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He looked straight at me.
“Which is why I will only be accepting this position under one condition.” Liam’s gaze never faltered. “That the woman I’m in love with accepts it with me. And with the understanding that Grove Communications won their contract with Leden fair and square.”
There was gasping all across the room. Sam’s face was wide, her mouth hanging open as she stared at her brother.
Cici’s hand tightened again on my bicep, a brief, sharp reminder than I needed to breathe.
“You see, in the past few weeks I’ve been forced, rather firmly I admit, to take a long hard look at what my life was really made of. And in short? I didn’t like who I was.”
My heart was hammering as Liam smiled.
“But lucky for me, I found someone who wasn’t afraid to tell me exactly what she thought of me and the path I was on. She challenged me every step of the way and brought out a side of me that I thought was dead a long time ago.”
***
Liam
She was listening. I could see it in the bright, wide eyes that stared back at me from the side of the room. God, she looked perfect, dressed boldy in some kind of silky blue dress that I knew would pair perfectly with my hands.
All I wanted to do was show her what I wanted.
What I’d known I wanted since the first moment she’d charged into my life.
Of course, it couldn’t go completely smooth. After all, my family was here, and they weren’t going to let anything go that easily. “You are putting our family’s legacy on the line for a girl you met three weeks ago?” my father spat from the other side of the room.
“I’m choosing to be the person who she saw, who she might be able to love one day. Because I believe that’s the person I want to be.” I turned back to the blinking camera. “Leden deserves somebody who wants this job. And I do. I’ve been here, working behind the scences long before I ever sat in this boardroom. But I refuse to move forward and accept something that might take away the most important woman in my life.” I turned to my mother. “Sorry, Mom, no offense meant. And so really, it’s up to Ashlyn Grove. Will you take me as I am, the lightly damaged CEO who wants nothing more than to share this life with you?”
“Liam, have you lost your mind?” Ashlyn’s face was pink, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip.
“Absolutely not.” My heart was pounding in my ears, the sound nearly deafening as I forced my body to stay where I was. This was her choice.
Slowly, Ashlyn took one step then another my direction. “You know how I feel about you.”
“I do.”
“And you know how much I want to be with you.”
My throat burned. “I do.Now.” I heard Samantha chuckle from a corner. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have something I’ve been waiting to do.”
I broke from the table, my stride confident and long as I crossed the room. Briefly I registered Cici stepping away, her phone still recording, and I blazed past her to stand directly before Ashlyn’s beautiful face.
I stilled, still captured in that warm gaze. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my whole life.” He leaned in, somehow creating a private space between us.
“I have a question for you,” I said softly.
Ashlyn nodded. “Another one?”
I grinned, my nose gently bumping against hers. “Ashlyn Grove, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?” My voice had dropped low, thick with meaning, but I wasn’t ashamed. “For real this time.”
A laugh snuck out of her lips, and my gaze immediately dropped low to watch as Ashlyn wetted them. Her hands rose and gripped my suit lapels, tugging in closer. It was natural to let my hands wind around her waist.
“Nothing would make me happier,” she said.
An instant later, I claimed her, branding Ashlyn with my heat. She sighed, letting me wrap her up in the safety and security of my arms. Behind us, the room had broken into applause. Ashlyn hid her face against my shirt as I laughed, my arms still tight around her waist.
“Sounds like they approve,” I said to her.
Ashlyn leaned back to laugh up at me, listening to the clapping that seemed to surround us, from Rose’s tear-filled eyes to Sam’s laughing eyes to the hallway outside of the conference room, which seemed to echo with the applause of the employees would were streaming the meeting from their desks.
