Page 128 of Overwhelmed By Love

You should work for me. We would never leave the Ballard

I do work for you. What would be the fun in that? We have to be apart sometime.

Technically you do work for me but not in my building. Maybe I should move Scarborough Publishing over here.

I’m barely ten blocks away.

Ten blocks is ten blocks too many. Suppose I want some of what we had this morning?

Jordan had awakened me with his mouth between my legs at barely five this morning. It’s my fault for going to bed naked. Not that panties are any kind of barrier for Jordan Grayson. He’s a man that gets what he wants, even me.

I’m already suffering from sleep deprivation. I need an afternoon nap.

Come to the Ballard, and we can take one together.

If we take one together, sleep will not be on the menu; I will.

Can’t blame a guy for trying. I love you, doll.

I love you too, Jordan.

Today is Friday, and Jordan told me to come straight home. He has a surprise for me. He’s all that I need. I don’t need gifts or expensive clothing. I just need him.

I tell Angie goodbye and head out into the warm September evening. Soon, it will be getting chilly. I’m glad that I don’t have far to go each day to get to and from work. Albert frequently offers to drive me the ten blocks, but I decline. I need the exercise with all the gourmet food Jordan is spoiling me with. Maybe when the colder weather comes on, I’ll change my mind.

I enter the Ballard and press the code for the penthouse. The elevator zips up to the top floor. When I step out, I call for Jordan but get no response. I know he’s home because his briefcase is sitting on the table in the foyer. I start hunting for him and find a small white box on the granite counter marked with the word, Clue. Inside is a note, “Go where the books are.” It has to be the library above the living room. I go up the steel stairs and find another box marked Clue. On the table. Inside, another note, “I would be nothing without my workouts.” I raise my eyebrow at this one but think it means his exercise room.

Another clue that leads me to his office and yet another that leads me to the patio. Outside, Jordan is seated on the dark wicker furniture, waiting next to the roaring fireplace. Two glasses of champagne, a silver platter of chocolate-dipped strawberries, and another slightly larger white box sit on the table.

“Thank you for the treasure hunt. The prize is well worth it.”

I take a seat next to him, and he picks up the box from the table, handing it to me.

“What’s this?”

“Read what’s inside.”

I open the box and take out what looks like a folded business card made out of ivory cardstock. On it, in Jordan’s generous script is a note that reads:

You’ve shared a journey of love with me for the past three months. Now let’s take that journey together for a lifetime.

Is he asking me to marry him? I look over, and Jordan has an open black velvet box in his hand. Nestled in a lining of white satin sits a massive seven carat Asscher cut diamond in a platinum setting. I’m speechless.

“Doll, will you be my wife?”

“Um...”

Jordan throws his head back and laughs, “My dear Emma has nothing to say?”

He removes the ring from the box and holds it out for me to slip on my finger. It’s perfect and much larger than I would have ever chosen for myself.

“I’ll ask again. Will you do me the pleasure of becoming my wife?”

“Yes, a million times, yes.”

“Once would be enough, but I’ll take a million times too.”

It’s taken me twenty-five, almost twenty-six years to find my prince, the other half of my heart, and I didn’t need to kiss too many frogs.

The End

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