Page 105 of Out of the Shadow

Reaching for her hips, I pull her close and kiss her ear. “I had a great day today, Angie.”

She stiffens for a second, but only a second, before melting against me. I love how all her soft curves fit against my hard planes. I just love this woman. Period.

“I did too, King.” She rolls her head back. “And it’s adorable that Diego is so excited for NYU.”

At the mention of my Little Brother, pride wells up inside my body. “He’s a good kid. He’s going to make his mark on the filmmaking world, I know it.”

She nods. “With you in his corner, I have no doubt that he’s going to hit amazing highs.”

Here’s my opening. “So what about you?”

She cocks her head. “What do you mean?”

I let her go, but only so I can open up the drawer to the side table, taking out a pen and notepad with Russo Real Estate stamped on the pages. Before we left, I scrawled “Angie & King’s Bucket List” across the top. She becomes still when she sees what I’ve written. I take her hand and lead her to the sofa.

Sitting next to her, I say, “I know you made one of these with Dante over a decade ago, but most of the items have been ticked off. I want to honor him by making a brand new Bucket List for us.Ourgoals and dreams. What do you think?”

She rubs her tattoo, then swallows. “I think it’s a great idea.”

Even though I never met Dante, he’s been a part of our lives since the beginning. I’m grateful to him for loving my Angie as deeply as he did. He nurtured her when they were kids, and his death imbued her with a sense of focus and strength. Now it’s my turn to help this amazing woman fly free.

I lick my lips. “You’ve already established Russo Real Estate in Aroostook, but we need to take it to a higher level. Ultimately, I would like to establish a whole network of offices across Long Island. What do you say?”

Her chocolate brown eyes light up. “I never thought of that! We could open a whole bunch of offices in all of these little beach towns. I love it.” Smiling, I write that down and hand her the pad.

She places the tip of the pen in her mouth and sucks, causing my cock to stir in my shorts.

She pops the pen out of her mouth. “How about we add training of new real estate agents to our list? I didn’t want to do that before because it felt desperate, but if we keep growing, I think we should share what we’ve learned with aspiring agents.”

“I’m not a great teacher, by any means, but it could be fun. I loved the course I took online, so maybe we could play around with the structure.”

She nods and writes it down, then hands the pad back to me. Instead of sharing my thought out loud, I scribble it down and pass her the notepad when I’m done.

Angie takes it from me and reads aloud. “We get married, have babies, and go on endless adventures.” She sucks in her breath.

While she’s reading, I fall to my knee next to her and reach into my pocket, grabbing the little box I’ve been carrying around with me for the past week that was blessed by her parents tonight. Mouth wide open, she bends her head down toward me. I grab her left hand.

“Angela Romano Russo, you mean the world to me. You’ve taught me what love is. What family means. I wake up each morning happy because you’re in my life. I never want that to change.” My eyes flick down to the box, and I open it. A three-quarter-carat round brilliant solitaire set in a twisted vine rose-gold ring shank. “I know it’s not a huge rock, but it represents you. Us. Perfect and classic and elegant, with a hint of sass thrown in.”

I hold the box up, blood pounding in my ears. And I say the words I had never thought I would speak to any woman. Ever. “Angie, I promise to love you more tomorrow than I do today, if that’s even possible. I want to share all of our long years together, making babies and enjoying adventures, both big ones and the everyday adventures that make a shared life. Will you marry me?”

One lone tear runs down her cheek. She opens her mouth but nothing comes out at first. For a moment, nerves get the better of me—did I ask too soon?—then she blurts, “Yes! Oh my God, King, yes! I will marry you.”

I remove the ring from the box and slip it onto her left ring finger. She brings her head to mine and cups my cheek like she’s done a million times. Only this time, she rubs her finger under both of my eyes and removesmytears. Then she kisses me like it’s our first time.

“I hope you like the ring. It’s not big or anything—”

“Shhh, it’s beautiful. And just the right size. I love it.”

“Your parents told me you’d say that. I didn’t want to overspend. I’m not that person anymore.”

“You asked my parents?”

I return to my seat at her side and kiss her nose. “Today, while you were doing dishes.” They both hugged me as if I were already family.

“I love you, King Hunte.” Her lips crash on mine again.

Talking time is over. Heart pounding, I wrap my arms around her and stand, carrying her into our bedroom while my lips remain fused to hers. We strip off each other’s clothes and make love, crying out in pleasure throughout the night.

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