Page 78 of Stone Rules

“But no one else has, right?”

“I’ve told you before, Charlie. I don’t like to share.” I pull her tightly against me, her back to my front. “Watch with me. I want you to see what I see every time I look at you.”

She doesn’t move a muscle as she watches the video footage from that day in my office. She watches herself beg me to touch her. She watches us kiss for endless minutes, clawing at each other to get as close as we can physically get. She watches us tear each other’s clothes off and then she watches as I go down on her. And the whole time, I’m watchingher.

I’m already rock hard and her sitting on my lap is making me throb painfully. The video is affecting her, too. She starts squirming around as she watches my tongue lash her, my fingers enter her.

I finally turn my eyes to the screen and we watch together as she implements rule number sixty-nine. “Still my favorite rule,” I whisper in her ear. My hands come up to touch her. I can’t not touch her when I’m watching us do this to each other. I want to do all that and more. And her body’s reaction tells me she wants it, too. But I need her to see it. I need her to see what I see.

When we start to make love in the video, her breath hitches and I know she sees it. She sees her face the moment I enter her. And when we orgasm together, she sees our powerful connection. The undeniable force. The overwhelming love that passes between us.

“Oh God, Ethan,” she says breathlessly, turning herself around in my lap so she’s straddling me.

“You saw it, didn’t you?” I ask. “You can’t deny it anymore. That is the look I see every time I kiss you. Every time I walk into a room and our eyes meet. Every time we are together, that is how you look at me. You love me, Charlie. Dammit, why can’t you just admit it?”

“Maybe because it’s not just me anymore.”

I put my hands on her stomach. “I love that it’s not just you. I want this, Charlie. I want us. I want our family.”

She looks down to see my hands caress her belly. “Are you sure, Ethan? I mean are you really sure? I need to know that no matter what happens, you won’t leave. Because . . .” —her voice hitches and a tear escapes her eye— “Because everything you said is true. And I don’t think I could take it—having you and then losing you.”

“I’m sure,” I promise her. “You could never lose me. No matter what.”

She nods, her tears flowing freely down her face until I reach my thumb up to wipe them. “Okay. Then ask me again,” she says.

It takes a second for my brain to catch up with her words, but when it does, a sense of elation washes over me. It’s the purest form of happiness I’ve experienced in over eight years. I reach over into the top drawer of my desk and pull out a box. The box that has been sitting in there since the day after I found out Charlie was pregnant.

I open it and pull out the ring. It’s big. It’s over the top. It’s ostentatious. And it’s more money than I’ve ever spent on anything short of my cars and my penthouse. But I knew if I was lucky enough to have her wear it, I would want the world to know she was mine.

Her eyes go wide when she sees the massive sparkling diamond on the platinum band.

“I swear to you, you’re stuck with me, Charlie. For better or worse. Both of you. And I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you don’t regret it.” I hold the ring out to her. “Charlie Anthony Tate, marry me. Make me your husband and the father of our child. Say yes and make me happy beyond my wildest imagination.”

She nods through her tears, licking them as they hit her lips. “Yes,” she says. Her forehead comes down to meet mine. “Yes,” she repeats, our lips so close they are almost touching.

“Say it, Charlie. Tell me you love me.”

“I love you,” she breathes into my mouth. “I love you so much, Ethan.”

I close my eyes, savoring her words. The words I never thought I wanted to hear. The words I never thought I needed. I weave my hands into her hair, pulling her the last few millimeters until her lips meet mine.

And I kiss her. I kiss her with everything that I have. We taste each other’s tears. We feel each other’s love. It’s a moment I know we’ll never forget. It’s a moment I hope to relive with her over and over again.

I realize I haven’t put the ring on her finger yet. But before I do, I tell her, “This ring will protect you, just as I’ll always protect you. Look inside.”

She takes it from me, squinting her eyes to see the tiny engraving on the inside of the band.

Rule #14 – Forever

Next to the words is a tiny engraving of a unicorn.

“Oh, Ethan. It’s perfect,” she says. “Sothat’swhat happened to rule number fourteen.”

I smile, taking the ring from her and slipping it onto her long slender finger. I admire it on her. “It looks good on you, fiancée.”

She looks at the computer screen, laughing. “Did we really just get engaged over porn?”

I laugh along with her. “Yeah. I guess we’ll have to change the story when it comes to telling our kids.”

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