Page 71 of Soulmate of the Mafia King
I nodded and thanked him, but once he left, I couldn’t help laughing. The salted caramel chocolate chip cookies were something Mom and I made in the kitchen when we were bored. The decadent dessert on the table in front of me, dripping bright red strawberry juice and tawny caramel onto the plate, looked more like a picture than food.
Tom smiled. “I had no idea what he was going to do with that.”
“Let’s see if he can beat my mom.” I picked up a fork.
Tom plucked it out of my fingers and speared a bite through the layers of flaky pastry, then held it to my lips. “Allow me.”
I swallowed, closed my eyes, and opened my mouth. He guided the bite inside, and I closed my lips around it. Complex, rich flavors burst over my tongue, and I moaned. It was incredible. When I opened my eyes again to tell Tom he had to try it, he was staring at my mouth with dark eyes.
“Sorry.” I blotted a crumb off my lips. “It’s really good.”
“Don’t apologize.” His voice sounded rough. “I want you to have the best of everything.”
I smiled. “That does make it hard for me to outdo you on our anniversary.”
He chuckled. “If my anniversary present every year is a day off and you in—or out of—lingerie, I’ll be a happy man.”
The words “every year” rippled over my skin. I scooped up a bite for him on the same fork and laid it on his tongue. His expression transformed into pure pleasure. We hadn’t even made it to the first year yet, but it already made sense. I couldn’t picture a future without Tom. I wanted surprises like this, nightsthat cost so much I couldn’t even tally up price tags. That was, until I started planning my own for him. A day off and lingerie could be enjoyed many places in the world.
We lingered over dessert, and when we were done, a waiter brought us short, finely cut glasses of port. We thanked him, and Tom asked me if I wanted to go to the top landing. I agreed instantly. We hadn’t even made it there last time, just to the open second floor. I held his hand on the long elevator ride to the very top, and the doors opened onto a silent, enclosed balcony. I ghosted over to the windows.
Everything seemed to fall silent. Paris spread out below me, glowing and beautiful. Tom stood at my side, his arm around my waist, and I leaned into him.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Thankyou,” he replied.
I looked up at him. “What? Why?”
He swallowed, and for a split second, I thought he looked nervous. “Paige, I was a very different man before I met you.”
“Not to hear Sera tell it.” I patted his chest. “I don’t think you were so?—”
He grabbed my hand, stilling me, and my heart skipped a beat. He had something serious to say.
“I was,” he said. “I’d been raised my whole life to be a mobster. Second-in-command. The man who took orders and cleaned up messes. Killian was kind enough to give me a chance to become my own boss but”—he met my gaze—“you offered me the chance to become my own man. Something more than the killer I was raised to be. You reminded me that all this wealth, all this success, doesn’t mean a damn thing if I just hoard it for myself. Fuck, Paige, you remind me every day that I’m so goddamn lucky. To have you, to be where I am. I don’t think I’d ever be as happy as I am right now if you hadn’t showed me how I could help people.”
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. “What are you saying, Tom?”
“I’m saying”—he released my waist, got down on one knee, and opened a ring box he produced from his jacket pocket—“that I’d like to keep being that happy, and keep making you happy, for the rest of my days. Will you marry me?”
My tears spilled. I didn’t even know why I was crying. My chest hurt with happiness. I threw myself at him without even looking at the ring.
“Yes! Of course, yes. God, Tom, if you think I make you happy, you don’t even know. You make me alive.”
He laughed a little and wrapped himself around me. He slid the gorgeous ring on my finger, and it sparkled in the light emanating from the tower.
Boom. I jerked my head up to see the noise as bright fireworks exploded over Paris in a crackle of glitter and laughed. Tom laughed with me, though he never looked away from my face. I perched on his knee and kissed his mouth, his cheeks, anywhere I could reach.
“I love you,” he said.
I pulled back and met his burning green gaze. “I think you’re a good dude.”
He laughed so loud we toppled to the floor of the observation deck, and I couldn’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be.
CHAPTER 54
PAIGE
