Executive Engagement

Jane, Lydia, Mary and Charlie all make an “ooooooooh” sound like they’re watching a rap battle and I just dropped the sickest dis.

“She’s got you there, Mr. D.” Jane has the perfect smile on her face as she says this. Darcy turns his head to her.

“I don’t know that she does, Jane.”

Darcy turns back to me. I feel the electricity of his gaze for the first time in quite a while. And now he’s…holy shit.

Darcy is kneeling on one knee.

Holy shit, now he’s reaching into the pocket of his sports coat.

The room is dead silent, except my sniffling.

You guessed it: I’m finally letting myself just cry like crazy, giving no fucks about the camera. I keep having to wipe away my tears to see Darcy present the little jewelry box and open it.

Holy shit, definitely a huge-ass diamond. The diamond is reflecting one of the off-camera stage light, projecting a series of fractured rainbows onto the walls and ceiling.

I’m jarred out of the moment by a quick quip from Lydia: “If Hawk won the bidding war, the diamond on my ring would be twice the size of that.”

I have to look over at my coworkers, my best friends in the world. At least for a second. Yep, they’re all teary-eyed themselves. Even Lydia.

Darcy’s eyes are there to catch mine as I look back at him.

“Lizzie, you know there are rules which I follow with no exceptions under any circumstances. Until now.

“Lizzie, I’m in love with you. That’s the circumstance. I’m in love with you, and I am breaking one of the cornerstone rules of business. But forget business, I want to share my life with you. This is a new feeling for me, Lizzie. Do you feel the same way?”

“Darcy, yes. Yes. I do feel the same way. I love you so much that it hurts. I want to spend my life with you. Yes! But…you’re even willing to break your rule about getting involved with anyone at the same company?”

Darcy stays on his knee, his gaze still fixed on me.

“This isn’t dating, or sleeping with, or something as vague and casual as ‘getting involved.’ I want to marry you, and that transcends everything. So, let’s just make it official: will you marry me?”

I finally take the jewelry box from Darcy’s hand, and he stands up as I do. He takes my left hand, softly, takes the ring from the box and slips it onto my finger. It fits perfectly, and the rainbows are still dancing around the walls.

“Yes,” I whisper, “forget those rules.”

The electric feeling encompasses both of us as lock into an embrace and a kiss that I never want to end. We’re still kissing as I hear my fellow cam girls shut down the camera and exit into the corridor.

And oh my God, this shit’s about to get good. Because I’ve had just about every kind of sex you can imagine at this point. But engagement sex? That one’s brand new.

Lizzie

I have to hand it to Darcy. He literally always knows how to catch me off guard. He’s always three steps ahead of me.

He knows what I react to, what I don’t react to, how to really fucking piss me off, and apparently, how to make me fall in love with him so hard and so fast that I don’t know how I could spend the rest of my life without him constantly in my ear and on my mind.

Yep. Mr. Big hit it big, and I just agreed to marry him. Holy shit.

I just got engaged to Will Darcy. Holy fucking shit. Is this real life?

I feel like I’m supposed to pinch myself or click my

heels three times and wake back up in Kansas. Every facet of our relationship, or whatever the hell it’s been up until now, has seemed like an elongated fantasy. Where do you find a guy like Darcy?

I don’t even know how to follow a timeline here. Everything seems like it happened yesterday, and at the same time, it seems like I’ve felt this way about him for decades, lifetimes even. As my head tries to get a grip on the rest of me, Darcy stands quietly in front of me, his soon-to-be blushing bride.

“Soooo,” Darcy says, “you don’t want a white dress, do you?” He smiles at me with those gorgeous pearly white teeth. This man is just testing every emotion I have today.