Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
He added a little extra?
Oh my God, I’m going to be sick. I lift my eyes to his, and my vision starts to blur. “I don’t want that.”
“Penny.”
“No.” I shake my head and shove away from the table so I can stand. “Keep your money, Jace.”
Grabbing my clutch, I walk as fast as the heels on my feet will allow and shove through the door of the restaurant, hearing him coming up behind me as I walk down the sidewalk.
“Penny!” he shouts, but I ignore him. “God dammit.” He grabs my arm and spins me around to face him.
“Let me go.” I try to tug free, but he’s stronger than I am, and his hold is firm.
“Talk to me. What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t want your money. I’m not a whore, Jace.”
“You know I didn’t give you that money because I think that.”
“Right.” I get free from him and take a step back. “You could have just been honest.” I toss my arms into the air. “Hell, I would have preferred you telling me that it’s not me, it’s you, instead of having you shove money at me before you tell me it’s just not working.” I start to storm off.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” He gets in front of me and begins walking backward.
“I overheard your phone call today. You know, the one where you told whoever you were talking to that it was nice pretending that this could be something, but you and I both know it will never work out.”
“Jesus, you’re nuts.”
“Fuck you!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
“Cupcake.” He holds out his hands. “Please listen to me.”
“No,” I deny, stepping around him.
“I was talking to one of the members of my board.” He shouts at my back. “I’ve been in negations with a buyer from Japan for my company for the last couple of weeks. Today, after going back and forth on the price, I told her that I was no longer interested in selling.”
Oh no.
I stop walking.
“That phone call had nothing to do with you. Jesus Christ, woman, can you not tell that I’m fucking in love with you?”
Oh God.
I turn around and find him down the sidewalk, where he stopped a few feet behind me.
“You’re in love with me?”
“Stupidly in love with you,” he mutters, shaking his head.
“I think I messed up,” I whisper, and his expression softens as he starts to walk toward me.
“If I heard only one side of that conversation, I probably would have assumed the same thing.” He grabs me around the side of my neck when he’s close enough to touch me. “I get why you were upset. I just wish you would have talked to me.”
I glance toward the restaurant. “I thought you were breaking up with me. I had prepared myself for that, but then you gave me the check.” I close my eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you love me?” he asks, giving my neck a gentle squeeze, and I open my eyes to meet his gaze.
“Yes,” I admit quietly, and he drops his forehead to mine. “I didn’t want to fall in love with you, but it just kind of happened.”
“That’s apparently how it works sometimes, cupcake.” He holds my hand against his chest and rubs my ring finger. “Where’s your ring?”
“On the kitchen counter at your house.”
“I don’t like you not having it on.”
“Jace—”
“I’ll try to cope if you say no, Penny,” he cuts me off. “But I want you to wear that ring knowing I plan on making you my wife next year.”
“You…” I shake my head. “You want us to really be engaged?”
“I told you I’m stupidly in love with you.”
“I’m just coming to terms with this being real.”
“And you can continue doing that with my ring on your finger,” he says, and I can’t help but to laugh. “Tell me that you’ll marry me, cupcake.”
“Maybe I’m as crazy as you are.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” I whisper, knowing deep in my gut that I’ll never regret saying yes to him.
Chapter 35
Just In Love
Sitting at the desk in Jace’s home office I look over the application I just completed for the high school located just down the block from his house and bite my lip. With the press of a button it will be submitted and I’ll either be accepted or not. And how scary is that.
“Did you do it yet?” Lifting my eyes off the computer I watch Jace walked towards me looking rumpled from sleep and absolutely gorgeous in all his shirtless glory.
“Not yet.” I admit when he comes around the desk and turns me in the chair to face him.
“What’s holding you back?”
“What if they don’t want me?” I shake my head. “Or what if they do.”
“What?” He smiles.
“It’s just all a lot, us being engaged, you asking me to move in, and then me applying for this job.”