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She watched the elevator numbers climb as we went higher and higher until she snorted. “Yeap, glad you didn’t make us walk!”
“Right, close your eyes. This is a surprise.”
Just to make sure, I slipped the blindfold I’d brought with me over her eyes, pressing my hand into the small of her back and guiding her to where I wanted her to stand.
I took a second to take her in… the woman I loved, standing there, on the cusp of our future. Dressed in skinny, dark blue jeans and a teal sweater, her hair braided down her back, strands that had worked loose blowing around her face. Her lips parted and her hands reached for me as we stood in the inky night.
“It feels like we’re up really high, Arch.”
“Maybe.”
“Can I take off the blindfold?”
“First, tell me how you feel… like you make me do all the time.”
She took a minute to think about her answer. “Happy, in love, like I might burst with how perfect this all feels. I can smell the night air. I’ve got butterflies in my tummy. I feel full from dinner, but I’m craving something more. Your touch, your lips, your voice. I love you so much, Arch. You’re all that I want. In fact, you’re all I need.”
Unable to hold back, I crashed my lips to hers, stealing her words with my tongue, kissing her hard until we both had to break away, breathless.
“Arch?” she whispered.
Pete stepped up and handed me two bags. I took out the contents of the first one and put it on, smiling down at it. Then I took the box from the second bag and handed everything else to Pete, who vanished, giving us some privacy.
“Take three steps forward and then take off the blindfold.”
I watched her move, graceful and full of confidence, even though she had no idea what she was walking into, because she trusted me that much.
Slipping off her blindfold, she fisted it in her hand, pausing for a moment before she opened her eyes, taking in what lay out before her. And what was out there was New York. She stood on the pointed, glass fronted corner ofThe Edge,which was the highest outdoor platform in the Western Hemisphere. She didn’t scream or speak, turning slowly as she took in the 360-degree view across the city.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, the breeze stealing her words.
I stepped behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist, pressing my lips to her ear. Dawson had arranged for us to have the place to ourselves, so I didn’t have to worry about anyone hearing what I was about to say and selling it to the highest bidder, but I wanted her to hear every word.
“I love you, Ionee Millar. I didn’t think I’d ever fall in love… I didn’t think I’d ever meet anyone who’d get me, but you… you are everything.” She leaned back against my chest, stroking my wrist. It was then she froze, looking down at the thin, solid white gold cuff that was wrapped around my left wrist. She lifted my hand from her body, looking closer at the engravings etched into it.
Rubbing her thumb over each one in turn, she tried to figure out what each one meant. “Is the octopus me or you?”
“You.”
“And the flower?”
“A forget me not.”
“And this?”
“That,” I pointed to the sideways 8. “Is the sign for infinity.”
I pulled her hair to the side so I could press my lips to her neck. “I’m offering you a lifetime, Nee. I wanted to have them engraveOwned by Ioneeon it, but I knew the press would take pictures and zoom in trying to find what it said. This way, I can promise myself to you without anyone else knowing. I don’t want the world talking about us until we’re ready to go public… which, just so you know, is when you’re already married to me and knocked up with twins.”
“Why the forget me not?” she murmured as she continued to touch it.
“Because there isn’t a moment with you… a touch, a smile, a word, a morning that I’ve woken up with you, or a night that I’ve spent submitting to you because I trust you with my heart, that I will ever forget. You said I was ingrained on your soul; well it’s the same for me. You are my everything, Nee.”
She turned in my arms and I moved us, so my back faced outward and she still looked out over New York.
“I want to give you the world, Ionee. Right here, right now, on the edge of this platform in the sky, I’m asking you to let me give you the world. Let me love you. Let me share a life with you, a future. Marry me, Nee?” I reached into my back pocket and took out the blue box I’d forced in there.
She gasped, a single tear rolling down her cheek. Taking out the rose gold bracelet, I eased open the hinged clasp, fastening it around her left wrist.
