Page 29 of Forbidden Fiancé

“Certainly.” I topped off her glass.

“What else can I help with?” she asked.

“Do you want to see what vegetables or salad we can have? Maybe see about chopping some stuff up?”

“I can do that,” she said.

She went over to the refrigerator and bent down to look in the drawers. I watched her and admired her incredible ass. She had put on a dress when we came downstairs. I knew she wasn’t wearing anything under it. I thought about going over and squeezing her ass, even playfully smacking it. If I did, it would lead to other things, things that I most definitely wanted to do but I needed to feed her first.

We worked in companionable silence as she made up the salad and cut up some vegetables. I worked on seasoning the steak and putting the bacon around it. If we had gotten to the house sooner, I would have grilled them outside. But it was late and it would be faster to just do it inside.

As we had worked, we talked easily about nothing in particular. In no time, the food was ready, and we went and sat at the kitchen table. There was a more formal dining room and was set up to accommodate us but I didn’t want to sit there. I liked the ease and intimacy that we had and I didn’t want to ruin that.

Natalie had done an excellent job with setting up a romantic setting for us. She had found some candles and even a bouquet of flowers to put on the table. I was looking forward to having our first meal together and talking more with her. It was hard to believe that we had only known each other a few short days. It felt longer. It felt like I had always known her and it was wonderful. There was no awkwardness between us.

“This looks amazing. You did a wonderful job,” Natalie said as she took a bite of the steak.

“I just cooked the meat. You did everything else.”

“We make a good team.”

I could hear the shock in her voice, and I smiled. “Right. It seems strange and yet not.”

“Exactly.” She took another bite of her steak and moaned her approval.

“I will cook for you every night if I can get that sound to come out of your mouth,”

Natalie blushed and took another bite with the same result.

“So, tell me about you. What are you doing with your life, what do you want to do?” I asked.

“Have we not talked about this?” She paused and gave a soft laugh before saying, “We haven’t. Goodness. I’m finishing up law school and studying to take the exam.”

I leaned back and smiled at her, impressed. “I should have known you would do something noble and great for others.”

“Thank you.” She blushed again.

My food was forgotten as I contemplated what she had told me and what it meant. I reached for my wine and watched her while she ate for a moment. She was hungry and understandably so, she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It took her a few minutes to realize I wasn’t eating and just looking at her.

“What?” She asked self-consciously.

“I was just thinking about you being a lawyer and what that would mean for you and us.”

“Okay,” she said slowly and leaned away from the table.

I could see the concern on her face and hear it in her voice. I leaned onto the table and reached for her hand. She let me take it.

“Please know that I will and am going to support you in whatever you want to do. If you want to be a lawyer, I want you to be one too. If you want to be a mother, we can figure that out too. I don’t want you to think for a second that you can’t have everything you want and you deserve. I want to give that to you.

“So, you keep saying.”

“I mean it. Whatever you want. I want to give it to you. I love you. You feel like a second chance at life. I have money, lots of it. I don’t have to work; I don’t want to work. I have an honorary membership on the board of the company my father started and I took over. When I was younger, I was obsessed with money, with making a name for myself, and proving to my father that I could run his company as well as he did. I did all the right things. Got married, had a kid, did the whole thing. But I wasn’t good at it. I neglected them and we aren’t close. That is my fault. I don’t want that to happen between us. I want to put you first. I will put you first above all else.”

“So, if I wanted to sail around the world with you. If I never wanted to work a day in my life. If all I wanted to do was to be your wife. Could I do that?” she asked.

“Then I would give that to you. The Destiny can travel across any ocean. We can see it all. Wherever you want to go, we will. I hadn’t known what I was going to do with my life when I retired, so I had just been traveling with no real destination or objective. Now, you have given me a purpose. I thought I was going to be alone but I’m not now. You have changed everything in my life and made it better. I want to do the same for you.”

Natalie nodded but her eyebrows moved together and I squeezed her hand and waited for her to say what was on her mind.

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