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“Aren’t you freezing out there, Gavin?”
His stomach clenched back up. She’ll say yes, he reminded himself before he turned around.
“No, I—” Whatever else he intended to say made a mad dash out of his head when he caught sight of Leah. He’d seen her dressed elegantly on other occasions, most recently the night her brother won the election, but nothing prepared him for the vision standing before him. “You look incredible,” he managed once he found his voice again.
“And you look cold. You’re going to freeze to death out there.” She moved closer to the door but didn’t actually come outside.
With her standing there looking like that, there was no chance of it happening. “I’m fine.” He stepped back inside and closed the slider behind him. Gavin pulled at the tie suddenly making it difficult to breathe while his other hand clenched around the box in his pocket.
“It just started and I’m done with winter. When Erin comes to stay with us for February break, we should take her someplace warm instead of skiing,” she said.
Although he still had his condo in the city for the nights they both worked late or simply didn’t feel like fighting traffic, Gavin had officially moved into her home in Connecticut in September. And like Leah had during the summer, she helped Erin redecorate the bedroom she used when with him.
“If you can convince her to skip a week of skiing, I’ll change our reservations for a hotel on the beach in the Bahamas.”
Leah put her arms over his shoulders and smiled. “Consider it done.”
Erin loved skiing almost as much as he did. Getting her to change her mind would take considerable effort. But if anyone could do it, Leah could. An amazing relationship existed between Leah and Erin. Occasionally he even felt a little left out on the weekends they were together. And although she’d never come out and said it, Gavin knew Erin considered Leah to be another mom.
Releasing his death grip on the box, Gavin pulled his hand from his pocket. “I know you want to leave.” He placed his palms on her waist as he spoke. “But—” A strong knock echoed through the hotel suite. “Expecting someone?” he asked, because he certainly wasn’t.
“You could say that.”
Confused, he watched her walk away.
When it came to proposing, the man bought the ring and did the asking. At least that was what books and movies wanted you to believe. Maybe it was true for most couples. It didn’t work for Leah. This was the twenty-first century, and honestly she was tired of waiting for Gavin to get around to asking. She knew he planned to eventually; thanks to Erin she knew he had a ring. Two weeks after Piper’s birthday party, she’d gone with Gavin to Providence for his weekend with Erin. While Gavin was out picking up pizzas, Erin asked if she wasn’t wearing the beautiful diamond ring Gavin bought her because she didn’t like it. She then went on to share how they’d gone to a ton of stores and that Gavin let her help pick it out so she really hoped Leah liked it.
Ever since, she’d been waiting for Gavin to pull the ring out. Almost four months of waiting was long enough. The time had come for her to take things into her own hands.
She signed the receipt and handed the portfolio back to the gentleman after he set the tray down and opened the wine bottle for them. “Thank you,” she said, following him to the door and closing it behind him.
Until this very moment, the idea of proposing hadn’t bothered her. Crossing back toward him, her hands shook so much she worried the wine would spill out.
When she reached him, she didn’t hand him a glass. Instead she set them on the nearby end table and tried to unglue her tongue from the top of her mouth.
Gavin’s gaze darted to the drinks and then back at her, wearing perhaps the most adorably confused expression she’d ever seen.
“Gavin,” she began.
He opened his mouth to speak, but she placed a finger against his lips.
“Gavin,” she repeated, suddenly feeling sympathetic for her brothers, who’d both proposed to their girlfriends earlier in the month. “Will you marry me?”
She’d spent the week picturing this moment in her head. She’d envisioned him kissing her, or saying yes and then kissing her. He did neither.
He laughed.
“You’re not supposed to laugh.”
Pulling a box from his pocket, he opened it. “Before we got interrupted, I was about to ask you the same thing.” He plucked the ring out and tossed the empty box on the table.
Taking her hand, Gavin slipped the ring on her finger and then kissed her. “Yes, I will marry you. I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. You’re my perfect partner and a wonderful mother to my daughter. I love you.”
She glanced down at the ring on her finger. Erin and Gavin definitely had good taste in jewelry. “Erin was right. It is beautiful.” Leah handed him a wineglass.
“She told you about it? When?”
“In August. She wanted to know why I wasn’t wearing it.”
