Page 47 of One Night in My Rival's Bed

‘No, but there’s a first time for everything, right?’ There was a definite twinkle in his eye and his tone was playful.

‘Right.’

He came a little closer and I snatched in an even breath. Being so close to him tested my willpower. I wanted to throw myself at him, to wrap my arms around his trim waist and lay my head on his broad chest. But I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. What if this was only a social call? Or a visit to talk about Ethan and Niamh’s house? There could be any number of reasons he was here apart from the one I hoped.

‘Erm...are you here about your handkerchief?’ I asked.

He gave me a blank look. ‘What handkerchief?’

‘The one you lent me the evening we met Ethan and Niamh at the restaurant when they announced their engagement. I should’ve given it back to you before now.’ I could feel my cheeks heating and wondered if he knew why I had kept it.

‘I’m not here about that.’

‘Oh.’

‘I’ve missed you.’ His voice was deep and serious, not hint of playfulness now.

I licked my suddenly dry lips. ‘I’ve missed you too.’ Okay, maybe showing a little vulnerability wasn’t too over the top. But I was wary because what if he just wanted to be friends with benefits? I wanted much more than that. Much more. I wanted the fairy tale.

He reached out to take my hands in his and I had to suppress a gasp of pleasure as his fingers wrapped around mine. His gaze met mine and my stomach hollowed out at the desperate longing I could see in the grey-blue depths of his eyes.

‘I don’t think anyone has ever touched me the way you touched me,’ he said.

‘Yes, well, we did push a few boundaries in the bedroom.’ Here’s the thing—when I’m nervous I use humour to cover how I’m feeling.

Grayson laughed and tugged me a little closer. ‘That’s exactly why I love you so much. You constantly make me laugh.’

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open. ‘What did you just say?’

‘I said, you constantly make me laugh.’ His eyes were practically dancing their way out of their sockets and his smile was wider than I had ever seen it before.

‘The bit before that...’ I moistened my dry lips again, my heart pounding like a drum inside my ribcage.

He squeezed my hands and brought them up to his chest, holding them against the solid steady thud of his heart. ‘I love you, my darling.’

I blinked. I blinked again. Could this be really happening? Was I imagining this, or did he just say the words I longed to hear?

‘That’s what I thought I heard you say, but I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not.’

‘You’re not dreaming. This is real. What I feel for you is real. I just wish I had realised earlier. I love you so very much. These past few weeks have been a living torture without you.’ He brought his mouth down to mine and kissed me passionately, thoroughly, hungrily.

After a few breathless minutes he pulled back to look down at me again.

‘When you said at the wedding that you thought I saw you, the real you, I wasn’t ready to admit that you saw the real me too. We have so much in common and yet I was denying the connection from the start, even before we began our fling. I was determined to keep away from you because I think, on a subconscious level, I knew you spelled danger.’ He wrapped his arms around me and held me close to his chest, his chin resting on the top of my head. ‘I can’t believe I let you go like that. I was so stubborn, so scared, to be honest. You threatened me because you opened your heart to me, and I didn’t have the courage to open mine to you.’

I lifted my head off his chest to gaze up at him through shimmering eyes. ‘I can’t believe you love me. I think I fell in love with you when you first kissed me. I tried so hard not to fall for you. I knew it was not part of the deal, that we said no feelings were to be involved, but you made it impossible for me to resist you.’

He smiled and brought one of his hands up to cup my cheek, his eyes meshing with mine. ‘I spent a lot of time over the past few weeks thinking about my life. The mistakes I’ve made in not facing up to what I really want. I’d told myself I didn’t want to settle down. I’d seen my parents go through a bitter divorce; I’d seen good friends drift away after Ethan’s accident. Love didn’t seem something I could rely on. I didn’t want to rely on it and get hurt the way my mother and Ethan got hurt. The way I got hurt. But I realise now I need to take the chance because life is not always predicable. Love is what gets you through the unpredictability if you’re lucky. And spending that time with you made me see how lucky I was to have you in my life. And I want to keep you in my life. For ever.’ His hand moved from my cheek to take something out of his pocket.

I swallowed and stared at the velvet ring box with my heart leaping in my chest. ‘Is that what I think it is?’

He grinned and flipped open the lid of the tiny box. ‘This ring belonged to my grandmother. She wore it for sixty-two years and loved my grandfather for every single one of them. Will you marry me, my darling girl?’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The ring was beautiful—exactly the sort of ring I would have chosen for myself. ‘Oh, darling, of course I’ll marry you.’

He took the ring out of the box and slipped it on my left hand. I wasn’t one bit surprised it was a perfect fit. It seemed to confirm our destiny to be together, the unification of two families who were once bitterly estranged.

‘I have to tell you I’m not a fan of long engagements,’ Grayson said. ‘It only took a couple of weeks to pull off Ethan and Niamh’s wedding.’

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