AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was staggering how perfect a fit they were for one another. Andrew, who thought he would never risk saying those words again, and Jill, who could never stand to hear them again. Taking a deep breath, he set out to fit the pieces of their perfect puzzle together, without sending her into flight.
“We should get married, Jill,” he said, not stopping the strumming of his hands across her body.
She moved in a flash. She suddenly stood completely naked at the foot of the bed looking at him as if he had two heads. She was so incredibly beautiful.
So, so… Andrew couldn’t think of a word to describe Jill’s beauty. There just weren’t words for how she looked standing there with nothing covering her except for a look of incredulity.
He chuckled and held out his hand to her, calling her back to bed. “Calm down, honey. Come listen to me. You’ll see I’m right.”
She gaped at him and shook her head. She didn’t come back to bed.
“Really, Jillie, come here. You’ll get cold standing there like that,” he coaxed, with a pointed look down the length of her naked body.
She looked down as if she had forgotten her naked state and yelped before jumping back onto the bed. She wrapped herself in one of the sheets, but didn’t wrap herself back in Andrew’s arms.
She stayed on the other side of the bed, eyeing him suspiciously. She still hadn’t said a word, so he plunged into his pitch.
“Think about it. We’re perfect together. We both still want a family, a good marriage, even though we can’t exactly trust in love the way most people might. But we’re great friends, we more than enjoy each other’s company, and we’re great in bed together. Our chemistry is…well, phenomenal, to say the least,” he said with a grin.
“I…I can’t, Andrew. I can’t go through that again,” she protested.
He held up a hand, palm out to her. “Hear me out. I’ll give you a guarantee. A penalty clause to keep you feeling safe. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a prenup that gives you everything I have, every ounce of my money and property if I leave you at any point.
“That’s millions, Jill. Alotof millions.” He didn’t tell her it was actually a little over two billion. He knew she’d freak. “I’d even lose Adelaide. The only way the marriage would end would be if you wanted it to end. Not me. You’ll never have to worry about being blindsided again.”
He could see the temptation pulling at her, but she remained wary. She shook her head silently for a moment.
“What about you, Andrew? What guarantees would you have?” she asked.
“I don’t need guarantees from you, Jill. I’ve known you half my life. I know you’d never hurt me the way Blair did. I know you wouldn’t, hell, couldn’t even contemplate the kind of cruelty she displayed. It’s just not in you to do something like that.”
He took a breath and then threw in the biggest lure of all. “We can try to have kids, Jill. And if you can’t, we’ll adopt, but I bet we can. And, we’d be good parents together, because we have a good friendship as our foundation. We’re good together, Jill. We’re goodforeach other.”
By now, he had coaxed her back to his side and his hands began their soothing play over her back, her arms and shoulders. The two of them lay quietly like that for a long time. Andrew barely breathing. Jill thinking so hard it was almost audible.
“Yes.”
She said it so quietly, he wasn’t sure she’d actually spoken. Just the quietest whisper of ‘yes’ and his heart kicked over in his chest.
He pulled her back and looked into her eyes. “Yes?”
She nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He closed his eyes and pulled her close, reveling in the power of that one word.
It wasn’t traditional or romantic or any of the things that a proposal should be – and that tore at Andrew’s heart because he wanted more than anything in the world, to give Jill all of those things and more – but it was what she needed it to be.
And from that moment on, Andrew knew he would always put her needs above his own. He would forever do whatever it took to keep Jill happy.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Andrew returned to the office Monday ready to share his good news, only to face another surprising blow. Patty had been hit in a hit-and-run accident on Friday night. It happened right in the parking garage connected to the building where Sutton Capital leased its office space.
Patty was in stable condition but she suffered numerous broken bones and a concussion. She hadn’t seen much. Only a dark sedan. The driver seemed to be bending over the passenger seat as if they were reaching for something. Two seconds of the driver’s inattention caused such pain for Patty. Thankfully, her injuries were not life-threatening and her recovery would be complete.
The worst part of all was that the driver didn’t pull over. The person left Patty there in the parking lot to be found by the security patrol. Video surveillance of the exit showed only a black sedan with the license plate missing on the front of the car and covered by mud on the back. The driver wore a hat and could not be seen clearly in the fuzzy tape.
For the second time in a week, Andrew was grim as he sent flowers to one of his staff to encourage a speedy recovery. At least Debbie was back at work and seemed to be feeling fine, if a bit stiff. It made Andrew feel marginally better to see Debbie up and around.
