30. Chapter 30 #2
A hum of pleasure escapes me when he inches lower, pressing kisses against my throat. “I missed you too. So much .”
His laugh rumbles through me as he nips at my ticklish spot. I squirm and try to push him back, but he doesn’t budge, only lifts his head to meet my gaze. “So what’ll it be? Surprise first or dinner?” His hands tighten on my waist, then venture up and down, up and down. It’s incredibly distracting.
“Can't we just stay like this?” I ask, resting my hands against his chest. “Staring at each other for the foreseeable future?”
He raises one eyebrow. “If I stare too long, I’ll start to imagine things.”
“What kinds of things?”
“Things like kissing you until you can’t think straight.” His thumbs graze my ribcage.
“Thinking straight is overrated.” Gripping his shirt, I tug him forward.
His mouth moves over mine in the slowest, most delicious dance of my life.
My heart kicks into overdrive when he deepens the kiss and holds me tightly against him.
Each and every time we touch, Dane takes his time with me.
Like he’s in no rush and wants to savor every second we get to be together.
When he said we’d take it slow, he was telling the truth. I just never knew slow could be so... intense.
“We’d better get out of the street,” he rasps after we’re both completely breathless. “If we don’t, the neighbors might end up calling my mom again.”
I huff a laugh and slip from his arms. “Come on, let’s go.” I start toward his apartment, but he gives a light tug on my hand.
“Suprise first,” he says with secretive smile.
“You said I could choose. And I’m hungry.”
“No, you’re not,” he says, moving toward me. “You just want to make out with me in private.”
He’s not wrong. “It’s been days , Dane,” I whine, looping my arms around his waist. “We’ve already established that we missed each other. Shouldn’t we be making up for lost time?” I try to flutter my eyelashes like I’m a needy girl and not a respectable grown woman.
“Just humor me,” he says, extricating my arms from around him. “Please.”
“Fine,” I huff. What is it?”
“Close your eyes.”
I roll them instead. “Seriously? Am I five?”
“You’re sort of acting like it,” he teases, quirking my nose. “Come on, do me this one favor and then I’ll feed you to your heart’s content.”
“All right.” Crossing my arms, I give in and close my eyes. “Make it quick, Charles.” His chuckle is the only thing I hear before everything around me goes silent. Seconds tick by. “Dane?”
“I’m here.”
“Oh. You were so quiet.”
“That’s because I wasn’t here. But now I am.”
I frown. “You’re being weird.”
“Glad you noticed.” A breathless laugh loosens from his chest just before his voice sounds much, much closer. “Don’t open your eyes yet, but...are you ready?”
“Uh, I think so? Like I said, you’re being really weird and—”
He presses a finger against my lips. “Be quiet and open your eyes.”
I do. And my breath catches as I bring up a hand to cover my gasp. “Dane.”
“What do you think?”
Stepping forward to inspect what he’s done, I run a hand over the glass window. My new fashion brand logo stares back at me, permanently etched in pink into the storefront below his apartment’s window.
Lights illuminate the space from within, giving me a glimpse into what could be.
Two clothing racks with a few of the things I’ve made for Dane hanging off them sit in the center, and a long counter takes up the right-side wall.
Brand new shelving has been installed all around, and don’t even get me started on the gorgeously refinished hardwood floors.
“Daria?” Dane says, hesitantly this time. “What do you think?”
I tear my eyes away from the store and look at my boyfriend. The mixture of excitement and uncertainty in his expression proves just how much thought and effort he put into this. I’ve never before felt so full of love and admiration.
“I want to marry you,” I blurt just before slapping a hand over my mouth.
His gaze burns brighter than the streetlamp above our heads. “Did you just...propose to me?”
“No,” I snap. “I said I want to see the inside before I share my thoughts.”
Dane starts toward me, but I back up. Before I can get away, he crowds me until I’m pressed against the glass window at my back. “Liar.”
I gulp. He’s never called me out on the way my words completely contradict my actions before. I’m not sure how to respond.
His entire body leans into mine, keeping me firmly in place. “You love me, and you know it. You love that I did this for you.” He jerks his chin toward the shop behind me. “And you wish with all your heart that I’d get down on one knee right now and beg you to marry me.”
When I don’t respond, he lowers his elbows against the glass, bringing his lips to the shell of my ear. “It’s okay to admit it, D. Because I love you too.”
“You’re going to ruin the new sign,” I say on a shaky breath.
“It’s a stick-on,” he says before placing a tender kiss below my ear. “In case you hated it.”
I grip his sides, needing to hold myself steady. This man has shifted my entire world, my entire future, by loving me. By not giving up on me when I pushed and shoved him away.
“Now,” he murmurs against my skin, lightly skimming his nose under my jaw. “If you say please like a nice girlfriend, I’ll show you another surprise.”
“Arrogant to think you can top this.” I tap the glass behind me, trying so hard to hold onto my last bit of bravado.
“You’re so stubborn,” he says with a chuckle, then looks me dead in the eye. “Say please, Daria,” he teases. “You know you want to.”
I lick my lips and search his eyes. He doesn’t have to get on one knee and beg. His crystal blue gaze gives his every intention away. And I already know I’d give him anything.
“Please,” I whisper, giving way to the tears that instantly collect on my lower lashes.
Like he practiced this moment a hundred times, Dane reaches into his pocket. Seconds later, a glittering diamond ring winks up at me from between his fingertips. “Will you be my wife, Daria Delaney Dantez? Will you put me out of my misery, take my last name, and move back in with me... forever ?”
Hot tears spill over my lashes and down my cheeks. I can’t bring myself to say a word, but I nod before letting my head fall to his chest. Bawling my eyes out like a little baby while Dane slips the ring onto my finger, I clutch his shirt for dear life.
I don’t deserve him. I don’t deserve this. The repeating mantra forces me to second guess everything.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask, unable to drag my eyes up to meet his. “I’m a lot to handle, Dane, as you well know. I’m mean and messy and—”
“Mine,” he growls, tipping my chin up toward him. “You’re mine. And I want all of you. Every bit you’ve tried to hide, every part that you think is ugly and I find adorable...everything.”
“You just said mine to finish the alliteration for me.” I try for a smile, but it ends up being another sob.
“Daria, I love you. I want to spend my life proving to you how sure I am that I’ll always want this. Want us .” With his large, capable hands, he wipes my tears away. “I just need to know that you’ll let me,” he says in a small voice. “Will you let me be your husband?”
I suck in a shuddery breath. “Yes.” All the fight leaves me with that one simple word.
With a smile, Dane pulls me in and kisses me again. “Do you really like the shop?” he asks.
“I love it.” I bury my hands in the hair at his nape. “And I love you.” Another soft kiss. “Will you show me the inside?”
“Let’s go.” Dane takes my hand and gives me a rundown of all the work he’s done in the space.
“Okay, but how much is it a month?” I ask, mentally preparing to have my too-perfect parade rained on.
“For you? It’s free.” Dane sticks his hand in his pockets and rocks back on his heels.
“What do you mean, it’s free?” I cross my arms and glare at him. “I won’t allow you to pay my rent, Dane. We might be getting married, but this is my business.”
“True,” he says, taking a step toward me. “But since this is my building, I don’t require rent from you.”
“You—you own this building?” I sputter. “How? When?”
“I’ve owned it ever since I moved in,” he says with a shrug like it’s common knowledge. “Oh, that reminds me.” He snaps his fingers as if he just remembered an important detail. “I’m also the co-owner of your new apartment building.”
My mouth flaps open at that. “You...what?”
He smirks, sauntering over to me with all the swagger he possesses. “Theo and I are business partners. Have been since college. I would pick the properties and manage the renovations and upkeep, and he would invest. Now, we’re more like seventy/thirty.”
“But...” I think back to signing the lease with Mr. Turcko. “You don’t manage that property. I’ve never seen you there.”
He tilts his head, amusement shining in his eyes. “Not directly, no. I hire people to manage them for us. Mostly, we just manage our investments.”
“Oh my gosh.” I put a hand to my forehead, embarrassed that I somehow missed this. “How did I not know this about you?”
“Because I purposely kept it a secret.” The humor in his voice holds a hint of regret.
“Mostly because I feel it’s important to protect my investments, and we didn’t know each other well when you moved in.
Then when you made it known how much you hated me.
..” He shrugs. “It didn’t feel pertinent to tell you that I also owned your building. ”
A half laugh, half scoff echoes in my throat. “I would’ve moved out.”
“See?” He chuckles. “I had your best interests in mind.”
“And now?” I watch him, still completely taken back by this news. “What else don’t I know about you, Charles Dane?”
His expression turns solemn. “Nothing. You already know everything else that’s important.” Taking my hands, he lifts them to his lips. “But ask me anything and I’ll tell you.”
I lift my finger to gently trace it along his lower lip. “I want to know when you’re going to walk me down the aisle.”
His smile grows, turning slightly wicked. “As soon as you’ll have me.”
The wheels immediately begin to turn in my brain.
But the more I think over when to marry the man who completely captured my heart, the more I realize that it doesn’t actually matter when it happens.
Because either way, I’m his and he’s mine, whether we wait until a year from now or run away tonight.
He owns the piece of me I swore to never give away—my heart.
And he will always be what I craved most—my home.
THE END