Dirty Playboy - Alex Wolf Page 0,112
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“We’ve been through so much, Mary. But it’s time for the third act of our story. The part where I make my promise to you official.” I inhale a deep breath and try to keep my emotions in check, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to. This woman brings things out from the deepest recesses of my soul. “You already know I love you. I know you do. I know you don’t doubt that, and nothing can ever break the connection we have. But the same way Jesus said, ‘What I tell you in the dark, shout from the rooftops,’ I feel the same way about us. I want the world to know I’m promised to you, and you’re promised to me. I love you so much, and I will spend my entire life, through whatever life throws our way, one hundred percent loyal, one hundred percent faithful, and you will own every square inch of my heart until the day I die. Mary Patrick, will you marry me?”
Tears stream down her face, and I can’t imagine her smiling any harder than she is right now. She glances to the ring, to me on a knee, then back to my eyes, and she nods. “Yes. Yes I will.”
My fingers tremble so hard I can barely get the ring out, but I manage to slide it onto her finger, then I pull her up out of her chair and into my arms. The second our lips meet, a round of applause comes from the crowd.
I anticipate Mary’s reaction when she jolts, scared out of her mind, and I wrap her up in a hug. She slowly turns around, and all our friends from the firm are there. Decker and Tate, Deacon and Quinn, Dexter and Abigail, Donavan and Paisley, plus Cole and Harlow. Even Wells Covington sits there with two young blondes on his arm, clapping in the most sarcastic way possible, like what he sees in front of him makes him sick, but he wants to support how ridiculous we are.
Mary’s eyes dart around at everyone, and then they land on two people, and she covers her mouth and really breaks down. They get up and walk around to congratulate us.
“What?” Mary gasps. “You didn’t!” She takes off running in her heels and nearly tackles them. “I can’t believe you’re here!” The three of them hug as I walk over.
Mary lets go of her father, and he reaches out a hand. I shake it.
“That was a fine speech, son. Thank you for doing this the right way.”
Mary glances around like she has sensory overload and can’t process everything that’s going on. “What right way?”
Her mom smiles at her. “Dominic called your father a while back, after you’d told us about him. Your dad put him on speaker phone, and he told us he would never propose to you without our blessing.”
Mary’s eyes get big, then she turns to her dad, half-joking. “And you gave it to him that easy?”
Her dad laughs and shakes his head. “Oh no.” He turns to Dominic. “How many phone calls did it take you?”
“Fourteen, sir.”
Mary dies laughing, then grins at her father. “He’s very persistent, isn’t he?”
Her dad’s eyes get wide, and he nods slowly. “Oh yes.” He turns to me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, though, finally.”
“Same, sir.”
Her mom comes over and gives me a huge hug. I have to lean down to accept it.
She whispers, “You did good.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Everyone else comes up and says congratulations to us, and it’s perfect. Everyone close to us, all here to share the moment. My buddy walks in from the lobby, and I jog over to him. “Holy fuck, that was awesome. You worked some magic. The trailer was awesome.”
He buffs his nails on his shirt. “I know.”
“How’d you get that footage in there? The stuff I just shot earlier?”
“Just spliced it in.” He hands me a thumb drive. “Saved it on this, the stuff you sent me earlier, it’s the only copy.” He places it gingerly in my hand like it’s a damn diamond or something. “Might be careful next time.”
My eyebrows rise. “Huh?”
He leans in and lowers his voice where Mary and her parents, or anyone else won’t hear. “There’s about ten minutes of footage on there of you banging your ol’ lady.”
My palm tightens around the thumb drive, and my eyes widen. “What?” It takes me a second to process what I just heard, and I reach out and grab