Page 155 of Filthy Lovin Heroes

“Everything and nothing all at once,” she began, tears starting to wet those pretty black lashes.

I pulled her into my arms and tucked her beneath my chin.

“I’m here—there’s no need for tears, sweetheart.”

She pulled from my arms and when I looked down into her face, I wanted to murder her father for tearing us apart.

“I’m glad my father found us the way he did.”

My heart lurched at what she was implying. “What?” Confusion wrinkled my brow.

Her light touch slipped from where her hand rested on my chest, and she stood away from me. Again.

Worry lined etched across her forehead and the pretty way she had her makeup made her look beautiful and miserable all at once. Made my cock hard and my heart ache for her.

“It made me stop and think,” she started slowly. “We moved too fast. Way too fast, Grayson, and I never meant to sleep with you that first night. You know the night we went home together. You were just so perfect, and I was all over that. And then I walked into your office and I…”

I held back a chuckle at the beautiful tinge of pink on her cheeks talking about our spontaneous one-night stand.

“Shh, baby, you’re not making sense. Slow down.”

“I didn’t know what I wanted. Not then at least.”

I tucked my hands back into my pockets, sensing she needed to get whatever she had on her chest out. I sank back against my car and took in the pretty flutter of her dress in the summer breeze. The way sunshine played in the chestnut hair cascading down her back in curls.

Then it hit me.

The party she mentioned. There were probably tens of guests tucked away behind the tall fence shielding us away from their prying eyes. Whatever she had to say must be important for her to ask me over on a day like this.

She was going to leave me. The last three weeks still held a possibility for us even through all my growling, but now it was all over.

“Grayson, I know what I want.”

“So do I and before you say anything, hear me out.”

I took her hands into mine. I placed tender kisses on each knuckle and didn’t dare look into her eyes until I could speak without all the emotion in me clogging my throat and rushing to get out all at once.

I raised my gaze to hers. “When I saw you across the nightclub that evening, I was on my way out. But then I saw you. An angel all alone and something in you drew me close. Before then I despised nightclubs and bars, but I found a new appreciation for them after our night together. If only for that one night.”

I stopped, gathering my voice for the next part. “I love you, Cherry Connor. I have since I sank deep into you and claimed that beautiful body as mine that first night.”

“Grayson, how could you have loved me?”

“The same way I see the love in your eyes for me is the same way I can have love for you.”

I took her hands in one of mine and dropped to one knee in the middle of her front driveaway. Anyone who might be looking was welcome to watch. I wanted the whole world to see how I felt for my Cherry.

In spite of the feud between her father’s firm and mine, fate saw her as my soulmate. Who was I to stop the universe from bringing us together?

I reached into my pocket.

“Oh my God, Grayson. Where did you get that?”

“Remember the weekend I had planned for us?”

She nodded in silence.

“You’re my one, baby.” I held up the box I’d kept in my pocket since she left. “I want to give you this ring as a symbol of the undying love I have for you. But more than love is need. I need you in my life. Ask anyone around me. I’ve tortured anyone who dared be in my presence. I'm pretty sure someone has taken out a contract on me by now, and Morre is at the top of that list. Trust me. Without you I am half the man. You complete me. Will you marry me?”

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