“Well, isn’t it obvious that I do?” He finally looked at me, straight in the eyes, and the bright blue in them was so piercing, I could just about start crying at any moment.
“I don’t know, Zayden. How can I assume you love me without you saying it? I guessed that you must, don’t get me wrong. The things you do for me. You really do go out of your way and I have always appreciated that. I’ve kind of known that this relationship means more to you than you outwardly attempt. But you have to under—”
“I love you, goddammit!” he exclaimed with slight frustration. “There. I have said the words. I am guessing it makes a whole lot of difference. So, now will you marry me?”
“No,” I said carefully, as his eyes widened to the size of walnuts. “Not yet, I mean. I want to…eventually. Oh God, I want to. Because I love you, too.”
I walked towards him subtly and started ruffling his hair. He looked confused, as I had expected he would.
“What are you trying to say, Aria?” He sighed.
“You are still married,” I said, pulling him into a hug. “Don’t forget that.”
“Are we really on that again?” he snapped. “You know that I ended things with Gina and all the crap I pulled to that end.”
“No, I know she is out of your life. But she’s still your wife in theory. I can’t say yes until your divorce is finalized. I hope you understand that.”
“Well, we can’t get legally married until my divorce is finalized anyway. But I don’t see how that stops you from saying yes now.”
He pulled me off of him and frowned.
“It’s a matter of principle.” I shrugged. “I am not getting engaged to a married man.”
“Of course,” he said, shaking his head. “You and your great big principles. It should not be that much longer for the divorce to finalize. If I nudged my lawyer, it should only be a couple more days. I’ll show you the papers as evidence if you need, which wouldn’t surprise me,”
Offended, I opened my mouth to say something in return, but noticed the glint of humor in his eyes and started laughing. “Just let me know when it’s taken care of.”
“As long as you will say yes when it’s taken care of.”
“Depends.” I shrugged again.
“Seriously, Aria?” He looked up as though expecting some answer. “Depends on what?”
“On whether you propose half naked on a dirty bathroom floor or you do it properly with a ring and some romance.”
His face lit up in realization, and the blush from before was gone, to my relief. He didn’t say anything on the matter, however, and just leaned in to kiss me passionately. In the midst of it, my mind went completely haywire, unable to believe what had just transpired. Zayden broke the kiss with a loud shriek of pain.
> “Well, let’s put on some clothes and head back in. I bet your mom is already judging us – and don’t get me wrong, I’d be judging her if she wasn’t after what she just heard here – so let’s not give her more reasons to frown upon this.”
“It’s going to be okay,” I said, even though I felt awkward by the thought of seeing her shortly. “I will just tease her about our neighbor. That way, she will be embarrassed and we can escape from here quickly.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned.
Chapter Two
Zayden
It had been two whole days since I had contacted my lawyer’s office about the finalization of the divorce and they had yet to get back to me. I was fucking annoyed. How hard could the process possibly be? Gina and I were both amicable on the terms of the divorce. All the drama had subsided. It was an open and shut case.
My impatience to get Aria to say yes was taking over me, and the stupid divorce proceedings were currently the bane of my existence. Even though I had been in my office all morning, I had been completely incapable of getting any work done whatsoever. The thought of how I was going to propose was occupying my mind.
I thought back to my original proposal in her mother’s bathroom and grinned to myself. What an idiotic thing to do. I had no idea what had gotten into me, but something about her mom hearing us fuck egged me on to do it on the spot. I had been planning to ask her to marry me ever since my conversation with Molly about how I loved her daughter. So when she heard us, I felt like I had to prove that we weren’t just screwing around, and I proposed hastily. In hindsight, that was not the best idea in the world, and I should hardly be surprised that Aria didn’t jump to say yes.
Any other girl in the world would have, I realized with an odd sort of a pride geared towards Aria. It was true. I was, by any definition of the word, quite a catch. I had no reason to be coy about the fact that my money and my good looks made me the ideal husband for any woman in the world. But somehow, I guess that neither of those things were good enough for Aria – at least not good enough to accept a shabby proposal on a bathroom floor – and that she loved me for reasons that had very little to do with my money. She was not going to settle for anything less than an extraordinary proposal, and she deserved one. I was willing to do anything in the world to make her happy. I sighed deeply and covered my face in both my hands.
How had I come so far?
I had sworn off love a long time ago, after all. It was for lesser folk, for people who did not understand that feelings were at best, a show of weakness, at worst, a weapon of manipulation. With Aria, it was neither. Loving her did not make me feel weak, it made me feel stronger. The idea that I could feel this intensely about another human being and still keep my sanity and self intact made me feel oddly powerful. And perhaps this whole ordeal was a weapon of manipulation at first, while I played games and she responded with perfectly crafted plays herself. But no, neither of us was looking for anything from the other anymore. There was only one explanation for what was going on between Aria and I.