Page 19 of Say I Do

“Don’t know what you’re looking for, but it better not be the door,” I warn her. It’s a dick thing to say, but it’s the truth. Gabriella isn’t going anywhere. I don’t care how crazy that makes me. Gabriella narrows her pretty eyes on me. Fucking good. Rather them on me than looking for an exit. I’ll take it.

“You made me sound like a whore, okay?” she blurts out. Her words shock the shit out of me.

“What are you talking about?” I suppose I'm not the only one who's gone insane. “Is this because of what we did in my office, then?” Did I cheapen our lovemaking? We might not have gone all the way, but it’s still that to me.

“It wasn’t what you did. I loved that. It was hot; it was what you said.”

“You have to fill me in here, babe. I’m fucking lost.” I’m not used to that shit either.

“That I was your personal assistant for home. The way you said it.” All right, maybe I could see that. She had been sitting in my lap.

“Fine, then.” I turn and storm out of the bedroom. I head toward the master and grab the box. When I come back, Gabriella is standing in the hallway.

“Are we breaking up then? Am I fired?”

“You’re insane,” I tell her. Breaking up is the absolute furthest thing from what I have in mind.

“Then you’ve made me insane.”

“Feeling is fucking mutual,” I tell her when I come to a stop right in front of her.

“You know what—” Gabriella stops speaking when I drop to one knee in front of her.

“There.” I slide the ring onto her finger. She stands with her eyes bouncing from me to the ring. “Okay, shit, notthere.” I grab Gabriella by the hips and pull her down into my lap. “I just fucked that up.” A small smile pulls at her lips. “I don’t know about labels or whatnot, but you’re mine. That’s all I care about. The personal assistant thing was bullshit; it was to get you here. That’s all I cared about.”

“Did you just ask me to marry you?”

“Not really asking.”

“Because you came inside of me.”

“Gabriella,” I growl, and it makes her giggle. Fuck yes. I needed that sound right now. She’s coming back to me.

“I don’t know about this stuff either. I’ll admit I think I might have taken the comment too close to heart because Lauren is so pretty, and there was a weird tension, so I thought maybe she assisted you at one time too.”

“No one compares to you, and there is only you. Lauren is nothing but someone who works for me.” I want to tell her I think she’s bland and rather fucking annoying right now, but Gabriella is so sweet I don’t think she’d care for the remarks. “You hear me?” I cup her face in my hand. “Only you.”

“Only you, too.”

When she smiles this time, I get the dimples.

The last twenty-four hours have almost killed me, but it was worth it because now I’ve got my ring on her finger.

14

GABRIELLA

“Are you sure I look okay?” I ask Caleb again as we ride the elevator down. He is the picture of perfection in his suit. You can tell it was made for him.

I smooth my hands down my sweater. When they’d brought a few items of clothing over for me to choose from, I got flustered. It was all so fancy and elegant. While the dresses were beautiful, I felt awkward in them.

Caleb had sent them out with the dresses, and when they’d come back, it was with an entirely new selection of things for me to choose from. It was still expensive. I can tell from the feeling, but the clothes were more me. I don’t know how Caleb was able to explain what would work for me, but he nailed it. The man is good at everything he does. I have noticed he has an eye for details and catches things others don’t.

I now have on a white knitted sweater with a cute cat on it wearing reindeer ears and a holiday scarf. It is paired with a plaid skirt, the colors matching, along with tights and my Mary Janes.

“I tried to have my way with you, but you stopped me,” he points out.

“You always want to have your way with me.” I laugh.

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