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I look down at her in surprise. “You thought I was angry at you?”
Her wide eyes blink in confusion. “You’re not?”
“No, baby girl. Like I said, spend my money. It’s there for you to use. I’m angry because you’re twenty-one and in charge of your dad’s life. Part of the reason I’ve been trying to resist you is because you’re young. You should be living it up, going to college, getting drunk, skipping class—”
“Getting groped by guys doped up or bombed out of their head, having professors leer at my tits, going to classes I don’t care about, looking for jobs that are designed to kill my will to live. That’s what you want for me?” She jerks her coat tight around her body. “I thought you wanted to take care of me. How is pushing me out into that cesspool of reality taking care of me?”
The light at the crosswalk turns green and she starts to trot across 58th Street to the Plaza.
Ben climbs out of the driver’s side and arches his eyebrows in silent query. I shrug and gesture for him to go park the car.
“Where are we going?” I ask, catching up to her.
“You said you were taking me home. I’m ready to go home.” She points upward in the direction of my aforementioned swanky two-story penthouse at the top of the Plaza Hotel.
“I thought we were going to see your father.”
She stops at the entrance of the Plaza. “I know that taking care of me is your privilege as my Daddy and I want that, but my father isn’t a bad man. He’s got questionable instincts and shitty parenting skills, but underneath all of the mess, he does love me.”
My anger melts at her words. I don’t want to drive a wedge between her and her old man. I just want to protect her from all the bad shit that is out there. “I don’t want you to have burdens, baby girl. I want to shoulder those for you. You’re too precious to have to worry about anything.”
She places a small hand on my chest and pushes up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on my mouth. “That’s not realistic and I don’t want to live a fairy tale. I want a real life with you. I bet we’ll argue at times—and not the fake kind that I press so I can get a punishment, but actual disagreements where we’re going to have to compromise, but I’m okay with that because it’ll mean that our bond is strong enough to last forever after.”
I cup a hand around her neck and kiss her harder, longer, and more fervently. I thought I was getting a plaything, but I’m really getting a partner. Willow might only be twenty-one, but she’s perfect for me in every way. She’s strong enough to stand up to me and to know what she wants.
Releasing her lips, I smooth the hair off her forehead. “Before Tim left, he reminded me I had one last present to buy. It’s a task I haven’t been able to complete yet, because the gift was for you. And, at the time, I couldn’t buy you what I really wanted to.”
I kneel down on the snowy sidewalk, not caring that the slush is ruining my two-thousand dollar Tom Ford suit. Above me, Willow gasps. People stop in mid-stride and gawk at us.
I reach into my pocket and pull out a velvet case, one that I’ve carried around since the day after I met Willow. I knew then that I wanted to bind her to me forever. I’d just been in denial.
I lift up her left hand and stare into her beautiful green eyes that are filled with moisture. I tug her closer to me so that there’s barely room between her body and mine. “For three years, I’ve told myself that you were off-limits,” I say softly so that the outsiders can’t hear. “For three years, I’ve lived a celibate life, only wanting you. Hell, I haven’t been with anyone in years even before that. When you turned twenty-one, I tried to remind myself that you deserved a different life than one with me. But you came to my office, you spoke your own truth and deserve the same from me. I love you Willow Kaplan. I love you more than the zeros in my bank account, more than the next deal, more than my own life. I want to be your man from now until the seasons stop turning and the oceans empty out. If you say yes, I will devote my entire being to making you happy. Be my little girl forever.”
She grabs the velvet box and throws herself into my arms. “Yes. Yes. Forever, yes! I love you, too!”
The crowd around us cheers. Willow licks the top of my ear and whispers, “If you don’t take me upstairs to our new home right now and fuck me like the Daddy I know you are, the tourists are going to get an eyeful.”
