Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I let go of her one hand and stick mine in my jacket pocket, closing it around the velvet box.
She brings her free hand up to her mouth, already gasping.
“Laila, I’ve found my family in you. Everything I’ve spent my life looking for, I’ve found in you. In your big heart, in your beautiful soul, you’ve made room for me, and I’ve made room for you. And I think we’re at the point now where there’s nothing holding us back. No fear, no regret, nothing but the future. And I need you to be a part of mine forever.”
She’s crying now, tears streaming down her face, so fucking beautiful, but at least they seem to be tears of joy.
I let go of her other hand and pull out the box, opening it for her to see. It’s actually a vintage ring that was combined with an opal gemstone for her birthday, and it practically shines in her face.
“James,” she says through a choked whisper, staring down at the ring, hands shaking.
“Laila Bruset,” I say to her, having to blink back the heat behind my eyes. “Will you marry me?”
She nods, crying. “Yes, yes, yes,” she says, gasping.
The adrenaline from earlier is nothing compared to what I’m feeling right now. Because I also have joy. Joy that I never knew I was capable of feeling.
Before I drown in it, I take the ring and slip it on her finger.
It sits there like it’s meant to be there, like it will stay there forever. One can only hope it will.
She holds her hand out, admiring the ring, crying some more, and then she throws her arms around me, kissing me. “James, James, I love you.”
But while I’m about to answer her back, that I love her more than anything in the world, my future wife, her movement knocks me off-balance.
I teeter on the rock, and I don’t know if it’s because of the emotions of the proposal itself, because she said fucking YES, or because I jumped out of an airplane earlier today, but my balance is shot.
I go falling off the rock, trying to break my fall, but instead I go tumbling down into the water.
SPLASH.
I land in the fjord face-first, the water shockingly cold. I immediately find my footing, trying to stand on slippery rocks.
Meanwhile Laila is yelling, trying to run down the slope after me, except she loses her footing and can’t slow down. She ends up falling into the water right beside me.
Thank god it’s shallow, and she’s already on her feet, laughing her head off, trying to help me up to mine. Eventually we both stagger out of the water, freezing cold, soaking wet, collapsing on the ground in each other’s arms.
“You didn’t change your mind, did you?” I ask, wiping the wet hair off my forehead. “Because that was probably the most ungraceful move I’ve ever made.”
She laughs, kissing me happily, her lips tasting like salt. “I’ve told you before, I like it when you seem like a mere mortal.”
“So I guess that means you’ll take me for better or for worse.”
“I’ll take you for everything, James,” she says to me, cupping my face. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I tell her, pressing my lips to hers, feeling the happiness bubble up between us.
That and the shivers.
“Come on,” I tell her, getting to my feet and helping her up to hers. “Let’s go home and celebrate. I may have stashed a bottle of champagne somewhere for whenever I got the courage to pop the question.”
“You’ve been planning this awhile?” she asks as we head toward the car.
And that’s when I remember I filmed the whole damn proposal.
“Oh shit,” I swear, running over to the phone. I quickly turn to stop the video and slip the phone into my coat. “You have to promise me that no one ever sees this footage.”
She claps happily. “Oh that is going up on YouTube right away. We’ll get a million hits!”
“No, Laila,” I tell her as we get in the car.
“You at least have to show me.”
“We can watch it at home with the champagne.”
“Then we’ll put it on YouTube,” she says with a devious smile. “Can you imagine it? Bodyguard to the Norwegian prince falls in a fjord during proposal to royal nanny.”
“I can imagine it, actually.” Magnus would never let me hear the end of it. I narrow my eyes at her playfully, even though I’m still grinning like a fool. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I’m starting to think you don’t know me at all,” she says, waving her hand at me. “We’re getting married now. For better or for worse, remember?”
I shake my head, but I’m laughing.
For better and for worse and for everything else in between.
That’s us.