Page 131 of The Charmer

He towered over me when he gathered me from behind, putting a hand on my waist and kissing my earlobe. "I wanted to make it official that we live together."

"Oh, Julian," I whispered, "are you sure?"

"Yes. Fuck yes. I've wanted you here ever since you spent that first night with me."

I laughed because honestly, I was just trying to block that first night out of my memory. He kept bringing it up like it had been super romantic, but I knew it had been anything but. "Thank you. I’d love to officially move in here with you." This house was hands down my favorite place to be except perhaps Books & Beads.

When I tugged at the key, I realized the bow was tied to the bottom of the box, which came up a bit. "Oh no, I think I'm ruining the box.”

“Or there's something else under the bottom."

I pulled at the key, and indeed the bottom of the box came off, revealing something gorgeous. I gasped, then felt Julian move around me as I straightened up on the chair.

There was a ring inside.

Glancing to my right, I saw that Julian was already down on one knee, watching me with an enormous smile. I licked my lips and opened them to speak, yet no words came out.

"Georgie, I love you with everything I have and everything I am. You mean the world to me. What we have together is..." His voice shook, but he interlaced the fingers of my left hand with the ones of his right. “It's the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me.”

He took the ring out of the box and held it in front of my left ring finger.

"I’d love for you to be with me forever. To be my wife, the mother of my children, to build a life with me. Would you do me the honor?"

I took in a deep breath and opened my mouth again, hoping I could reply this time. No such luck, so I simply nodded as eagerly as I could.

Then Julian slid on the ring. "Fuck, is it the right hand or the left one?"

I burst out laughing. "I don't know." Tears were streaming down my face.

He pulled me up from the chair at the same time that he rose to his feet. Then he lifted me onto the small table. I placed my arms on his shoulders, and he kissed me deeply. I swear my entire body vibrated. I felt this immense love he had for me like a physical force.

I kissed him back feverishly, moving my hands from his shoulders down to his chest, then even farther down to his abs, until I reached his belt. Then I slid my fingers under his shirt, touching his delicious muscles, tracing his abs until he groaned.

I looked down at my ring and then glanced sideways on the table at where the key was. This was the best day ever, hands down.

He brought his mouth to my ear. "I want us to stay right here at the house all day.”

“What a coincidence. So do I.”

“I want to do so many things to you.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

My heart gave a mighty sigh as he smiled down at me. My team was handling the store this Sunday morning. I'd intended to drop by in the afternoon, but if my sexy man had sexy plans for me, I was more than happy to forgo my own.

I was surprised we weren’t meeting his family today. They called us to the mansion most weekends. These past few months had been so amazing, not only with Julian but getting to know his family as well. I liked all of the LeBlanc brothers, but Xander was probably my favorite. He’d played a big role in taking Kyle down after he started trying to sabotage me with my clients. When Julian first told me that he'd embezzled money from clients, I'd thought he might be blowing things out of proportion. Turned out, he wasn't. Xander was a very good financial detective. Then again, the whole thing had been a group effort between the brothers. Kyle had somehow narrowly escaped prosecution, frustratingly, but he and his brother skipped town without a penny. His father took over the company, selling off some of the assets.

And of course, Julian snapped up his location on Bourbon. I was extremely proud of my man for that. And I was so grateful to him. Feeling that he had my back was absolutely amazing. In fact, the feeling that all of the LeBlancs supported me in one way or another was more than I could ever have hoped for.

My whole life, it had been just Mom, Nana, and me. We didn't have an extended family. And now we did. My mom had attended a few family events, and she’d enjoyed herself quite a bit. I’d been feeling a little guilty for not telling her about my relationship with Julian from the get-go, but she assured me that she knew exactly where this was going from the short talk she'd had with him before the first party we attended.

Julian took me in his arms, making me laugh. I immediately put an arm around his shoulders and relaxed against him.

"You do like carrying me, huh?"

"Hell yes, babe." He brought his mouth to my ear. "I've liked it since that evening when I carried you into the house. I wanted to take you in my arms even at the party from the second you hurt your ankle."

"Damn, you’re always wanting to feel me up, huh?"

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