The Boss Vol. 6: a Hot Billionaire Romance (14 page)

“
A
walk
on a winter beach just after sunrise. Who are you?”

With our hands loosely linked, I helped her over the outcropping of rocks. Perhaps this hadn’t been the best idea. She was still a little worse for wear after the previous week and limped when she didn’t think I was paying attention.

By now, she should’ve known when it came to her, I always was.

“You told me once that dates and romance mattered to you. So the sunrise near our house should qualify.”

“Cheap date,” she teased, curling her fingers more tightly around mine. “But I am too, since I have a special clock to fix. Materials nowadays are expensive. Plus, it’s an intricate job to get it just right.”

“That you do.” I squeezed her hand. “I have faith in you.”

I turned back to grip her waist and lift her over one of the biggest rocks. She growled at me a little, but since her newly reinjured ankle was acting up again, she’d just have to deal.

I pulled her down to the sand in front of me. It had to be this particular spot, wet sand and all. I was damned lucky we were having a warm stretch, because snow and any colder temperatures than this would’ve seriously fucked up my plans.

Good thing I had no intention of setting up this kind of scenario more than once in my life, because I sucked at it.

Damn romance.

Once she’d settled between my sprawled legs, I looped my arms around her shoulders and kissed the side of her neck. “My mother said you’d make pretty babies.”

“What?” It pleased me immeasurably that she shot half out of my arms. She wrenched around to stare at me. “Did you just ask me to have a baby with you?” Before I could answer, she slapped a hand against my forehead. “You need medical attention.”

I had to laugh as I grasped her hand and kissed the center of her palm. “I need Grace attention. That’s all, I swear.”

“But you mentioned babies.”

“No, my mother mentioned babies. Trust me, I had no plans of bringing them up. Probably ever.”

“Oh. Thank God. Because I’m really not sure if I’ll ever want to go down that road.” She shivered and turned back around to face the water. “Actually, pretty sure I won’t.”

“Another thing we’re in agreement on. Just testing the waters,” I said, resting my chin on her shoulder. The water was wild this morning, the waves crashing onto the sand with an abandon I bet Grace would try to capture in her glass later on. The bite of the winter wind just made the scent of the water more intense. More crisp. The pink and gold of sunrise tipped everything in a soft glow, and even a jaded sort like myself had to admit that as far as perfect backdrops went, we couldn’t get much better than this.

Our gorgeous house loomed behind us, standing sentinel to the ocean and beyond. The woman I loved was safe and nestled in my arms.

This was my heaven, and I wasn’t letting go no matter what.

Never again.

“Water testing, huh? Does that have to do with oh, a certain near-death experience we had recently?”

“It’s not a joke. I could’ve lost you.”

“You could have. Just like I could’ve lost you.” She wrenched around to face me and cupped my cold cheeks in her warm hands. I didn’t know how they could be warm right now, but somehow they were. “Gotta think someone upstairs is watching out for us after all we’ve been through to get to this place. All we’ve lost.”

“I know.” I tipped my forehead against hers and covered her hands with mine. Giving her my warmth was the least of what I planned on giving her for the rest of my life.

“I miss her,” she whispered. “I wish she’d made another choice.”

We were both reeling from the note we’d found. Annabelle hadn’t just kept the contract I’d signed in my clock. She’d also kept her suicide note there. Her money debts had mounted to the point she didn’t think she could find her way out, and she’d refused to risk Grace. Even though in the end, the choices she’d made had risked Grace even more.

“Me too,” I murmured. “She loved you to the end, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t make mistakes.”

“Damn straight.” She stared off up the beach at a man and his dog scampering along the shore. She rubbed her thumb over the wetness gathering under her eyes. “Like not knowing you were the absolute perfect man for me. You jackass.”

I laughed. “Probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me. Well, other than your promise to always swallow. That was right up there.”

For a second, she didn’t move. Then she whacked my arm. “I never promised that. See, jackass. Romantic moment and you throw in sex.”

“True. That was uncalled for. I need to make it up to you.”

She sniffed haughtily, in full Stuart-Copeland heiress mode. “Yes, you do.”

“You’re absolutely right.” I flicked aside the pile of sand near my hip and unearthed my crudely made present.

Thank God it was still there, or else we would’ve been renting a crew of excavators to dig up the beach. Leave it to us. We’d just moved in, and already ruining the neighborhood.

But luckily, no need for that, because my gift was right where it should be. I picked it up and held it out with fingers that only shook a little.

Fine, I was lying again, and I’d promised to stop doing that.

They were shaking a hell of a lot.

“What is—” She frowned and touched the box. “My stained glass. You took more from my worktable.”

“Yes. And I built this stupid box myself while you were asleep. So try to laugh too hard.”

She traced her finger over the hinged lid. “Laugh? This is the most beautiful gift I’ve ever been given.”

“You’re far too kind.” But hey, this romance stuff wasn’t too bad if it inclined one’s loved one to offer unnecessary praise. I was just shameless enough to accept it too. “Now look inside.”

“There’s more? This box is already so much. Especially after those lovely mud-brown hiking boots in size twelve that arrived for Christmas from Amazon.”

Her eyeroll made me laugh into her hair. “I told you those were for my mother.”

“Her feet can’t possibly be that big. Can they?”

I shrugged. “Hate to brag, but we run large in my family.”

“I have a feeling there’s a penis reference buried in there, so moving on.” She edged a nail under the lip of the lid and eased it open.

And said absolutely nothing at all.

“This is me, making it up to you.” I set my chin on her shoulder and took the ring out of the bed of pale blue tissue paper, since she’d made no move to do so herself. “Let’s see if it fits.”

She dropped the box to her lap then immediately picked it up again and cradled it to her chest. “That’s a solitaire cut ring.”

“It is.”

“With a white gold band.”

“Right again.”

“An aquamarine, like the heart of the sea,” she whispered. “Surrounded by eight diamonds.”

“Nine. But yes to all the rest.”

She sneaked another look at the ring I still held. “That stone must be twelve carats.”

“Fourteen,” I corrected.

“You expect me to walk around with that on every day? I’m going to be doing more shows with my art, ones with pieces you’re not allowed to buy.”

My lips twitched. “Duly noted, Ms. Copeland.”

“How am I supposed to work on my pieces with that honker getting in my way?”

“You’re not.” I slipped my other hand into my pocket and produced a small black box. “The big one is for special occasions.” I thumbed open the lid. “This is for every day.”

“Oh, Blake.” She stared at the woven band of white gold, studded with diamonds and aquamarines. “You know I’m going to have to wear both.”

I was afraid to hope. To even breathe. “Does that mean you’re saying yes?”

She lifted her steady gaze to mine. “You haven’t asked me anything yet.”

“Always a ballbreaker.”

A sneaky smile tipped up the corners of her mouth. “Don’t forget the kneeling thing. I’m only doing this once, so I want the full treatment.” She held out her left hand and waited.

Shaking my head, I untangled our legs and kneeled at her side. “You’re supposed to be standing, you know.”

“No. I want us on the same level.” She rolled to her knees and clutched her box between her breasts with one hand while extending the other. “Always.”

Impossibly moved, I swallowed hard and set down the black box on the sand. “This usually isn’t done with two rings either.”

“So improvise, Carson. Don’t be so damn traditional.”

The amusement in her tone made me shut my eyes and say a quick prayer of thanks.

God, I loved this girl. I intended to spend the rest of my life proving it, again and again.

“Will you marry me, Grace Copeland?”

She smiled into my eyes and impatiently wiggled her finger. “Yes, I will. Twice over, Blake Carson.”

I slipped on the more demure ring first, then the showstopper. And crushed my mouth to hers.

Her arm came around my neck and I glanced down at the pointy corner of glass digging into my chest. “It’s both of us,” she murmured. “My glass, your artistry. We made a glass baby.”

For probably the first time in my life, I snorted. “Only baby we’ll be making for a good long while, Ms. Copeland.”

“Hmm. You’ll have to call me Mrs. Carson now.” She tipped her forehead against mine and flicked her tongue against my lips. “Except when we play boss and secretary and you throw me over the desk, you gotta promise to call me Ms. Copeland, k?”

“Oh yeah. That’s a given.” I rubbed her newly damp cheek. She was crying again, but there was no doubt these tears were happy.

I kissed her again, slower and deeper this time. Because she was going to be my wife, and goddamn it, that meant I should take my time learning every millimeter of her soft, silken mouth.

After a while, we wandered back up the beach, hand in hand. I clutched her left one in mine, and the press of her rings made me want to swing her around and shout that she was mine. Finally mine.

Just like I was hers.

But there was someone I had to thank first.

I bent to pick up a tiny purple wildflower that was stretching around a rock, searching for the sun.

Gently, Grace touched the petals. “Purple was Gram’s favorite color.”

“I know.” I kissed the flower and lifted it toward the house on the cliff. “I’ll take good care of your girl, Annabelle. I promise.”

Without looking at Grace, I tossed the tiny flower into the ocean.

She leaned against my chest and pressed a kiss against my throat. “I’m going to take care of you too.”

“Oh, I expect so.”

She laughed and glanced up at me, her eyes full of the ocean and the sun and more happiness than I’d ever hoped to find. “I love you, Blake.”

“Almost as much as I love you, Grace.” I touched her lips. “Love remains. Don’t ever forget that.”

Eyes glistening, she shook her head. “I won’t.”

I slid my arm around her waist and lowered my head to hers. “Let’s go home.”

* * *

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