But when you know, you know.
And I’m not in business running a multi-million dollar company by playing it safe. When it comes to finance, I’m a risk taker. I know fortune favors the brave. It’s the same with love.
If she’ll have me, I’m hers.
I get to her at apartment at five sharp — clean-shaven, new suit, red roses and a bottle of champagne.
In my pocket, though, is where the real gift lies. The one I’ll drop to bended knee to give. The one I pray will make Imogen my bride.
I knock twice, on this dinged and dirty door, in what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. Anyone who meets me could guess correctly about my own home. Metal. Concrete. Grey. Glass.
When Imogen pulls open her door, all I see is light.
Her eyes reflect it, the windows shine it, my heart feels it.
This is right.
Also, she is wearing a white terry cloth robe, the deep V at her neck causing my cock to stiffen. She looks fucking hot, bare feet, her legs so damn tempting. Everything about her demands attention. And damn if I won’t give her what she wants.
“I got your letter,” she says, her words a rush. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
I offer her the roses, give her a smile that holds both hope and sorrow. “She was a wonderful woman.”
“I shouldn’t have been so harsh with you … I didn’t know your story and I—”
I hold up a hand, wanting to hold out my heart. “Don’t apologize. I was an ass. And you were being real. Being … fucking beautiful.”
She blinks back what I know are her sincerest emotions.
“Don’t hold back your tears from me, Imogen. I know we just met, and I know it’s insane, but I love you.”
“You love me?” she asks.
I nod, needing her to know my truth before I step through her door. Because if I go inside her place, I don’t want to leave without her as mine.
“I love you and I don’t even know your middle name. I want you, in your entirety. I don’t want to play it safe with my heart — I want to say what I mean and feel what I want. Today and forever.” I drop to one knee, pull out the black box.
Her eyes go wide and she throws back her head in a laugh that sounds like confetti. “Are you for reals?” Before I open the box she shakes her head. “Don’t you want to see what a mess I am before you ask that question?”
I shake my head. “No. I want you, sight unseen. I choose you, flaws and all, the same way you’d be choosing me. Relying only on our emotions — isn’t that kind of your thing?”
She licks her lips, shaking her head in disbelief. “I wasn’t expecting —”
“Good. Because I want the unexpected, Imogen. I want life to be about more than guarantees. After everything with Margene, I should have known it sooner — that life is fucking precious. When you see something worth having, hold on tight, don’t let go.”
“And that something is me?” she asks, a tenderness in her words that hit my heart in such a way that all I want to do is wrap my arms around her and protect her from the world until my dying day.
“Yes, Imogen, that something is you. Take a chance on love and marry me.”
I pull back the box, revealing a princess cut, solitaire, six carat diamond ring. The diamond is as luminous as her smile.
“Yes, Neil Johnson, I will marry you — but you must know,” she says, “I have something planned for us that might make you rethink this.”
I take out the ring, going with my gut. “Not gonna happen. I’m going to make you my wife.”
She smirks, as if still disbelieving. “You’re going to need to clear the schedule in April, we’ll be going to Cancun with my parents.”
I grin. “Perfect. Parents love me.”
She snorts. “I bet they do. My mom is going to freak.” And as I slide the ring on her finger, she adds, “Shit. I don’t even know if you have parents. Do you have parents?”
I chuckle, looking at this nymph of woman, who stirs the most primal part in me. “I do have parents. They live on a farm an hour from the city.”
“Okay.” She giggles nervously, looking at her hand, looking at me. “I feel like we need to do something. I mean, I think we just got engaged.”
I place a hand on the small of her back, pulling her to me. “We did. You are going to be my bride.”
“Oh my god,” she says, a thrill in her voice. “Okay, I guess I am.”
I draw her close, lacing my fingers with hers. I lift her chin with the crook of my finger and sink my mouth against her luscious lips. Perfection hardly scratches the surface. This woman was made for me and I know I was made for her.