Chasing Olivia (Trace + Olivia #2) (6 page)

But we were in public and that was a
huge
mood killer…at least for me.

“Does it get better than that?” My words were barely audible. Trace had that affect on me, stealing my thoughts, my breath, and now my voice.

“Better,” he grinned, climbing off of me. He unzipped his guitar case and grabbed a pick. I sat up, crossing my legs under me.

He closed his eyes, and his whole body shuddered, like he was scared of what he was about to do.

Then he began to play, and when he sang, tears sprung to my eyes.

“’105 is the number that comes to my head when I think of all the years I wanna be with you. Wake up every morning with you in my bed, that’s precisely what I plan to do.’”

He stared into my eyes as he sang his slowed down version of Jason Derulo’s song, Marry Me.

“’We’ll forever be in love, so there ain’t no need to rush. But one day, I won’t be able to ask you loud enough. I’ll say will you marry me. I swear that I will mean it. I’ll say will you marry me. How many girls in the world can make me feel like this? Baby, I don’t ever plan to find out. The more I look, the more I find the reasons why you’re the love of my life.’”

The look in his eyes of complete and total love had me sobbing. People in the park were beginning to stare at us, but I didn’t care. I dabbed at my eyes, biting my lip to quiet my cries. I didn’t want to miss a moment of this.

“’You know one of these days when I get my money right, buy you everything, and show you all the finer things in life. We’ll forever be in love, so there ain’t no need to rush. But one day, I won’t be able to ask you loud enough. I’ll say will you marry me. I swear that I will mean it. I’ll say will you marry me.’” The last lyric ended in a whisper as he put his guitar to the side and pulled a small black box out of his pocket. He bent down on one knee in front of me and opened the box. My eyes widened.

“Olivia, that day is today, will you marry me?” After the words left his mouth he bit his lip, and there was fear in his eyes. I didn’t know how that crazy man could ever think I’d say no.

Words failed me. I brushed my tears away and did what any logical person would do in my situation. I tackle-hugged him.

“Whoa,” he cried, catching me as we fell in the grass.

I brushed my lips lightly over his before kissing him deeply. “Yes,” I breathed in-between kisses. He kissed me fiercely, grabbing me by the neck with one hand and by the waist with the other, pressing me into him. His tongue brushed against my lips and my mouth opened in response.

Clapping echoed around us.

Heat infused my cheeks and I pushed myself off his chest. He sat up, cradling me in his lap.

“I believe this belongs to you,” he grabbed the fallen jewelry box. He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. It was a beautiful ring, with three emerald cut diamonds. I stared down at it in awe.

“Congratulations!” Someone called from the crowd that had formed around us.

“I’m putting this on YouTube,” another said.

“Thanks,” Trace waved, chuckling.

I buried my face in his neck, inhaling his manly scent.

The crowd gradually disappeared and we were left relatively alone in the park.

“That was—” I floundered for words. “Beautiful.”

He kissed my forehead and tucked a stray curl behind my ear. “I’m glad you think so.”

“You’re amazing,” I whispered, kissing his jaw.

“I thought we’d already established that,” he chuckled.

“Did we really just get engaged?” I asked him. I honestly was still in disbelief that the last five minutes of my life had actually happened.

“Mhmm,” he murmured, “we did.”

“It feels like a dream,” I breathed.

“I have been told that I look like I could only exist in a dream.”

I smacked his shoulder. “Don’t ruin my moment with your cocky remarks.”

He chuckled, his chest rumbling beneath my ear. “Sorry, I’ll keep quiet.”

I reached up, cupping his jaw. “I love you, cocky remarks and all.”

“Glad to hear it,” he smiled, “and I love you too, Olivia. So much.”

I snuggled closer to his body. Between the warm temperature of his skin and sun shining down on us, I was getting hot, but I refused to move.

“Was everyone in on this?” I asked, running my finger along the skin just above his shirt.

“Yeah,” he grabbed my hands, entwining our fingers together.

“I don’t know how you managed to keep them quiet. They’re not exactly the most secretive bunch,” I laughed.

“It was difficult,” he shrugged. “Avery almost spilled the beans.”

“Was this what she was talking about that night?”

“Mhmm,” he nodded. “I thought I was going to have to tape her mouth closed. The little blabbermouth. I wanted you to be surprised, and you were, weren’t you?”

“Very. I honestly didn’t have a clue,” I whispered.

I was still in shock that I was actually
engaged
. Not that I didn’t love Trace with all my heart, but marriage had been the furthest thing from my mind. I’d been so focused on getting better for so long, then graduating and finding a teaching position, that I’d sort of put any thoughts of our future on the backburner. But this felt
right.
Everything with Trace felt right, he completed me in every possible way.

We stayed in the park, watching the sunset, before we finally gathered our stuff and left.

As Trace held my hand, he kept twisting the diamond ring around on my finger.

“You like that there, don’t you?” I smiled.

He opened the car door for me and as I slid inside he peered down at me, crossing his arms across the top of the door.

“Very much. Even more than your tattoo,” he winked.

I shook my head, laughing. “That surprises me.”

“It shouldn’t.”

We were quiet on the drive back to the apartment, reveling in this new step in our lives together.

When the door closed behind us, he pushed me against it and kissed me deeply, before taking me to bed and showing me exactly how much he loved me.

The next morning my muscles were sore, but I was so deliriously happy that I didn’t care.

I stretched my arms above my head, light filtered in from the open curtains, making the diamond on my ring finger sparkle. A smile spread across my face as I gazed at it.

That smile turned to a frown though when I looked at the clock.

“Crap!” I exclaimed, throwing the covers off of me. I was supposed to be at work in twenty minutes. There was no way I’d have time to shower. Marcy, the owner of the jewelry store I worked at, probably wouldn’t care if I came in late. I’d never been late once since I started working for her, but I didn’t plan on starting now.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and shimmied into them, then grabbed a loose tank top with a flowered print on it. I was lucky to have a boss that wanted her employees to dress casually. Marcy truly was one of a kind.

I slipped my feet into a pair of shoes and darted out of the bedroom, straight into the bathroom. I heard Trace chuckle from the kitchen.

I brushed my hair and teeth, then pulled my hair to the side and quickly braided it. I added some gloss to my lips and mascara to my lashes, but there wasn’t time for anything else.

“I can’t believe you didn’t wake me up,” I groaned, dashing into the kitchen and dropping a piece of toast in the toaster.

“You looked too cute to wake,” he smirked.

I groaned in exasperation. “But now I’m going to be late.” I opened the refrigerator and grabbed the tub of butter.

The toast popped up and I pulled it out, scalding my fingers in the process. I grabbed a knife from the drawer and slathered the toast with butter, before sticking it between my teeth.

“Bye,” I said around the food in my mouth.

Trace chuckled in response.

I grabbed my keys off the table by the door and was about to leave when Trace said my name.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“I won’t be home for dinner. Gramps needs to see me,” he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Oh,” I mumbled, pulling the toast from my mouth. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“Well, I’ll see you tonight then,” I jogged across the room and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. “Maybe I’ll call Avery and we can order Chinese and just veg out.”

He chuckled. “I think you’re both overdue for some girl time.”

“I
really
have to go now,” I looked at him apologetically.

“Get gone then, woman,” he smacked my butt and shooed me away.

“
Trace!
”

He was still laughing as I closed the door.

By the time I got in my car I had five minutes to make it to the store. That so wasn’t happening.

When I made it to the store, I ran in the back door, apologies slipping from my mouth.

“Slow down,” Marcy grabbed my arm, halting my steps. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Sorry,” I apologized yet again. “I’m late.”

“Oh honey, it’s not a big deal. You look like you’re about to have a heart attack. Sit down.” She pulled a chair out and all but pushed me into it. “I’m actually surprised to see you up and walking today,” she smirked, removing her purple reading glasses, and shoving them into her blond hair. She still had the ends died in a rainbow hue of colors.

“What do you mean?”

She laughed and looked down at my finger significantly. “Who do you think made that? He told me how he planned to propose, so I figured after that romantic gesture getting out of bed would be the last thing on your mind,” she winked. “I mean, if I was engaged to that sexy man of yours I’d never let him leave the bed…or put clothes on. A body like that should
not
be covered up.”

I blushed profusely. Marcy may have been in her fifties and happily married, but she had no problem going on and on about how good-looking Trace was and what she’d like to do with him. If she was my age I’d probably be jealous.

“Mom!” Alba, Marcy’s daughter, called. “Stop embarrassing, Olivia!”

“What? I’m only speaking the truth! Even his armpit hair is hot!”

I snorted. She did
not
just say that.

“Ew! Mom! That’s gross!” Alba wrinkled her nose as she pushed the beaded curtain aside that hung on the frame of the door that separated the front and back of the store.

“Eh, you’ll get over it,” Marcy dismissed her daughter with a wave of her hand. “Now,” she turned back to me, “what did you think yesterday when he proposed?”

“I was kind of in shock,” I admitted with a small shrug. “I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.”

“Oh, I wish I could’ve seen your face,” Marcy looked away, a wistful look in her eyes. “Especially since my so-called daughter is apparently never going to get married and gift me with grandchildren.”

Over Marcy’s shoulder, my eyes met with Alba’s. She shook her head, and mouthed ‘crazy.’

“Well,” Marcy patted my shoulder, “I need to go work on some designs.”

“Of course,” I stood, heading towards the front of the store.

Alba stopped me, pulling me into a hug. “Congratulations,” she said. “Trace is a great guy. You’re really lucky.”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

“I’ll see you later,” she waved, heading for the back door.

I had a relatively busy day. Marcy’s store did a good amount of business, so I never had much down time, which I liked. People came from all over the tri-state area to buy her unique pieces. She made every piece of jewelry herself, often doing custom orders. I had never been much of a jewelry person…Aaron had forbidden my mom and I from wearing any, so even if I had wanted to I couldn’t. But I loved my gold star necklace that Trace had gotten me for our first Christmas, and I’d later found out that Marcy made it. It pleased me to know that she’d made my engagement ring as well. In the past two years, Marcy had become an extension of my family. I loved that crazy lady.

I locked the door to the store and flipped the old fashioned sign from Open to Closed. I closed the blinds on the door and windows, and then turned the lights out.

I pushed the beaded curtain aside and stepped into the back room. Marcy was working feverishly on her latest project.