Page 42 of His Curvy Temptation

I sigh and rub my hand over my jaw, looking around the room. Is this the right time? The right place? I don’t know. I’ve overthought this moment for so long, trying to figure out how I know it’s the right time…

“Elijah, you’re kind of freaking me out. Is something wrong? Is it something about your family? Is everyone okay?”

“Everyone is fine,” I say. “This is good news. I think. Well. I guess whether it’s good news depends on what you say, but…”

“Please tell me what the hell you’re talking about,” Andy begs, her eyes wide. “I’m so confused right now.”

I shake my head, crossing the room quickly before I can change my mind. I tug the drawer of my nightstand open and pull the velvet box that’s been in there for months out, holding it up to her.

“I had a whole speech in my head,” I say gruffly. “I should have written it down though, because every time I think about giving this thing to you, my whole mind goes blank and I can’t think straight. So I’m going to do my best and you’ll have to let me write the speech down later…in a card, or some shit. I don’t know. I’m not good at talking about feelings and shit. You know that.”

Andy is smiling at me, her hands in her lap. That same adoration in her eyes, the kind I see multiple times a day. I have no clue how I got this lucky.

No fucking clue. But I know one thing; I’m not going to fuck it up, and I’m not going to let it slip through my fingers.

“Elijah Stone, are you asking me to marry you?”

“I…yes,” I say. Then I remember that I’m supposed to actuallyopenthe fucking ring box so she can see it while I propose. So I do that, and then get down on one knee in front of her on the bed.

“Look,” I say. “You belong to me. Okay?”

She raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t,” I warn her.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t give me the whole ‘I don’t belong to a man’ speech,” I say. “I know you were about to do it.”

“I was,” she laughs. “But okay. I won’t.”

“Good,” I reply. “Because like it or not, you belong to me. And honestly, I don’t give a fuck what you say to this proposal, I don’t give a fuck if you say no right now –”

“Excuse me?”

"-Because even if you say no,” I continue over her. “Even if you break up with me one day and never want to talk to me again…as far as I’m concerned, you will always belong to me. I intend to take care of you, now and always. There’s no turning back now, no getting out of that part of our deal.”

She stares at me, happiness on her face mixed with utter confusion.

“But…if you agree to be my wife, if you say yes, I also promise to make you happy,” I continue. “Not just protect you, but to spend the rest of my days doing everything in my power to give you the best life you can possibly have. To support your dreams, to lift you up. To be a soft place for you to land and a shoulder to cry on.”

I sigh deeply, wracking my brain for all of the eloquently worded speeches I’d practiced in my head before. The words aren’t coming easily at the moment, and the longer I talk, the more I seem to trip over my words.

“I might not always say the right things,” I say slowly. “That’s pretty clear at this point. But I want you to know that even if my words aren’t quite right, my actions will always show you who I really am and how I feel about you.”

“Elijah…” Andy says. “This is so unexpected. We’ve only been together for five months.”

“Six,” he says. “We met six months ago.”

“Yes, but we’ve only beendatingfor about five,” she says.

“Doesn’t matter,” I reply. “It’s like I said. You belong to me. You’ve belonged to me since I saw you. You’ve belonged to me for six months, four days, and…”

I glance at the clock on the nightstand.

“Seventeen hours,” I finish. “Maybe you didn’t know you belonged to me yet. But you did. And you always will, Andy. I love you. I love you so deeply that it scares me. After I got out of the military, I sort of pictured myself being alone. Just focused on my business…I thought it was enough. But it’s not enough. You came into my life and showed me just how lonely I was, how much I was missing. You make everything more meaningful, more important, because after I met you, everything I did became about you. Everything I do now, the man I strive to be on a daily basis, it’s for you. I want to be enough. I want to be good.”

“Youaregood,” she says. “And you are enough. You’re perfectly perfect for me, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”

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