Page 62 of Devotion: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 1)

“I don’t want you to change your mind,” he uttered half jokingly.

Would I change my mind? I didn’t think so; although, it all seemed quick and almost reckless, it also felt right. Maybe I should tell him that?

I glanced around the library and saw what Ainslee was talking about.

“You had a busy morning,” I commented as I walked towards the back of the library where large windows allowed for the best lighting, tracing the beautiful carving on the desk he must have designated as mine. He had this whole section of the library redone already. There were shelves stocked with books he purchased yesterday from the bookshop. He was definitely thorough.

He didn’t move from his spot, but casually leaned against his desk, his hands in his pockets, observing my every move.

“I know what I want, Eve.” His voice was unwavering, unapologetic. “I want you as my wife. The chapel can marry us today, unless you tell me otherwise.”

I whipped my head around.

“Today?” I must have not understood him right.

“Yes, today,” he answered and I got a distinct feeling his calm was a deception. “Unless you tell me differently.”

“Why do you want to marry me, Lachlan?” I asked him instead. “You barely know me.”

“I know enough,” he retorted back, almost stubbornly. “I know you are strong, kind, beautiful inside and out. From the moment I saw you, my heart belonged to you.”

I took a sharp inhale. “There are things you don’t know about me,” my voice was a whisper. “And truthfully, I don’t know much about you.”

This was a side of Lachlan I hadn’t seen before. There was a stubborn, determined look in his eyes. “What do you want to know?” his voice was firm. “We have the rest of our lives to find out every single detail about each other. But ask me what you need to know, that will give you peace of mind to marry me.”

I took a deep breath in resignation. Today wasn’t going the way I envisioned at all.

“Okay,” I continued in resignation. “What is the deal with you and Layla?”

He didn’t even hesitate.

“We had a relationship about a year ago. It lasted a few weeks,” he started. “I knew within a few days, she was not the one for me and we could never get along. She fancies herself in love but she is more interested in my estate and wealth, along with social status. There was barely anything there between her and I a year ago and there is nothing between us today.”

“What if we do this and we realize in two months it is a big mistake?” Even as those words left my lips, I knew he could never be a mistake.

“Not possible,” his assurance was impressive. No wonder he was a successful businessman.

“Lachlan,” I tried to reason with him softly. “I am not the same person I was a year ago. I will never be that person. Part of me died on the night I lost my son. I don’t know that I could give you all you deserve. You deserve more.”

“I didn’t know you a year ago. I know you now and I love what I see. There will never be anyone else for me, Eve,” his voice was firm, his eyes locked on me. “You are the only one I want. Will you or will you not marry me?”

“Why does that sound like an ultimatum?” I asked him tilting my head, waiting for some reaction.

“It’s not,” he told me. “If you tell me you want to wait, I’ll wait. But I don’t want to wait. I want you now, for all eternity.”

I stared at him in silence. There was something so sexy about his confidence. I smiled inwardly. He was exactly the character I wrote in all my stories, but never believed in. The hero that always saved the day and swept the girl off her feet. Except I wasn’t a girl. I was a woman that had been betrayed by my husband, and ultimately devastated by the death of my child. Coming back from certain things was hard. Was he my saviour?

He continued without an ounce of reservation, so unlike me.

“I want to be the only one to fuck you, only one to touch you. I want to kiss you good night every night. Feel your body next to me as I wake up every morning. I want to love you the way you deserve. Your body wants me. For now, I’ll settle for that. I’m ready enough for both of us.”

As many words as I had written and heard in my lifetime, these were the most beautiful ones. I don’t know how I found myself back in front of him, my face staring into those beautiful grey eyes.

“Ok,” my voice was a trembled whisper. “Today then. But you have to understand that we still have a lot of things to work out. I know I have a lot of issues to work out. If we do this, we do it with our eyes open.”

“I know. And I don’t care. We’ll work through those together.”

I reached out my fingers and slowly brushed them against his strong jaw. He leaned into my touch, just as I seemed to always lean into his. His skin felt hot against my cold fingers. Were we like ice and fire?

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