Mr. Park Lane (The Mister)

“I love it already,” she said, looping her arms around my neck. “You did this for us, so I love it. But show me everything.”

I pulled her toward me and gave her a whistle-stop tour.

“I still love it!” she said as she looked around. “And the bath is incredible. So deep. I guess I knew you weren’t going to get that bit wrong. Is yours very different?”

“My bathroom is exactly the same but the marble is Portoro. I’ll show you.” I pulled back the shutters on the wall of her bathroom that was shared with mine, ready to reveal the cherry on the cake.

“Is this a pool?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock as she stared at the huge bath that sat between our two bathrooms. I’d made sure it was exactly thirty-eight degrees. A complement of the best bath oils money could buy had pride of place in a dedicated cabinet. During the last few months living together, I’d been able to encourage Hartford’s Genius Time, and a mixture of lavender and frankincense were her favorites. We were perfectly suited in so many ways.

“No, it’s just a very big bath.” The bath was two meters by two meters—plenty of room for both of us. “And through there”—I pointed through to the other side of the shared bath—“is my bathroom. The bath sits between, so we can have joint Genius Time when the urge arises.”

“Three baths between two bathrooms?”

“It’s important.”

She just chuckled. “Are we getting in?”

I dropped my towel. She grinned and shrugged off her robe. I held her hand as she stepped into the water.

She sighed as she sank in to her neck. “I think I could get used to life with you.”

I chuckled and stepped in beside her. “Yeah? Well, I was hoping that would be the case.”

Despite all the space in the tub, we wove our legs together and I handed her a drink. And a cupcake.

“A cookies and cream cupcake. In a bath opposite my favorite person in the world. In the most beautiful house I’ve ever laid eyes on. Does life get any better than this?”

“I hope so,” I said.

“Joshua.” She gave me a castigating glare. “We can’t wish for more than this.”

“Just one more thing.” I took a breath. “Will you marry me?”

Her glare was replaced with a look of complete adoration. She put her uneaten cupcake down carefully on the side of the bath and kneeled over me, her slick thighs sliding either side of my hips. “A thousand times yes, Joshua Luca. My life is everything with you by my side.”

And just like that, without another pound exchanged, I had everything I could ever want.