She turned to grab glasses from the top rack of the dishwasher. Everything they owned was being washed before being going into its forever home in their cupboards. While she wasn’t looking, he slipped the ring out of its box and tucked it into the icing of one of the cupcakes. When she turned back, he slipped off his jacket and draped it over the back of the chair.
“Cupcakes?”
He nodded. “Figured we could power through the unpacking a bit easier if we were on a sugar high.”
She laughed, handed him a glass of lemonade, and grabbed two small plates.
He put her cupcake on one plate and set it on the table in front of her empty seat. The frosting on the cupcake he’d pulled out for himself had shifted, getting on his finger. He licked the frosting. Bottles of cold water in hand, Cleo froze on her way to the table, cheeks flushed. Had she spied the ring already?
“What?”
She slipped onto the chair, placed the glass on the table and let out a giggle. “You… and chocolate cupcakes.”
“What about it?” He looked at the box, then her face. Her eyes were fixed on his lips. “Do I have chocolate around my mouth?”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Then what?”
“Do you remember our first trip to the institute?”
“That’s years ago, now, Lizzy.”
She nodded. “It’s okay that you don’t remember. You’re right, it was a long time ago.”
After a beat of silence, he answered as though he hadn’t planned the whole thing. “The woman behind the desk gave you a cupcake, and you shared it with me.”
Cleo’s face lit up. “Achocolatecupcake, and I thought my body was going to burst into flames as I watched you eat that thing.”
“Wait. You…watchedme eat the cupcake?”
“Mmhmm. Shamelessly. It was like watching porn in public. I had to keep my legs glued together so you couldn’t hear my clit screaming at you to do what you were doing to that cupcake to it.”
“Aaaah. That’s what that noise was. It all makes sense now.”
She snorted. Her hungry eyes lingered on his mouth. Not yet. He needed to get through asking her so the weight on his chest would ease.
“Maybe you should return the favor, let me watch you lick the frosting.” He slid her plate toward her, but her eyes didn’t move from his face.
Damnit.
“Cleo!”
She tipped her head to the side, arching her eyebrow. “Yes, Mr. Darcy?”
Raking a hand through his hair, he shook his head. “You’re not making this easy for me, Lizzy.”
“Why, Mr. Darcy, I’m hoping things get rather… hard for you if I’m being quite honest.” She winked at him and threw her head back with a laugh.
“Do me a favor?”
“What’s that?”
“Look. At. Your. Cupcake.”
When she turned her head, he dropped to one knee. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the ring and his face. “Lincoln…”
“I hadn’t planned to do this right now, but it radiated like a damn beacon in my pocket the whole way home, and I couldn’t hide it. I didn’t want to. There’s literally no reason to wait. I thought about keeping up the Darcy thing, but he fucked up his first proposal so badly… well, the asshole left me nothing to work with.”
