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“Those aren’t bad things to want,” she said. “You’ve been through a lot. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy. Just make sure that you’re holding up your side of your relationship.”
“How do I do that?”
“Merrick takes care of you,” she said. “Just make sure you’re taking care of him too.”
We talked for a while after that and then I left, feeling oddly hollow. Like I’d unzipped my brain and emptied everything onto the floor of Gretchen’s office.
That night, we had dinner at the restaurant on the east side. The first place we’d ever gone together.
“How was your session?” he asked.
“Good,” I said, looking at him through the candlelight. “She asked about my sex life and I said you were horrible in bed.”
His brow shot up.
“Kidding,” I said quickly.
“You’re a menace,” he said. “I don’t care anyway. You’re going, that’s all I care about.”
I slipped my foot out of my heel and slid it up his leg under the table. His eyes narrowed and he shifted, parting his legs further. Letting me stroke up his thigh and find the hard ridge beneath his zipper.
“When are you going to marry me?” I asked.
He reached into his pocket and took out a black velvet box and slid it over the table. I froze, my heart thumping.
“Open it,” he ordered.
I obeyed, revealing a full set of engagement jewelry. Yellow gold and fine diamonds. So delicate it took my breath away. I glanced up at him and his lids were heavy, his eyes hungry.
“I made an appointment for you,” he said.
I swallowed, heart thumping. “To get pierced?”
He nodded once.
“Can you go with me?” I whispered.
“Traditionally the man doesn’t. Usually only women go, so I would ask Candice to accompany you.”
“When is it?”
“August,” he said. “If you’d like, I think September would be a good month to have the wedding.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “That sounds perfect.”
He cocked his head. “Is this what you want, cariad?”
“Yes,” I said, without hesitating. “This is what I want.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
MERRICK
Clara and Candice went out together a few weeks after we returned from New Hampshire. They had a lot of catching up to do so I had Yale and Caden take them out to the club. Before she left, Clara promised not to drink and I believed her. She’d stopped except for the weekends and a glass of wine at dinner.
Work was beating my ass. Cleaning up the mess from breaking the deal with the Cardiffs and losing the deal kept me up until well past midnight. I’d lost a handful of deals with some of Rhys Cardiff’s friends and there was a general distrust that was going to take time to undo.
All work in Wyoming was put on hold. For the last few weeks, I had no idea where we’d get the funding for the expansion, but Caden made it his top priority. Yale took over his organization duties and Caden put himself on a plane a day for the next week, meeting with top billionaires all over the world.
