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I know that he loves me. I know that he wants me. And I damn well know that he needs me. He’s asked me to marry him over and over again, but never in the tone that he did last night, never when we were having sex. Sure, afterwards it, in the bliss of an orgasm, but last night – he was more determined.
So, I’m not sure what he was trying to prove last night, but I know that I liked it.
I stretch as a cat stretches after laying around all day, from head to toe. My body is sore in all the right places, my inner thighs are tender, my arms feel weak. I roll over onto my stomach and my arm brushes against Gunnar’s side.
He makes a soft noise and rolls to his side to face me. With a lazy smile and one eye open, he drapes his arm around my body, pulls me to him and buries his head into my shoulder.
“It’s so early, go back to sleep,” he groans.
“I can’t. I need to get ready for work.” I mumble.
“Call in, you don’t need to really be there, you’re done there anyways. Take the rest of the time we’re here in San Diego and just hang out,”
“I have so much to do, there’s a lot of information that lives up here.” I say pointing to my head. “And I need to give it to Rachael before we leave.”
You’re too good of an employee,” he says.
“I was thinking, a way to go about squashing all this stuff that’s in the gossip rags and whatnot.”
He props his head on his hand and waits for me to continue.
“I was thinking that we make a trip to Arizona and do some photo ops with Julia. One that is staged and planned, where we’re obviously there together and very obviously purchasing a home. Also, I’m hoping that if any of this reaches her, that we squash that immediately. I would hate for rumors to ruin her business or to reach her family.”
“So, a passively aggressive way to say fuck off to whoever the idiot was that Photoshopped those photos and whatever?”
“Kind of. Also, a way to show that we’re still going strong and that the person who sold those photos is a fraud. I also had another idea.” I let this last bit linger and saved it for last on purpose.
“Yeah, what’s that babe?” he asks with his eyes closed.
“What if we did all these publicity type planned photos, with an engagement ring?”
Gunnar’s eyes open wide and he jumps out of bed. He says nothing as he walks with determination across the bedroom stumbling over his own feet and into our walk in closet. A moment later, he walks out; unfazed that he is completely naked and lowers himself to one knee beside my side of the bed.
He holds out a black and gold velvet box with his hand visibly shaking.
“I’m not going to give you some cheesy line, but you know that I fucking love you. I want to share my world, all of my days and my nights with you. Will you finally freaking marry me?”
A LARGE ROCK weighs my left hand as I pose for a photo in front of Julia’s real estate office. When we called her, she was all too eager to eliminate any potential rumors before they got out of hand for her locally in Arizona and began to affect her business if anyone recognized her from the images.
We also intended to use the new publicity for a few features that I managed to discuss with Dwayne as well pertaining to their trades and giving the region a chance to get to know the new players as well. It was my first official task with the organization, something that I was proud of thinking up on the cuff. I had retrieved some reporter contact information for the Sun Valley Times in Phoenix and they set me up with a few opportunities to get them to run a feature and to give off a hint of where the new Gila monster catcher will be, to purposely find us. Dwayne coordinated a photographer from the department to also be on hand as well.
As an added bonus for being in Arizona, we planned to get the inside scoop on interior designers for the new house and had that arranged for distance photographs as well. Gunnar and I always had one arm wrapped around the other or we were holding hands with very little space in between us. Granted, a skilled person can still Photoshop me out of the photo, but we were doing what we could to make it difficult, just in case. One of my hands was also on his back or front at all times, we weren’t taking any chances.
After a daylong of purposeful marketing, Gunnar and I settled into our hotel room and with a lingering kiss good night, we fell asleep with our bodies wrapped around another.
I woke up the next morning, my body feeling exhausted from the previous day, and Gunnar was already awake, sitting up in bed with his back against the bed frame while reading something on his phone.
“News is out,” he says as I move around in bed to get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.
“Yeah? Which news?” I ask.
“That my long-time girlfriend finally agreed to marry me,” he replies with a smile.
“If I’m asked how the proposal was, can I say that you did it while we were naked?” I mumble against the sheets with a lazy smile. I open my eyes and see him shooting daggers at me. I hold up my hand and look at the ring on my finger.
“I’m not sure why we waited so long, I look good with this on my finger.” I smile.
EIGHTEEN
