I nod. “I’m telling you I want you more than anything else.”
His smile grows wider. “And the kids?”
“Ava is already practicing her accent and Parker just wants to be close to you.”
“And your job?”
“Irrelevant in comparison. I know this is fast, and maybe you’re not ready for me and my kids to move here—”
“Marry me,” Milo cuts me off.
Now it’s my turn to be stunned. I stare at him, waiting for the punch line. There’s no way he just said that. He can’t be serious.
I open my mouth to speak, but his hand covers it before I can reply.
“No, hear me out. I love you. I’ve spent more time away from you than I ever will again. I would sacrifice everything for you, give up anything if it meant I could have you. Nothing else in this world matters. So, I know you wanted slow, but I don’t. I want it all. I don’t want to spend another day without the world knowing that I love you. If it’s too fast, we can have a long engagement. I’ve spent my entire life looking for someone who would make me feel this way, and here you are, my darling. You’re here and I’m right in front of you, asking you to see what’s inside of my heart.” He takes my hand, bringing it to his chest. Milo’s heart is pounding as tears are falling down my face. “I want to marry you, Danielle. I want you to be my wife, and I your husband. So, Danielle Joanne Bergen, will you marry me?”
Through blurry vision I look at this man I love. He didn’t hesitate a second. Everything he said was everything I could’ve asked for. Yes, it’s fast, but we’re not getting any younger. I married a man once who didn’t make me feel the way Milo does, and I was happy, but Milo makes my world brighter than it’s ever been. He tore down the old ideas of what love looked like and painted me something breathtaking.
I flew here to find a way for us to be together, and here it is.
“Yes,” I breathe.
“Yes?”
I nod. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He practically tackles me, pulling me in his arms, holding me close. The smile on his face takes my breath away. There’s no fear in his eyes, only love and happiness.
After a lot of kissing and smiling, he pulls me to his chest and we just stare at each other.
“I’ll get you a proper ring today.”
“I don’t need a ring.”
“Well, that’s very sweet of you, but I need you to have a ring.”
I shake my head. “Why?”
“So the world knows that you’re most definitely not on the market.”
Men.
They’re all the same.
“Is this an acquisition?”
He raises one brow. “You are not property, but I do wish to acquire you.”
He’s such a dork. “I’m pretty sure you have—many times.”
“Yes, and each time has been better than the last.”
This is true. “Well, there will be lots more going forward,” I say.
Milo taps my nose. “I’m very happy, are you?”
“You make me happy. I thought after Peter died, that I wouldn’t be able to open myself up again.” I sit up, wanting to be sure he hears this. “I thought we all get one great shot at love, and that was it. When you came into my life, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t guarded enough to not fall for you, and now I’ve never been happier about anything in my whole life. If I was, we never would be here.”
He smirks. “That’s what you think. I would’ve worn you down, broke through every defense you had, and made you mine.”
“You would, huh?”
I wonder if Milo and I met at another time, if that would be the case. Life is all about moments, and one decision can alter a major chain of events. Had I never taken the job, Milo wouldn’t have been my assistant. The entire course of our relationship would’ve changed. Maybe we still would’ve fallen in love, but who knows?
“The moment we met, something inside of me was altered. I didn’t know what it was until later on, but you and I were going to happen. When I thought you were still married, I remember feeling an instant hatred for a man I never knew. I didn’t understand that feeling because it was foreign to me, but it was there.”
“You hated Peter?”
“No,” he sighs, “I hated whoever the bastard was that was near you. Not him, but the idea of him.”
I smile and touch his cheek. “That’s sweet.”
“If I told you I was married, would you have felt that way?”
“Not in the beginning,” I tell him honestly. “I was a mess when we met. It wasn’t until I saw you with Kandi the hooker and wanted to gouge her eyes out to make her stop looking at you.”
Milo runs his hand from my neck down my arm. “I never would’ve touched her. You know why?”
“Why?”
“Because you were the only thing I wanted that night.”
Looking at him now, there’s one thing I do believe about us. We were meant to cross each other’s paths. Whatever the circumstances, the outcome would’ve been the same. I was always going to fall in love with Milo.
“So you really want to marry me?” I ask again.
“My favorite color was always orange. Do you know what it is now?”
I shake my head.
“Blue, like your eyes. There’s nothing more beautiful in the world than this color,” he says as he touches the skin around my eye. “Blonde was always what I thought I was attracted to, until I saw you. Then I realized no woman on earth could compare to you. I don’t really want to marry you, Danielle. I’m really going to marry you. Now, let’s get dressed, go see my Mum, tell her the good news and get you moved here.”
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. “I love you.”
“And I love you. Now get up and get dressed before we’re even later and I have to tell Mummy that I was too busy to get there on time because I was fucking my fiancé.”
Oh, God, I have to meet his mother. If she’s anything like Nicole says, I’m in trouble.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Milo
“I’m glad you made it,” Mum says as I walk in. “Oh, you brought someone.”
My hand is holding Danielle’s as we walk in. It was adorable how nervous she was on the way here.
“Mum, I’d like you to meet Danielle, my fiancé.”
Might as well get it all out now. Give the old woman a chance to lose her rag and then settle down. I’ve never been a man who minces words, why start now?
“Fiancé?” she asks.
“Yes,” I state. “I asked her to marry me today and she accepted.”
Her eyes widen and then soften. “I see.”
Danielle elbows me and then walks toward her. “It’s very nice to meet you Mrs. Huxley.”
“My Milo is a very special man. You must be a special woman if he’s asked you to marry him.”
“He is very special to me as well,” Danielle tells her and then looks back at me.
As our eyes meet, I wonder how I lived before her. Everything since we’ve met is just . . . better. The sun is brighter, the days are more colourful, and life makes sense. I now understand why my brother packed his life to go to America. When you love a woman like this, you’ll do anything to keep her.
Before Danielle, the word marriage alone would’ve repulsed me. In my mind, it was damnation for life. One person? Who the hell wants to eat the same flavour of ice cream for the rest of their life? Not me. Not until Danielle. There’s no one else I’d ever want to taste again.
“Milo,” Mum says. “Give Danielle and I a few minutes alone.”
Mum is the kindest woman I know, except when it comes to her boys. However, it’s sort of inevitable that they get this over with. I walk over to her, kiss her cheek and whisper. “Be nice, Mum. She means a lot to me.”
Her hand pats my cheek. “Go away, son.”
That’s not exactly the encouragement I was hoping for.
I touch Danielle’s hand and head out of the room, hoping that they both come out alive and that it goes better than her meeting with Nicole.
Once out in the hallway, I decide to call my brother.
“Is Mum okay?” he asks.
“Yes, why wouldn’t she be?”
He grumbles. “Because it’s fucking early and I was up all night with Colin who thought he’d become nocturnal for a change.”
“Danielle is here,” I tell him, ignoring his complaining.
“Yes, I know.”