“I love you, too,” I said, more confused than ever.
“Since the first day we met, I knew you were someone special,” he said. “Even when I didn’t like you, I could tell that you would change my life. Back then, I thought that change would be about business. When you brought me on to work for the company, I knew it would make mine and Paisley’s life so much better. I never imagined how much you would change my life personally, though. I didn’t see it coming.”
I blinked. My heart was racing as I slowly began to realize what Sean was doing. I couldn’t believe I had missed all the signs before.
“I didn’t intend to fall in love with you,” Sean said. “But when you became so attentive to Paisley and to me, I didn’t have a choice. I fell for you hard and fast. Tara, you are the reason I am who I am now. You helped me become the man I was always meant to be. You brought me back to my father, and you helped me become a real dad to Paisley. Without you, Paisley and I wouldn’t be nearly as happy as we are now.”
“Sean,” I said softly. Tears pooled in my eyes.
“You’re my soul mate, Tara,” Sean continued. “You make me so happy. I couldn’t think of a better person to be a mom to Paisley and to be a wife to me. Tara, I love you and I will love you until the day I die. If you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you make me.”
Just then, Paisley walked up behind us and handed a box to Sean. He smiled at her and turned back to me.
Opening the box, he asked, “Tara, will you marry me?”
My mouth fell open at the sight of the ring. The tears finally fell from my eyes and cascaded down my cheeks. Paisley stood beside Sean and me, grinning from ear to ear. I smiled at her and turned back to face her father.
Sean’s eyes brimmed with tears of his own and his hands shook slightly. I kissed him hard and fast, laughing against his lips.
“Of course,” I said as I pulled away. I reached over to grab Paisley. I pulled her against me and the three of us hugged. “Of course, I’ll marry you.”
THE END
Continue on to read a special sneak peek of my recent and most successful release so far, The Surprise. This book reached a rank of #4 in all of Amazon!
A Sneak Peek
THE SURPRISE
Alice Ward
CHAPTER ONE
Scarlett
“We have two more coming up from ER!”
I stared at Melinda in disbelief, but the charge nurse just shot me a sympathetic look and kept running down the hall of the labor and delivery unit where I’d spent the past twelve hours. And where I’d possibly spend the next who knew how long. I glanced at my watch. It was nearly seven, nearly time for my shift to end, but one thing was for sure… from the looks of it, I wouldn’t be going home for the next couple hours at least.
A call bell rang, and I looked up to see that it was the birthing mother from hell — again. I sighed and ran an arm over my brow. I stuffed a peanut butter cracker into my mouth and downed two swallows of my Snapple Peach Tea before straightening my ponytail and heading to her room.
Plastering on a smile, I headed to the patient’s bedside, barely able to suppress the chuckle that wanted to burst from me each time I saw how ridiculous the woman looked. It didn’t matter how elegant our most sophisticated birthing room was decorated, nothing was good enough for this first-time mom. Upon arrival, she’d had her “people” change the sheets of the hospital bed from the practical white cotton-poly mix to ridiculously expensive — and slippery — pink silk.
“In honor of our precious daughter’s birth,” the primping diva told me when I first saw the room’s transformation as she smoothed the newly added furry white blanket with her bejeweled hand.
Of course, it wasn’t.
Mrs. Celine Harlington-Worthington, the Fifth — aka Cece-Gorgeous on Instagram — only thought of herself and hadn’t stopped taking selfies since her arrival ten hours ago. Her accoutrements for the glorious occasion had nothing to do with the baby in her womb. The decorations included pale pink twinkle lights that cast a soft glow around the woman — the better to selfie herself with, no doubt. The outrageously expensive looking silk gown that was going to be ruined in a few hours showed off super slim, tanned arms and breasts that were bigger than my ample ass cheeks. And silliest of all, the diamond encrusted tiara perched on the twenty-two-year-old’s head appeared to have real diamonds. The curling iron on the nearby nightstand was being carefully watched by her stylist, who checked her hair and makeup every few minutes, pulling from the suitcase of cosmetics by her side as needed.
Mrs. Harlington-Worthington, the Fifth wasn’t a queen. Or a princess. She was worse. One of those Instagram models who made money from showing off her tits and ass… and now her baby was going to be swept down that money track too. Not that she needed it. She’d snagged an older billionaire dude who called her precious and sweedums. She was semi seriously on my list for a psych eval, but my smile stayed in place as I asked the soon-to-be momster, “How may I serve you?”
Crap. I hadn’t meant for it to come out exactly that way.
Mrs. HW5 didn’t seem to mind. “I think you should check me again. I’m quite certain I’m at ten. I just can’t imagine my body taking so long. I’ve been preparing for this moment for weeks, and I’m quite behind schedule.”
I suppressed a sigh and headed over to the monitor to look at her strip. Baby looked good. Mom looked good — on paper. “I checked you just a half hour ago. I doubt there has been much change.” Not with these wimpy ass contractions, I wanted to add but didn’t. Her doctor needed to be shot for admitting her this early in labor. Especially on an evening like this.
She raised her chin, and the reflection from one of the diamonds in the tiara nearly blinded me as it refracted the light. Her perfectly glossed pink lips pursed together. “I’m quite sure you’re mistaken. I can feel my body opening in glorious anticipation of Marie Claire’s entrance into our world.”
This poor baby.
I glanced at Mr. Worthington, the Fifth, who was still tapping away at his laptop. He hadn’t even lifted his head since I entered the room, his thick silver-streaked black hair shining in the pink ambiance of the lighting. He was at least forty years her senior and was “very busy with his important work” as Mrs. HW5 told me several times.