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His chest lowered as if he’d been holding his breath. “Good to know.”
“I have money. You don’t have to be involved if you don’t choose.”
“Oh, I plan to be very involved.” He stepped toward me but didn’t touch me.
“Okay.” Hearing that lifted my heart.
“I want you to do two things for me.”
“They are?”
“Take the job. You’ll be returning from maternity leave before Bryce’s colossal wedding event, and we can figure out all the rest.”
“Maybe once Bryce finds out I’m pregnant, he won’t want me.”
“He got the news when I did. He’s good with it.”
“Alright. What’s the other thing.”
“Marry me.”
“Marry you?” I stepped back.
He folded his arms over his chest. “That doesn’t sound like a yes.”
“No one has to get married because of a pregnancy. As you said, we can figure out all the stuff that has to do with the baby.”
“But they marry for love.”
“You're not in love with me.” I turned from him and moved back into the kitchen space. “Melanie was your great love, and we all saw how you changed after her death.”
Stone’s touch surprised me. He turned me to face him. “No. I cared deeply for her. She was my best friend. Our marriage was in name only, and I wanted to ensure she had the best life in the limited time she had left. And if you lost Dean, wouldn’t it shake your foundation?”
It was true. Dean was not just my best friend, but he was technically my only family. “But that night. I saw you on the anniversary of her death, and you looked defeated…in pain.”
He pulled me into him. “I looked like a man fighting my feelings and desire for you.”
Shivers ran through my body when he glided his hands down my arms and to my sides. His touch and words had me speechless.
“There you were, in my house. Your damn scent was everywhere. Tormenting me. I was in my office trying to drink away the need for you. Numb it, so I didn’t go roaring through the house to hunt you down.” His hand slid up my back and pressed me closer. “Then you came to me. I should have sent you away, but God, I needed you.”
“I needed you too,” I confessed. “I should have walked away. I’ve loved you for so long,” I shook my head. “I was willing to take the small moment of being a balm to soothe you. Stupid, I know.”
“Never.” He lowered his head toward me. “Say you’ll marry me. End both our misery.”
I gazed into his electrifying blue-gray eyes and felt my world come together. My baby and I would have a home with this man. “Yes, Stone, I’ll marry you.”
His lips met mine, and I felt complete.
