you can.”
Her blonde hair shimmered when she shook her head. “It’s the name of the company.”
“No, Noemi, you misunderstand. You can keep your maiden name at the office or use a hyphen.”
“You’ll give me a hyphen?” she teased, although she may have been serious. Her nervous voice made it difficult to tell.
“If that’s what you need, of course. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
She sucked in an enormous breath. “Then give me the fucking ring.”
He grinned widely. “Telling me what to do? Do I need to correct this behavior?”
“Joseph,” she whined. She held her shaky left hand out to him, eager for the ring to find its home. He pulled it free from the box, snagged her hand in his, and slipped the ring on her third finger.
“When we met, I was living by the phrase ‘nothing lasts forever,’ but I was wrong. This lasts forever.” He held up her hand, giving her a better look at the ring. “Do you like it?”
“I love it.” She shook off his hold, threaded her fingers through his dark hair, and yanked him up into her kiss.
Witnessing this monumental turning point in their relationship made the earth tilt under my feet. The power knocked me back and I latched a hand on the table to steady myself. A force drove my gaze to Silas, who was busy snapping pictures, documenting Joseph’s proposal. I’d expected the evening to be about lust and sex, not love and romance.
I wanted to storm over to Silas, to rip the camera from his hands, and demand he kiss me with the same passion the newly engaged couple had. They’d inflicted all these feelings on me. I was so out of my league and drowning in emotions for the first time in a long while.