Page 14 of His Pretty Little Thief

“And you want to know why, don’t you?”

She drops her eyes, blushing avoiding my gaze and looking mortified.

“Simone.”

Her eyes dart to mine, her lip catching in her teeth.

“How did—”

“I know everything about you, little one,” I say quietly. “And that is why you’re here tonight. It’s why all of it has brought you to me. More than you even know has brought you here to me, actually.”

She blinks, chewing on her lip and still blushing as her eyes peer into me, half embarrassed and half curious.

“Why?” She mumbles quietly. “Why me?”

I smile, shaking my head slowly side to side.

“Simple, beautiful,” I growl. “Because I want you. Because I saw you and knew you were mine. Because I want you to be my everything. My morning, and my night.”

My jaw is tight, my muscles clenching as the words pour out of me, my eyes burning into hers.

“Because I want you to be my wife.”

With a single gasp from her lips, the room goes absolutely still. She stares at me, something fierce burning in her cheeks and her eyes.

“Excuse me?”

My smile widens just as the intensity in my eyes grows fiercer. I reach behind me again, and this time, I come back holding the little black velvet box.

Simone’s eyes go wide, and her jaw falls open.

“What in the—”

I did say she wasn’t leaving here tonight without a ring on her finger, didn’t I?

I open the box, the big, gorgeous diamond catching the light and making her eyes somehow go even wider as she just stares.

“Oh God…”

“I know this is crazy, little one,” I purr, stroking her thigh with one hand as I hold up the ring in the other.

“But I knew the moment I saw you that you’d be mine, and mine alone. So, let’s stop dancing around it, and let’s skip the part where we say it’s ‘too fast,’ or any of that bullshit, and let’s just make it happen. Let’s make this real.”

I hold her gaze firmly, my eyes burning into hers.

“Be my wife, beautiful. Marry me.”

She shivers, gasping quietly as her eyes burn right back into mine.

“Knox…”

“All you have to say is yes, and everything else will come.” My grin turns hungry, my eyes fierce. “You, first of all.”

Simone blushes, licking her lips as she eyes me like she’s trying to figure out if I’m kidding but quickly understanding that I’m not.

“Say yes, little one,” I growl. And suddenly, when I see the heat on her face and the fierce wildness in her eyes, I know.

…I know she’s mine.

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