“Oh my God!” The words fly out of my mouth as he pulls his hand out of his pocket and produces a ring. A gorgeous, solitaire diamond on a metal band. It’s simple and beautiful and so much more than I ever could have asked for.
“Emma Paige . . . Today is a day my life began and ended. It’s a day I looked on in sadness. But then one day, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, with blonde hair and beautiful brown eyes in nothing but a bathrobe stunned me with a song. I fell for you the second I saw you. And every time I learned something new about you . . . about your passion, your strength, your joy . . . I fell harder and deeper.
“Fate meant for us to find each other. The day I dreaded is also the day you were brought into this world. How can I hate such a day that created the most perfect vision on the planet? So I waited for today, the day that I no longer want to look on with sadness but as the day my life begins again.
“Will you marry me? Will you make me the happiest man by being the first person I see at the beginning of the day and the last person I kiss at night? Will you be my wife and be my family? Will you, Emma Paige . . . will you be Mrs. Alexander Gutierrez?”
Io sono il suo.
I am his.
I practically fall to the ground and into his arms. Taking his head in my hands I kiss him. I kiss his eyes and his nose and his mouth and his chin. I kiss him all over and with each kiss I say the words. “Yes.Yes.Yes.Yes.”
Those full, lush lips widen into a gorgeous smile as he takes my mouth into his, sealing the moment. He holds up my left hand and slides the ring onto my finger. I look down at it and can’t believe how stunning it is.
“This is too much. We can’t afford it,” I say and my heartbeat comes down from its historic elevation.
“Why can’t we afford it?”
“Because you kept your name. You gave up the business,” I say and then stagger back. “Didn’t you?”
He plays with the ring on my finger. “This looks perfect on you—”
“Alex—”
“I did. Are you mad?”
“Mad?” I blink back. “No. I’m relieved. But, you didn’t do this because you thought it’s what I wanted, did you?”
He slowly shakes his head, his hands holding me from behind, the warmth of them enveloping me. “No, I did it for us. Before you, I never believed anyone would want me as the poor kid from Pittsburgh. I never wanted any of it. I just needed someone to believe in me in order to give it up.”
“I do believe in you. I want to be your wife even if that means we have nothing.”
“I wouldn’t say we have nothing—”
I sit back on my knees and rest my hands on my thighs, my head tilting up at him for an explanation. So he gives me one.
“I signed the company over to the board of trustees, claiming my name and seizing everything that was bought under Asher Industries. But, I still got to keep a few things.”
“Huh?” Yeah, that’s all that I can muster.
“There’s Black Dog,” he says pointing to me as if I’m familiar with it, which I am. “I also own a production company and then there’s stock I purchased with my own money and a trust fund from my great-grandfather that’s untouched.”
“Oh.” My lips purse together in confusion. “Alex, that’s not considered poor.”
“It is when you consider the fact I just signed over a billion-dollar business.”
I laugh and shake my head at my sweet Alexander. He is going to have to give up his three thousand–dollar scotch. The plane is definitely gone too. I hope he likes shaving his own beard.
“How were you able to keep the recording studio? Wasn’t that an Asher property?”