Chapter 15
Riley
“Riley, will you marry me?”
There were some words before that. Something about an amazing woman and love of his life or some variation of that but I’m blanking most of that right now because all I can concentrate on is Cameron perched on one knee in front of me.
This isn’t real.
I have to keep telling myself that because the rational person inside of me is screaming at me to look out for the red flags. The flags aren’t real either so it’s okay. But is it?
One thing is for certain, the ring is real. Holy fucking shit is it real. It’s not just a diamond ring, it’s a rock. Like big enough to be Earth’s second moon.
Cameron widens his eyes discreetly and I realize that I haven’t said yes. I haven’t actually said anything. In fact, I’m not sure that I am breathing.
I take a breath, pumping oxygen back into my brain and shove a smile to the surface along with the threat of tears and a quick nod and say yes.
“Yes! Oh my god, yes.”
Cameron stands quickly and the crowd around us cheers. Then he slips the ring on my finger which happens to be the right size and he gives me a quick kiss before pulling me into his arms.
“Jesus…way to leave a man hanging,” he says through his teeth as he continues to smile.
“Well, you could have warned a girl. It’s only our second date, how was I supposed to know you were going to propose?”
“I think it was implied that we have to get things moving,” he whispers back.
“Well, the next time you mean moving down the aisle can you please let me know in advance? That way I can respond properly.”
“Damn, brother, you sure know how to keep a secret,” Trevyn is back with a bottle of champagne in hand.
“Is that…” I stutter, pointing at it.
“Dom Perignon? Yes,” Trevyn answers, handing it to Cameron while also juggling two champagne flutes that I assume are for us. “Of course, this is your bottle. I doubt my boy bought the good stuff for the whole room.”
“Actually, I did,” Cameron says and we watch as the wait staff goes around with trays of flutes for everyone.
Trevyn lets out a low whistle. “Your financial department is going to love that…”
Cameron grins, twisting the cork on the bottle. “I’m sure he will,” he adds. The cork pops and everyone cheers.
I need to sit down. And not just because of the weight of this ring which by the way is heavy. But I can’t. So I take a flute of champagne and wait for everyone else in the room to get theirs. Meanwhile, the crowd begins to chant again, but instead of kiss, kiss, kiss, it’s toast, toast, toast.
A toast? Fuck. If I am being honest, I didn’t take into the consideration all the little details of what this would be like.
I also didn’t realize that when he said we needed to get married to access the trust money he meant get married within the month.
Although, if it’s an economic proposition, I suppose we aren’t going to wait, are we?
I look at Cameron, almost apologetically that he keeps getting put on the spot. But he doesn’t waver. In fact, he seems prepared. I guess that makes sense considering he had a presized diamond in his pocket.
“Alright, alright,” Cameron says over the crowd. When everyone takes a bit to settle down, one of the nurses that I recognize as Sarah from the pediatric floor taps a spoon to a champagne glass. “I know to a lot of you this is probably a surprise,” he begins.
“We had no idea you were going to propose to your girl,” someone calls out.
“Hell, we had no idea you even had a girl!” someone else calls and the room chuckles.
I swallow hard, certain that our whole ruse is about to fall apart.
But Cameron just laughs along with them, cool as can be.
He slips an arm around me before going on.
“I’m not going to lie. Our relationship was meant to be a little on the low key side, only because her son is one of my new patients.
However, she has been in and out of the hospital a bit.
One of the times, she made a pretty big impression… ”
I know he’s referring to Halloween. I jab him for it, lovingly of course.
“She also made a lasting impression on my heart. Enough so that I wanted to make it official. To make her mine. Because as much as I love my job, my friends, and all of this, it’s all made even better by spending it with a partner. And I want that partner to be Riley Underwood.”
He turns to me and I don’t know what to say.
I mean, I suppose I have to say yes. But I guess my tongue is tied because everything he said sounded convincing.
Very…convincing. So as everyone raises their glasses to cheers us, I raise mine too.
Cameron smiles down at me with the discreetest of winks and kisses me again, a feeling I still haven’t gotten used to.
It’s hot, sweet, spicy and takes my breath away each time.
The man can kiss, I’ll give him that. In fact, he’s the best kisser that I’ve kissed in… a long time. Years.
Something in my chest grows a little tight.
There’s something nostalgic about it all, and not just because of the Christmas decorations everywhere, though holiday decor does have a way of taking you back.
No, it’s something else. Something I can’t fully place and decidedly don’t really want to.
The evening isn’t over and if we are going to keep this up, we are going to have to stay sharp.
That means no overthinking and hopefully no more kisses.
As good as they are, they’re throwing my game.