Because I loved him for him—not for any other reason.
I went to the warehouse at the end of the day and was disappointed to see that Jerome and Pierre already left. It was just Derek, standing there at his workbench, his scaled rover on the surface beside him. He was tall, muscular, and handsome, so he could be doing anything and look sexy. But when he worked, used that big brain to do things no one else could, he never looked more attractive.
He didn’t need to wear a ten-thousand-dollar suit to be sexy.
He could do it in jeans and a t-shirt—and still have as much power.
I walked to his desk with the folder in my hand. “I know you wanted this as soon as possible, so here’s all the questionnaires from the engineers supervising the interns. I glanced through them, and the feedback seems to be mostly positive. After we paired up everyone correctly, there seemed—”
“I don’t care about this.” He grabbed the folder and tossed it aside. It made an audible smack when it landed on the hard surface beside his other papers. His eyes were glued to mine, intense and purposeful, and he definitely had something to say.
He gave me space after every strike, but then another strike was on the distant horizon, coming closer and closer. Now, the next one had arrived, and he became as aggressive as he had been in the stairwell that night.
“Derek—”
“I’m talking.”
With my mouth still open, I stood there, shocked by what he said to me.
He came around the desk until he was directly in front of me, looking down at me slightly, his eyes angry. “I don’t care about the internship program. I don’t care about my rover. I care about my family and nothing else. And yes, you’re family.”
“I didn’t realize family abandoned each other like that…”
He didn’t cringe at the insult. “Families make mistakes. And families forgive one another.”
I shook my head. “Derek, how many times are we going to talk about this?”
“As many times as it takes,” he snapped. “What else are we going to do? Can you honestly tell me that either one of us will be happier if we just move on? Can you honestly tell me you think there’s a chance you’ll find another guy whom you’ll love more than me?”
Not in a million years.
“I can confidently say that’s not possible for me. You’re the only woman on this planet who could look past all my bullshit and see the real me underneath. Anyone who replaces you will be a cheap knock-off. Now that we’ve established that, work this out with me.” Instead of being gentle and kind, he just yelled at me, like he was frustrated with me—when he was the one who’d fucked everything up.
“I know you’re used to getting whatever you want—”
“That’s not what this is. I see you walking down the same path I’ve already been down. Trust me—it leads to a dead end.” He stared at me for a while, his eyes shifting back and forth as he looked into my gaze. Then he slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out a ring. A diamond ring. A simple princess cut. It reflected the light even when he hardly moved his hand.
I stared at it but couldn’t register what I was actually looking at. My gaze flicked back to his.
“I’m not going to hurt you again.” He flattened his palm and extended the ring to me, letting it sit between us, the diamond pointed toward me. “I promise. I’m here—through the best and the worst.”
The shock hit me hard because the gesture was so unexpected. I felt a million things at once, but it was such an emotional cacophony that I didn’t know what I felt at all. “This is not how a woman wants to be proposed to, Derek. A man asks a woman to marry him because they’re happy and in love, not because they’re sorry. This is just an expensive apology.” I turned to walk off, not wanting to look at his face anymore.
He came after me. “It’s not an apology.”
“Yes, it is. You never would have asked me to marry you this quickly—”
He grabbed me by the arm and turned me around. “No, I wouldn’t have. I never would have asked you to marry me so quickly if I hadn’t lived without you. But I did live without you. I’m currently living without you. I don’t want to do that ever again.” He held up the ring again. “I want to do this every damn day for the rest of our lives. I want to be your husband. I want to be a father to your daughter. I want to make this work, no matter what, till death do us part. But even that wouldn’t be the end of it because if I ever lost you, I’d never get remarried. You’re it for me, Emerson. I know I fucked up. I know my actions are unforgivable. But I’m here now. I’m here, and I’m not leaving ever again.”