Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 223(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 149(@300wpm)
"I'm so fucking sorry, baby," I whisper, wishing like hell I could bring him back for her, but I do understand where she's coming from. For her, there's safety in control. There's comfort in knowing. And after a loss like that, where I'm guessing she still doesn't have all the details because the mission was classified, feeling like she has a little bit of control is the one thing that keeps her moving forward.
I love that she gives it up to me so easily. She trusts me to keep her safe and to protect her. But there are limits. For her, there probably always will be. She lost her brother and won't ever have all the answers as to how or why. I can live with her needing to know what's happening in her life. If she needs that to feel safe and secure, I can give it to her.
"I talked to Alex today to ask her to hire you on," I murmur. "She couldn't make any promises, and I don't want to get your hopes up, but she's going to float your name in front of the DA and see what she can do."
"I've interviewed in a lot of places," she says.
"Yeah, but you haven't interviewed in the right place, Paisley. Even if the job here doesn't come through, the place you're meant to be will materialize."
She doesn't say anything for a long moment, processing that. "You'd really move to LA with me?"
"If that's where you end up? Absolutely. It's not my favorite city in the world, but anywhere with you is home to me."
She cracks a smile, her gaze flickering across my face. "So…we're really doing this, huh?"
"Fuck yeah, we are," I whisper, slipping my hand into my pocket. I pull out the ring I bought her three years ago, clutching it in my fist. "You want to know where I went the morning after Lucy and Oliver's wedding?"
"I thought you went to the airport?"
"Besides the airport?"
Her gaze flickers across my face again before she nods.
"Hold out your hand."
Her brows furrow, but she doesn't ask any questions before holding her hand out, palm up.
"I was buying this." I drop the ring into her hand.
She glances down at it, and then blinks, a gasp spilling from her lips. "Ridley, this is a ring," she whispers, her voice strangled.
"Yeah, baby."
"You b-bought me a ring?"
"Yep."
Her gaze flies to mine.
She looks so shocked, I can't help but chuckle. "I planned to come back here and put it on you. I was even going to follow you to Stanford. I figured we'd get a place there so you'd be close to school, and I could commute back and forth a few days a week to help out around here."
Her face falls, her chin wobbling. "We messed it all up, didn't we?"
"Nah, Dimples. We just took a little detour getting here."
"What?"
I take the ring from her hand and then brush a kiss across her knuckles before sliding the ring on her finger where it belongs. It fits her perfectly. "We didn't break it. It's not over. This is still yours, and my last name will be, too, just as soon as you're ready to change yours."
"Ridley," she gasps, her lips slightly parted. "Are you…?"
"No. I'm not asking you, Dimples." I cup her cheek, grinning at her. "That was never part of the plan."
"Oh, really?" She arches a brow at me. "Then what was the plan?"
"To slip it on your finger while you were sleeping and then tell everyone you said yes so you felt like you had to follow through and marry me."
That was the plan. And if it didn't work, Plan B involved begging on my knees until she agreed. Whatever it took to make her mine. The plan hasn't really changed. I'll beg if that's what it takes. I'll kidnap her to the damn courthouse if I have to do it. Anything it takes to get my ring on her finger and my last name added to the end of hers.
"Ridley!" A shocked laugh erupts from her lips.
"I wasn't taking chances, Dimples. If I ask, you can say no. But if I don't ask…" I shrug, smirking. "Well, you can't break a motherfucker's heart if he doesn't give you a choice in the matter."
"You really think I'd say no?"
I roll her beneath me, crawling over her. "You're the only thing in this world that I've ever wanted. Do I think you'd say no? I sure as hell hope not…but I'm ignorant, not stupid, Dimples. Why chance it?"
She loops her arms around my neck, my favorite sweet smile playing at her lips.
"Then let's not chance it," she whispers, pulling my head down to hers.
Chapter Eleven
Paisley
"What do you mean, we're having dinner with your parents tonight?" I squeak, spinning around to look at Ridley so fast I make myself dizzy.