“No, I’m the one who’s been on her ass from day one. You do know she can’t beat me, right.”
“I know you can take care of yourself; still, I don’t want the likes of her putting her hands on you.”
“The likes of her? What exactly did she do to you anyway?”
“All in good time.” He tapped my hip, “I’ve come up with an idea for D-Day as well. Are you sure you want to do this at Xmas dinner? Won’t your parents be a bit annoyed?”
“They’d be more annoyed if they have to spend another holiday with that viperous hag at their table.
I hadn’t been paying attention while we spoke and looked up just in time to see the driver sliding to a stop in front of the most exclusive high-rise in the city. It’s one of those places that you have to know someone that lives there to even get past the front door. An old five-star hotel that someone had turned into luxury living apartments about five years ago.
Gossip at the time had it that the smallest rooms on the ground floor, all of which had been turned into suites, went for a cool five million to start. “Who do you know here?” I asked, just as he put me back in my seat as the driver came around to let me out.
Instead of answering, he just took my hand when he came around and led me to the door where not one but two doormen stood. I should’ve caught on when they greeted him by name and addressed me as ma’am, but people tend to treat him with reverence wherever we go as the doors to the elevator closed though I caught a glimpse of two very familiar faces as they headed to another.
“How long have they been here?”
“They came when you did.”
“Have they been staking out my parents’ house this whole time?” Where were they sitting? I would’ve noticed their car.”
“The people next door to your parents went on a very nice holiday to the Alps, and the husband’s startup got some very much needed cash.”
It took me a second to catch on, and when I did, I gut-punched him. Freaking nerd has an eight pack and didn’t even flinch. “You’re lucky I pulled that punch; what’re you crazy? You paid them to leave their house so your men could spy on me?”
“I tried to get the one on the other side as well, but someone there had been sick lately, and I didn’t want to risk it though they claim it was just the flu. The people across the street also had a sick kid, so that was out, and I had to do with just the one.”
He said this like it was normal. Freaking American psycho.
“You know I’ve never seen that film.”
“Huh? What film?” He rolled his eye at me, and I realized that I’d spoken out loud once again. Whatever. The elevator stopped on the top floor, and he held my hand all the way to one of only three doors before handing me the key. “What’s this?”
“Open it.”
I looked at him oddly, still not catching on to what he was up to. Then I opened the door, and my breath caught. The white living space with white couches, white throw rugs with splashes of turquoise in the pillows, and in the candles and lamps seemed very familiar. “It’s my dream…house? Huh? What’s going on?”
“I figured you’d want to spend time with your family a lot, and since I’ll be coming with you from now on, I thought it best to have our own space.” I went from room to room, dragging him with me. Each room was like someone had peeped into my head and taken out all my ideas, and I recalled the many conversations we’d had about my dream home.”
“You did all this? Jared.” I was beyond touched.
“There’s more.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box, and I almost hyperventilated. I expected him to get down on one knee or something, but instead, he took the humongous ring from the box and threw the box over his shoulder before grabbing my hand and putting the ring on my finger.
I pretended that the weight was too heavy and let my hand drop limply at my side. “How big is this beauty? It better be bigger than the one you gave that twit.” I wonder if he knows that he rolls his eyes now more than me.
“That doesn’t come off, ever.”
“Sheesh, you’re supposed to ask or propose at least.”
“I proposed when I took your virginity, now go look at the rest of the apartment.”
I started to walk away, then I remembered the other door, “Hey, who lives across from us, someone famous?” I wriggled my eyebrows at him.
“One of the doors leads to the security team’s living quarters, and the other leads to our office; you can look at it later, see if I forgot anything. But right now…” He dragged me into his arms, and I forgot everything else but the feel of him when he covered my lips and drew me in close. “Let’s go christen our place.” He uttered the words sexily against my lips, and my womb contracted.