“No, Dunn, you’re not following me.” She poked him in the chest, coming close enough that he could smell the soft floral scent of her perfume.

He didn’t want to talk about his career. He wanted to kiss her. To feel her lips on his one last time. Just to torture himself.

“I love my podcast. It started out as an idea and has grown into more than I ever dreamed. On it, I talk about the shows I loved when I was a kid.” Her eyes shimmered, her smile wide. “Your show was a saving grace for me, Isaac. Because you did what you loved, I found refuge in the Brooks family. And in you.” She rested her palm on his chest. “Meeting you was a dream come true for me.”

This was sounding too final for his taste. “Meghan—”

“I’m not done.” Her eyebrows slammed over her nose in a look of irritation. “Dating you was supposed to be a fun pastime. I had no idea we’d end up being so...compatible.”

God, they were. He could feel the sexual tension between them this moment. He wanted her, still. More than before, if that was possible.

“I had no right to expect more from your proposal. You were offering to be there for your child, and I shouldn’t have—”

“What we had together, physically, was the most intense relationship I’d ever experienced,” he interrupted. “I had no idea what to do with a woman who blew my mind in bed as well as while we were sipping coffee on the sofa. You’re the complete and total package. You are capable of anything you set your mind to. I knew that. I know that.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you.”

She inclined her chin.

He was terrified she wouldn’t believe him, or worse, she would believe him and then tell him he was too late. But as his brother had reminded him, Isaac had to take risks for what mattered.

“I love you.” He braced for the feeling of unworthiness, but the only sensation in his chest was stark relief. “I love you, Squire. I wouldn’t allow myself to believe it at the time. I was following my own agenda, ticking off boxes in the order in which they were listed. Brooks Knows Best, check. Find a fill-in girlfriend, check. Land a movie role...” He shook his head.

He looked around the room, at the guests largely ignoring them. Only Max and Kendall had fixed their attention to the corner where Isaac and Meghan stood.

He pulled the diamond ring from his pocket. “I’ve been carrying this around with me since you gave it back. I’m embarrassed. I botched this every step of the way. I asked you to do a lot of things you should have been opposed to. You deserve better.” His lips pulled into a slight smile. He had no idea what she was thinking. Her flat expression hadn’t budged. He forged on even though she hadn’t returned the “I love you” he’d delivered. Maybe the best they could hope for was to start fresh. Learn to be friends. Work out a custody situation with their child.

“The proposal was a mistake,” he said.

Her mouth dropped open, pain flooding her eyes. He was so glad to see it there, because that meant she didn’t agree.

“What I mean is,” he said, “the way I delivered the proposal was a mistake. If I were to do it over again...” He held the ring between them. “I’d get down on one knee.” He lowered to his knee and looked up at her beautiful face.

Break a leg, Dunn.

“I’d tell you the truth this time around. I’d tell you I don’t want you to marry me for the conveniences of a home in LA or great doctors or any of the other crap I said—I will do all of that, but that’s not why I want to marry you. If I could go back, I wouldn’t let you believe for one second that I was proposing for the sake of the baby. Though, I should warn you, I’m planning on buying many large impractical gifts for our kid no matter what happens with us.”

Meghan’s lips flinched. Almost there.

“I want you to marry me because I love you more than I’ve loved anyone. Even me,” he joked. She lost the battle and gave him an easy smile. “You get me, Squire. In fact, you’ve got me. I may have framed this like a proposal on paper but what I wasn’t factoring in was how this didn’t work for me unless my heart was involved. I prioritize my passion, and I’ve never been more passionate than when I’m with you.”

He lifted the ring, not taking her hand and making another disastrous assumption. He’d let her come to him. “Forgive me. Marry me. Let me love you. No, you know what? It doesn’t matter if you let me love you or not. I do. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

Her smile shone, her eyes sparkling like the diamond ring shaking in his grip. “Isaac.”

“Don’t say anything if you’re not ready. Unless it’s—”

“I love you, too.”

Relief weakened the knees he’d already bent. Had he won her back? Did she believe him? He stood so fast his head spun. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She wound her arms around his neck. “You don’t have to marry me, Dunn. We could date for a while.”

“No deal. I want to make sure you know I’m not interested in going anywhere.”

“Except to where Charles Howard is filming the movie you’re starring in. By the way...” She put his hand on her stomach and whispered, “We’re coming with you.”

He kissed her, finally, inhaling her fresh, clean scent. Soaking in the radiance that ebbed off her like a sun-dappled lake. “Marry me, anyway,” he murmured against her mouth. “Even though I messed everything up.”

“Hmm.” She plucked the ring from his grasp, closed one eye and then held it up to the light, turning it this way and that.

“Okay. All right,” he said, catching on. “I know what you’re doing. It’s a real diamond this time. Along with a real proposal and a real profession of love from the deepest, most sentimental part of me. No acting, I swear. This is me. Part-time fuckup, ambitious, fantastic-in-bed Isaac Dunn.”

“There’s that ego I fell in love with.”

“I don’t see how.”

Tags: Jessica Lemmon Billionaire Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net