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“Four?” Sariah asked.
“Tanya, Marcia, you, me…” He glanced over at me, since I knew his story. “Because I’m sure as hell getting Breezy back and marrying her before she realizes it.”
Sariah laughed. “I might be new here, but that sounds shady.”
He nodded and shrugged. “Don’t care. We’ll work it out afterward.”
I looked down at my woman. “That sounds like a really good idea.”
“What does?” she asked, not following my implication. Or maybe she did, if her narrowed eyes meant anything. Because, yeah, marrying her before she realized sounded just right. And her parents wouldn’t need to pay a cent toward the wedding.
I winked. “Let’s take a walk.”
Chapter Ten
~ Sariah ~
“So… Hadrian?” Tarek asked while we walked some bit of time later. We hadn’t been able to break away for our stroll until well after dinner, and now, the sun was low in the west. Our fingers were locked together, much as they had been since he’d arrived. His thumb brushed back and forth over the back of my hand.
“Are you worried about him? He seems pretty attached at Marcia’s hip.”
His lips brushed my temple, never missing a beat as we walked. “Just wondering about the story.”
I shrugged. “Best I can guess is, maybe, he thought he had feelings for me and he imagined he’d make a grand gesture and get me to fall into his arms. Even without you or Marcia in the picture, that wouldn’t have happened. He was always very…in my business. But there’s never been anything between us. He’s always been my boss in one way or another. Not my best friend. Though, I hope you don’t think I’m a loser, but he really was my only friend, so maybe, by default, hewasmy best friend.”
“I’myour friend now—among many other titles I’ll have. I want to marry you. I couldn’t think badly of you,” he said, turning and pulling me to his chest. His hands cupped my face as he leaned down and kissed me. My lips immediately parted for him.
Marry me? He wanted to marry me?
“Marry me?” I echoed in a bare whisper.
“I know it’s quick. And I’ll wait as long as you need. I just want you to know, I’ll be here. I’m in this.”
It was quick, but I’d felt that instant draw to him, too. “But you’re only here until the end of summer. Another month at most.”
He shook his head, lifting me. Of their own accord, my legs wrapped around him.
“We’ll live here as long as you want. This morning, I told my brother I’m staying. I set up appointments for us to go see houses next Monday after the weekend’s wedding festivities are over.”
“Really?”
“Really. We could stay in my apartment, but I’d like us to have a home we can make our own.”
“Are you asking me to move in?” Holding myself steady with my arms around his neck, I pulled back so I could look in his face.
“I think I just asked you to marry me, actually. I’ll do it better with a ring and bended knee later. I’ll even ask your dad’s permission, if you want.”
I thought about the father who would dislike Tarek because he wasn’t from the fold of the church I’d grown up in—and I was pretty sure he was a believer in Allah rather than the God my adoptive parents spoke of, too. Then there was my birth father who showed me more parental affection then I’d ever received, yet was brand new to me.
“I don’t think you need to do that. The only permission you need is mine.”
He grinned at the silliness of it. “Do I have your permission to ask for your hand when the time comes?”
“Well, I don’t know,” I teased. “What are your intentions with my…with myself?”
“To love you more deeply than you can imagine. Provide for you, so you’ll never want for anything. Cherish you as the greatest possession a man can have. And give you myself, every day and every hour. Every minute. You will never doubt I am yours and that I adore you with everything in me.”
Swoon. It was a good thing he held me up.
