The Bachelor and the Beauty Queen

A shaky hand touched her mouth. “What?” she gasped.

“Yeah, crazy—” Stephen set the picture down on the nightstand “—almost like I got his permission to pursue you.”

“Sure.” She sighed with a playful smile. Her hands rolled through the soft petals, lifting them and letting them fall back onto her bed. “Are we getting back to your talent portion?”

With that, Stephen began to crawl onto the bed, stalking the length of her body with each move. Lexi used her elbows and scooted back to fit Stephen between her legs. She went to wrap her arms around his neck but he pulled back. “Wait, I have something for you.”

“Stephen, really.” Lexi shook her head, rubbing her neck against the soft, pink fluffy robe from the spa day he’d surprised her with in her living room this morning. “You’ve done too much already.”

“I don’t think I can ever stop doing too much, Lexi.”

Blushing, she rolled her eyes. “You’ve already fed me grapes by hand, helped build my little castle in the store, barely let me step foot anywhere without you carrying me. You’re treating me like some sort of princess.”

“Well, you know, if the tiara fits...”

As he reached for the drawer of the nightstand, he stumbled to the ground. Lexi stifled a giggle until he righted himself, on one knee with a black velvet box in his hands. Lexi’s hands flew to her mouth. The one-and-a-half-carat princess crown diamond blinded her. “Stephen! It’s big enough for a queen!”

“Well, Reyes does mean ‘kings.’” Stephen shortened the distance between them, greeting her with a kiss. “So what do you say? Will you put me out of my bachelor misery and be my queen?”

“I do.”

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