Page 28 of Driving the Billionaire Wild

‘What if I don’t want to move on?’

* * *

‘What do you mean?’ She frowned, confusion making a little line between her brows. ‘Your idea of fun is jumping out of a plane. Mine is spreadsheets and rage-cleaning.’

‘Opposites attract… I think that’s quite evident.’ He smirked.

‘I’m not saying you’re some kind of hopeless playboy,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m just a realist. You’ve carved out your perfect life, one that you’ve worked incredibly hard for, and I’ve done the same. I don’t need you to force this to be more; can’t it just be…this?’

Apollo reached down to the trousers he’d hastily discarded before their love-making, and for a moment she worried he was leaving, but instead he seemed to besearching for something in the pockets. He turned back to face her, raised up on one arm now so that he looked down at her in the soft light.

‘You said you don’t need more…but you’ve become a pro at denying your needs for a very long time. Quite simply, I disagree.’ He leaned down, laying a playful kiss on her lips.

‘You disagree?’ she repeated, mildly incredulous and unnerved by the calm intent in his gaze as he pulled away and moved to kneel at the end of the bed.

‘I’m not forcing anything, Astrid. I’m more relaxed and sure than I’ve ever been about the future that I want; these past two weeks have shown me that. And I’ve never been a patient man…’

His eyes met hers in the soft lamp light, his fingers grasping her left hand firmly as he opened his hand, revealing a small hexagon-shaped velvet box in the centre.

‘What are you…? Is that what I think it is?’

‘Hear me out before you freak out, okay?’ Apollo’s lips curved into a soft, teasing smile, even though she was pretty sure she’d seen his hand shake slightly as he dropped to one knee on the floor beside the bed.

Chapter Thirteen

ASTRID STARED WITHshock at the small velvet box, taking a panicked step backwards as Apollo opened it to reveal a ring…a ridiculouslylargeand expensive-looking ring.

‘Astrid Lewis…you disappeared from my life nearly eight years ago and came back into it with the most amazing gift.’ His voice was low and gravelly as his gaze met hers. ‘I don’t want to wait another second without you by my side. Will you marry me?’

Her eyes flickered from the glittering cluster of diamonds to Apollo’s expectant face and for a moment she wondered if maybe she had fallen and hit her head on a rock on the climb up here earlier…if perhaps everything about the past couple of hours had been a dream. She tried to speak and failed, fear and emotion clogging her throat.

‘I picked this up last week. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give it to you.’ A frown marred his brow and he held the box up closer for her perusal. ‘I chose emeralds…but, if you’d prefer something else, we can change it.’

‘No, it’s beautiful… I just…’ Astrid swallowed hard. ‘I need a moment.’

She didn’t know what to say. Her chest tightened as she turned her face away from him, trying to regain somekind of composure. Her treacherous mind showed her a movie reel of another moment in her life—another proposal she’d initially been excited about, only to find out it was built upon a foundation of convenience and expectations.

This was not the same as it had been with Ian, she told herself, and yet…she couldn’t shake the sense of nausea in her stomach as the anxiety took hold.

‘Are you okay?’

‘AmIokay?’ She half-laughed, forcing the words past the lump in her throat. ‘Apollo…you’ve just asked me to marry you after one date.’

‘It might have been our first official date, several years late, but I’ll take you on a million more to make up for the wait. We haven’t done things the conventional way so far; why start now?’ He took her hands, a deep line furrowing his brow. ‘Look, I understand that perhaps it’s a little fast—’

‘Alittle?’ Astrid choked on a horrified laugh as she realised this was really happening. He was completely serious, and he was looking at her with such intensity it made her stomach flip. She made to turn away, only for him to hold her tight, caging both her hands against his chest.

‘Would you expect anything less from me?’ He flashed one of his trademark dimples and Astrid fought the urge to smack it away. She stood up from the bed, wrapping a sheet around her body in lieu of her dress, which she was pretty sure Apollo had strewn along the stairs behind them after peeling it from her body in one smooth move. But it wasn’t just the absence of clothing that made her feel bared and raw.

She felt…adrift. The mindless fog of their love-makinghad lifted the moment he’d dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him and from the way he looked at her so expectantly, as if she was the one acting strangely by not throwing herself into his arms. They didn’t know one other, not the way that a couple entering into marriage should. He was a notorious bachelor who never intended to settle down. She should know; she’d been the one who wrote his media scripts. Unless…

‘Are you thinking that an engagement would be a great distraction for the media? Because I think a sudden union between us would have the opposite effect, Apollo.’

‘You think I’m considering the media in all this?’

‘It’s not the worst idea. It’s utterly ridiculous and unnecessary but I can see why you would…’ He stepped in front of her, barring her from moving any further.

‘Whatever whirring of possibilities is going through that beautiful mind of yours…stop. I want to marry you, Astrid. I want a wedding, not fake an engagement to improve the optics.’