Page 136 of Forfeits

“Why does everyone keep telling me that?”

Aiden contemplated me for a long moment. “Maybe because it’s good to see you happy, Fletcher. And they want you to be happy.”

I reached for Aiden’s hand.

The room on the fourth floor was spacious and clean and had a view of the parliament buildings—but only one window.

“Huh. I thought the windows would be bigger,” I said, gazing out at the seat of the Canadian government.

“I can have us moved to a room with a better view…” Aiden said, looking uncomfortable.

Fuck, I was ruining his surprise.

“No, no, it’s lovely. It’s an old hotel. It’s got some quirks, but I like that.”

“Okay. Good. We need to get changed.”

Suddenly, my eyes went wide. “You’re not going to propose are you? Oh my God, are you going to propose?” I stared at Aiden in horror.

Aiden looked so fucking frustrated with me it was kind of hilarious. But then he smiled blithely.

“Yes, Fletcher. You found me out. That’s all I wanted to do, so I brought you up to the fourth floor, and in a moment, the entire staff is going to come in with champagne and chocolate and bugles, celebrating our engagement.”

“You’re being sarcastic,” I said, then wondered if he was. “Are you being sarcastic?”

Part of me danced at the thought of a proposal, but the bigger part was terrified of making that kind of commitment.

There was a knock on the door, and my eyes went wide. Aiden answered it to let the valet in with our luggage.

“Thank you so much,” Aiden said, giving the young woman a tip before closing the door.

“Would you calm down and just get dressed?”

When we were ready, I followed Aiden down to Wilfrid’s. We were immediately taken to a secluded table for two that had been decorated with candles and had a bottle of champagne in the center.

I looked at Aiden, who only smiled.

“Aiden,” I said.

“There’s a note on the bottle.”

“Do not propose to me, Aiden,” I said, my voice trembling.

Aiden pulled out his chair and sat down, steepling his hands under his chin and waiting.

“Aiden, please don’t propose to me,” I said in a whisper, feeling hot then cold, then hot again.

“Read the fucking note, Fletcher.” Now he was annoyed.

I reached for the card attached to the bottle.

“Sit down and read it,” Aiden said. His Dom voice did its work.

I sat down and read the note.

Dear Fletcher,

You are the best thing that’s ever come into my life. I want you to know that. I want you to understand how much I love you, how much I enjoy doing the things we do together. And that means all the boring, regular things, like walking the dogs, watching TV with Lucy and cleaning the kitchen. But it also means the other things, the intimate things, the kinky things—things that have brought us closer and given us both what we needed and wanted.

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