Page 62 of Single Dad's Second Chance

I nodded and shrugged. “I struggled with staying in my secretary position. I could make more just working at Danger. Or elsewhere. I know I’m a skilled dancer, but I never wanted to leave the office. It was the family I never had. I never wanted to giveyouup, because seeing you was the highlight of my life.”

“Fuck. Mia…” he whispered, stepping closer to hug me.

I retreated, warding him off. “No.” If he touched me, I’d cave. I’d want to lean on him for support and never let him go. “Let me get it all out.”

He frowned, watching me closely.

“I wanted to save up to pay off my student loan debts for my bachelor’s degree. I wanted to save up to expunge my record and have a career, but I know I won’t be able to go into law with my record now, anyway. My ex, Dennis, also ran up high credit card bills. But most of all, I wanted to save up to expunge my record. Dennis met me right after my mom passed away. I’d just turned eighteen and I had no one. My dad’s in prison. My mom was gone. It was just me, and Dennis exploited my loneliness. I worked ahead to try to finish my bachelor’s degree early, to go into law school. He conned me into helping him with a ‘favor’ he and his friends had arranged. Long story short, he was breaking in to burglarize an apartment. He had a weapon. I did not. I had no clue what was happening, thinking I was picking him up from a party or something. I wasn’t. He framed me when he almost got caught, and I was charged for a crime I didn’t commit or know about. I served a couple of months and had to do a lot of community service. That’s what Ann unearthed about me. I met Eddie at a rehab sort of event designed to give former criminals a second chance at life. I asked him not to tell anyone about my past because I didn’t want one mistake to define me. I didn’twant my debt or past to define me. I wanted my hard work to define me. It’s obvious that my past does define me, though, where you’re concerned.”

He stepped closer and took my hand to hold between his. “Mia. No. It doesn’t. I’m sorry for lashing out how I did. I wish I could take back every single word I said. I wasn’t judging you. I thought I was defending you from Ann slandering you. I thought she was making it all up to attack you. I was surprised and so confused. You’re a good woman, a good person, and I was stupefied that you could’ve ever done something to be in trouble for.”

“I didn’t. I just made the mistake of loving the wrong man.”

He tugged me closer, tipping my chin up so I’d face him. “I wish things could be different between us, Mia. You’ve never been ‘just an employee’ to me. I’ve struggled with remembering that we were supposed to only be friends. It broke my heart to see you so upset, and I hated myself for ever making you want to leave.”

I lowered my gaze, touched by his words but afraid to believe that he meant them. Once more, he gripped my chin and gently urged me to face him.

“And I will spend every day of the rest of my life proving to you that you’re so much more than your past. You’re my future, Mia. I want you to be my wife. The mother of my children. My partner to grow old with. If you’ll have me, if you have enough room in your heart to forgive me, that’s how I want to define you. Asmine. Because I’m lost without you.”

I blinked, warring with the smile that almost broke free. I clung to a remnant of doubt, though, nervous to believe him.

But then he lowered to a knee and pulled a vintage ring box out of his pocket. He opened it and held it up to me, showing me—without a shred of hesitation—that he was serious.

“Mia, please put me out of my misery and marry me?”

Joy filled my heart, spilling over and infusing me with excitement. I lost the fight with a wide grin, laughing as I let it cover my face. “Well, to put you out of your misery…” I held my hand out, fingers splayed.

It was happening. This was it. All my dreams. Those high hopes and out-of-reach fantasies. They were all coming true with his proposal. My heart raced, and I feared I’d pass out from sheer elation.

“Will you marry me?” he asked again, almost as though he feared he was imagining my acceptance.

I nodded. “I’ll marry you, Henry.”

He smiled, sliding the ring on my finger as he stood to kiss me. Enveloped in his arms, I surrendered to his demand to kiss him back.

It was perfect, an episode of kismet as I clung to him and held him close.

“I love you, Mia.” He rested his brow against mine. “I love loving you, and I will never stop.”

I laughed, charmed by how eager he was to say it.

“I’ll scream it from the rooftop.” He guided me back to the bed, kissing me again and again, as if he couldn’t get enough of my lips. “I’ll shout it from the mountains.”

I nodded, yanking his shirt to tug it off. Lust flooded in, lighting me up with an impatient need to celebrate this milestone.

I had a fiancé. We were engaged. And I wanted to mark it in style, with him deep inside me.

“I want to see you pregnant with my babies.” He caught on to this feverous need to get naked, pushing at my clothes between hot, desperate kisses.

“I want to hear you call me your husband.”

“Nagging it?” I asked as I helped him lower my shorts then step out of them.

“Nag. Argue. Beg. Whatever. I will listen to everything you tell me to do,” he growled. His fingers made quick work of my bra as I shoved at his pants and boxers.

“Everything?” I asked as he stepped out of his clothes, his hard, hot body bare and mine to enjoy.

“Everything,” he promised.

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